The Oscars are here, and after watching Hamnet the other week (OMG! I haven’t cried so much in a movie in a long time!), I’m convinced and completely agree with the predictions: Jessie Buckley is 100% going to win for Best Actress.
Buckley is beyond captivating as Agnes Shakespeare in the film, and as Hannah-Rose Yee writes in this month’s issue of Vogue Australia, quoting Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Jessie’s able to hold the entire spectrum of human experience inside of her.”
And the same could be said for motherhood.
Motherhood opens us up like never before — it “cracks us open”, as Buckley describes in Yee’s article.
Suddenly, we feel everything more deeply — love, fear, joy, responsibility. And in the process, something shifts.
We are entirely reshaped — forced to become intentional with our time, energy, and priorities.
Success no longer means doing everything. Rather it means doing the things that matter most.
And whether we’re continuing to pursue ambition — or Oscar nominations — or putting aside our careers to care for our little ones, or doing it all, motherhood places us in our element like never before — at the core of what it means to be a woman.
At least that’s how it’s been for me.
Motherhood has transformed me, reshaped my ambition and brought me into my womanhood.
While I’m still driven to achieve career goals, that looks different now.
I’m no longer striving for perfection — I’m doing things that matter most.
Whether that be concentrating on work (during the 2 days a week that I do that), or running around after Miss A … or going on runs and taking up ballet classes — I’m unapologetically doing things on my terms, my way, the way it matters most to me and my family.
So, Buckley’s journey (as described in Yee’s feature) can apply to us all.
While we may not be on the road to Oscars glory, one way or another, we’re all in our element, however that may look.
Life might be “coming at [us] thick and fast”, as Yee writes quoting Buckley, and we may be “holding a [baby] bottle in one hand” while juggling career (or other goals) with the other, being in our element is about creating a life where both motherhood and everything else can co-exist — even if imperfectly.
xo G.
‘In Her Element’ by Hannah-Rose Yee features in the March 2026 issue of Vogue Australia magazine.
Feature image by: Photo by Josh Willink: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-black-and-grey-checkered-dress-shirt-carrying-baby-with-blue-cap-102170/.
editor, journalist, digital content creator with a background in nutrition & dietetics.
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