Being a mum who was looking for motivation has begun to believe she can inspire others

I represent several other moms in urban India who are educated, have worked to experience economic independence and now since a life event of their choice of becoming a mother, the woman is torn between her freedom to work and her responsibility of being a mother.

Like several others I too used to work and followed my heart in pursuing passions that became my career choices like being a radio jockey, independent writer, blogger and consultant.

However in India, the responsibility of raising the child or being with your children is more on the mothers than the fathers. Fathers are perceived to take care of financial responsibilities though there is a small rise in dads wanting to be stay at home dads in urban India, thus allowing larger freedom for women to chase their career ambitions.

For those who manage to work outside home, manage their homes and take care of themselves, kudos to these women. And for those who are struggling to work on flexible timings or get back to full time positions there are very few opportunities. Indeed a few women career platforms are coming up to accommodatethese women who want to get back to work; yet it is a long way ahead.

Increasingly since one year I had begun to take time out and write more on several blog spheres and was frequently questioning myself how I could be a better individual than just a mum and a wife. It used to occur to me often that many like me probably felt the lack of motivation or connecting with other mums than just your child's school mates mums. The technology which was out there in the open unlike earlier times when our moms didn't have choices could be utilized to do something better.

And yes I somehow wanted more than just the two identities associated with me - Wife and Mother.

Several interactions with many mums made me realize, there are thousands of mums who want their voices to be heard through some platform. It was a revelationthat many wanted to talk and share and yes it was not just about career. They wanted to feel proud and confident of the choices they had made of either being a stay at home mum or a working one.

Sometimes even an incident has made them change their perspective in life and they wanted to share this to the world. Not everyone wrote and that's when I realized that I could connect and talk and write for others. Many mothers wanted someone to reach out to them and get their stories shared.And that's how Mums and stories was initiated on a social media platform on Facebook.

After 55 inspiring stories from real mums, I have realized that we as individuals in human society look for real inspiration around us, look for stories that we can relate to and want to be recognized.

A few stories are of mums who have achieved through extreme odds in life. A mother who had a daughter who was speech and hearing impaired but guided her to be a Bharatnatyam dancer. The traditional dance the young woman performs is based on how she follows her mentor's eye movements and hand gestures. The talented dancer cannot hear the sound of the music played. This was just one of the stories that got featured.

Others like of Acid attack fighter Laxmi who became a survivor of attack at the young age of 15, she had explained how she had never imagined of being with a partner due to a scarred face or becoming a mother, has come a long way in being confident of herself. Being a mum to a young one was one of the fulfilling experiences for this brave individual who has literally become the face of Acid attack fighters in India.

A young girl living in Mumbai chose to talk of her mum who used to do sex work and this daughter is now a teacher. She is aspiring to turn into a journalist one day.

Mums and stories is not just about stories of mums in India. Khadija Gbla living in Australia a brave mum who is fighting against female genital mutilation shared her story on her triumph of becoming a mum when the act of FGM in her childhood had led everyone including the doctors to make her believe she will never become a mother in her life.

There are also other stories where mums shared their life journeys or spoke of incidents that helped them bond with their children. Of course many spoke on how you can come out of your shell and try to make choices that will make you happy as an individual and as a mother.

More than anything this journey for me as transformed me to reach out to more mothers, more women and be inspired. Not to forget that this journey of beginning a platform for voices of mums to be heard and shared has been a key event in my life as many are reaching out to me to say that it is inspiring to read stories where they can relate to the women featured.

This journey now is going in the right direction of getting more people to be wanting to be part of the process and as a founder I want to take it to a larger medium to connect with many more mums.

Every mother's journey is personal. It is sacred and would love to be inspired and influence others in any positive manner I can in my life. Thank you for reading this post here.

Seen in the photograph is the inspiring Laxmi, an Acid attack fighter with her daughter.

https://www.facebook.com/mumsandstories/