A Unique Path: Embracing Motherhood Through Talent
I am not a biological mother.
“… but you do give birth to ideas. From the core of your talent, that can become the foundation of your adult life.”
Discovering a Different Kind of Maternal Instinct
Yet I feel I have exercised my maternal instincts all my life. From the time I can remember, around 3 years old, I felt I was very different from other little girls. It was the late 1940’s and the prize girl’s toy was a rubber babydoll that peed when you pressed its tummy (after filling it up with water). I was fascinated with this anatomical feature, but little else about carrying around a rubber babydoll interested me.
While other girls my age were already exhibiting maternal instincts, like swaddling their babydoll, pushing it around in a baby carriage, singing it lullabies… I was only interested in dressing it. I used anything on hand-embroidered tea towels, random bits of fabric or fur. I was already displaying what would be my lifelong love affair with fashion design. All I talked about were my dreams to have a career designing fashion. My mother and father were horrified!
Defying Expectations and Pursuing Dreams
My parents would wonder who put those deviant thoughts in my brain. What was wrong with me? Proper girls did not work. Period. Good girls, raised properly, aspired to marriage to a “good provider” and fulfil their female role in society through motherhood. There were not many choices for females back then. Yet I was determined to start my life journey down the road less travelled. I wanted to pursue my dreams.
Even as a child, I had absolutely no emotional or familial support. I recognized I had a talent, a special talent for fashion. And it was so necessary to nourish it, to protect and grow it. To cherish and guide it, and to be proud of it as another woman would be of her child.
Nurturing Talent Like a Child
It’s hard to explain, but you do give birth to ideas. From the core of your talent, that can become the foundation of your adult life.
From my point of view, talent is exactly like a child. It needs nurturing, love, protection and supervised growth. Although conventional motherhood was not for me and still, I am a “helicopter mom” with my talent. I set lifestyle limits to always put talent first. So while others around me were into wild partying and general self-destruction, my late nights were spent in my sewing room, working solo and honing my skills. I would not allow anyone or anything to diminish or supersede me or the importance of what I love!
Although, at times, it was difficult, I always believed in my talent and myself. Particularly when others did not. I fed my talent in inspirational and aspirational environments to nourish and nuance it. And just as a mother would, I never deserted my support for my talent even in the toughest of times, of which there were many.
Overcoming Challenges and Celebrating Achievements
To this day, I still revere and thank God for my most cherished feature, my highly developed love of fashion design, which has led me to so many fascinating places and experiences and became such a forever piece of my personality. Exactly like devoting your female life to raising a child.
Recognizing that talent was simply manifesting my destiny, very much the same driving need to give birth and raise a child who is and forever will be a proud part of you.
So ladies, listen to your heart, mute the external noise about what you should and shouldn’t do, and recognize you have choices. I used my maternal instincts in a unique way that suited me, which was hardly ordinary or conventional, but deeply maternal nonetheless. I chose the road less traveled to motherhood with no regrets!
About the Author
Name: Diane Gilman
Professional Title: Fashion Pioneer, Designer & Founder of DG2 Jeans
Bio: #1 Teleretail International Fashion Personality, on-air HSN/QVC guest for 30 years, Author of two books, Good Jeans (2014) and Too Young To Be Old (2022), as well as a Co-Author of Women Thrive Anthology Vol. 3 (June 2024), Host of Too Young To Be Old podcast, and Social Media Content Creator on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
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