10/10/2024
🧡
You’re not failing, mama—your brain is wired for connection and safety in numbers. You’re carrying the weight of evolution, instinctively searching for the village that feels lost in our modern world.
It’s okay to need others, to seek community, and to feel the strain of doing it all alone.
You’re doing an incredible job.
You’re enough.
You are seen.
Humans are social creatures, and evolutionary biology has shaped our responses to stress and isolation. The phenomenon described in the caption can be attributed to the evolved need for social support and cooperation in raising offspring:
1. Social Isolation and Anxiety:
• Research suggests that social isolation can activate the brain’s threat detection systems, such as the amygdala, leading to heightened vigilance and anxiety. This response is thought to have evolved as a survival mechanism to detect and respond to potential threats when social support is absent (1).
2. Evolutionary Basis for Cooperative Childcare:
• In traditional human societies, child-rearing is typically a shared endeavor, involving extended family or community members. This “alloparenting” system reduces the burden on the mother and increases the chances of offspring survival. The lack of such support in modern individualistic societies may trigger a stress response, as the mother’s brain perceives an increased threat to her and her child’s safety (2).
3. Neuroendocrine Changes During Motherhood:
• Hormonal changes during and after pregnancy, such as fluctuations in oxytocin, can heighten sensitivity to social cues and increase the need for social connection. Oxytocin, sometimes referred to as the “bonding hormone,” plays a role in maternal behaviors and stress regulation. When social support is lacking, the stress response system can become dysregulated, manifesting as anxiety and hypervigilance (3).
In short, it's not you, mama. You're doing nothing wrong. It's the way that we are living that needs to change 🙏🏽
IB
With love,
Danielle
❤️
References in the comments ⬇️
