To the mothers who are also wives, ex-wives, widows, girlfriends, professionals who work out of the house, professionals who work in the home, daughters, grandmothers, sisters, caretakers, and/or insert label here: Take time to remember who you are this weekend.

Strip away the labels you’ve given yourself or allowed others to give you. Pare down to the essentials. Consider YOU and your identity. Remember your goals, your visions, your purpose and dreams for this life, regardless of age.

Children only remain children for so long. Families only need us in the caretaker capacity for a certain duration of time. Careers shift and change. Partners may change, leave or even die.

But at the center of it is you. Carve out time to consider that. Sit with it. Say hello to yourself and give yourself the hug you deserve that simply can’t come from anyone else.

Revisit the promises you’ve made for you and your future, and make new commitments to yourself. Beyond this Mother’s Day, strive to meet your own expectations.

The young people around us will come and go and have their own lives to manage eventually. But for us? We will be with ourselves until the end of time.

Consider this permission to do a bit of self-mothering this weekend. Because before we were moms, we were ourselves.