Ashley James has had a candid conversation about overthinking and having anxiety since welcoming her second child into the world.
The former Made in Chelsea star welcomed the birth of her daughter, Ada, last month with her partner Tommy. The couple are already proud parents to two-year-old Alfie.
Ashley is now opening up about intrusive thoughts she has been experiencing since becoming a mum-of-two, and has given her advice to fans that may be going through the same thing.
Posting a sweet video of herself and her baby girl to her 335K Instagram followers, the 35-year-old wrote, “I'm told that anxiety creeps in when you don't live in the present. Either worrying about the future or being nostalgic about the past”.
“Over the last 6 weeks, different thoughts keep creeping in and I keep stopping them, taking deep breaths and then telling myself: you're exactly where you're meant to be. Enjoy being happy”.
She went on to admit, “I worry about what people think, which is funny because I learned a long time ago to stop worrying what people think. You can never please people no matter how much you try, so you may as well just be yourself. Plus, most of the time people aren't thinking about you at all”.
“But anyway, I've been worrying about what people think. At work, online - worrying that all I have to talk about or share at the moment is about being a mum”.
“It's silly isn't it. I have grown a baby for 9 months, my body is still healing. She's still entirely dependent on me and my body. So of course she is my world right now”.
Ashley then said that she wondered why she has these thoughts in the first place. “Is it my own limiting beliefs because I used to judge mums? Is it because society judges us? Is it a pressure to have to prove ourselves? That we are more than *just* a mum. Even though it's one of the most underestimated roles ever. But also, who do I need to prove myself to?”.
“And so i tell myself to stop worrying. To live in the present. The present is so lovely. I'll only have a baby for such a short amount of time”.
“I'm still an awesome DJ. I'm still passionate about politics. I still care deeply about empowering women. I'm still all of the things I was. But right now, it's ok to be exactly where I am”, the former reality TV star added.
Many of Ashley’s Instagram followers headed to the comments to agree with her points, and shared their own experiences with feeling like they have to ‘prove themselves’ as mums and that they should be ‘doing more’ than they already are.
