Serena Williams Shares an Airplane Stories Parents Can Relate To

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Feelings of motherhood come in different forms; it can be overwhelming, frustrating, and stressful; but it can also be the most wonderful and rewarding journey ever. Serena Williams, the 36-year-old tennis world champion, joined the motherhood train last year September when she had a daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

It has not been an easy feat being a working mother and she has been quite open with her struggles, taking to her Instagram handle to regularly share stories and encourage mothers going through the journey of motherhood. Following her social media, one would read her experiences as she battled with postpartum depression and the stress that comes with juggling a demanding career and being a mom.

With the birth of her baby, life became different from what she was used to, traveling inclusive. She shared that traveling with a little one was no picnic, sharing a recent travel experience with her daughter that was embarrassing to her and highly relatable. Olympia was a ball of energy and threw up all over Serena as she tried to calm her down and she shared the experience on Instagram alongside a cute photo of her and her baby. Definitely the nightmare of parents on flights!

Using the #ThisMama hashtag which is part of a partnership with Chase, in a bid to draw support from mothers who have faced similar experiences, mothers from all over the world were encouraged to share their motherhood stories. The hashtag has been trending on Twitter for some time–fans have responded to and can easily identify with her experience. Stories were submitted in thousands by different users narrating their poop and vomit experiences on different occasions, some quite funny and some downright horrifying! Fathers were not left out as she also encouraged fathers to share theirs.

Serena shared an advice that was given to her by her trainer which likened a baby to a plane. While it may sound quite ridiculous to compare a baby to a plane, the advice seems to be working for Serena.

She confessed that the advice was quite difficult to carry out but she was still in the learning phase. In a report by The Undefeated at a JPMorgan Chase event the previous week, Serena said

“He told me a baby is like a plane. When you are on the plane, the people tell you to put on your mask first before helping the other person beside you. And I realized I wasn’t putting on my mask first. I was constantly putting on – I was putting on her mask.”

From this, Serena is encouraging mothers to always remember that they matter too and they need to take care of themselves to be able to take care of their babies, without feeling guilty about doing so.

The proud mama posted an adorable photo of her daughter, captioned “did mama win?” Given her struggles on and off the court, it truly shows how this world champion is staying humble–even after a devastating loss at the US Open.