You’re Not Crazy, You’re Exhausted: How Society Set Moms Up to Burn Out (and What the Hell We Can Do About It)
Let’s get one thing straight, right out of the gate: you are not crazy for being tired all the time.
You are not lazy. You are not “bad at time management.” You do not need another productivity planner or a 4AM wake-up routine that includes lemon water, burpees, and a gratitude meditation. (Unless you want that. In which case—bless your energy.)
You are tired because motherhood, as it stands today, is built to break women. Full stop.
Exhaustion Isn’t a Personal Failing—It’s a Systemic Setup
We’ve been sold the lie that if we just meal-prep better, or use the right essential oil blend, or say “no” more often, we’ll magically feel rested and rejuvenated. As if a bubble bath will erase centuries of systemic bullshit.
Spoiler alert: you are exhausted because you were never meant to do all of this alone.
Let’s zoom out and look at the big picture. We are parenting in a society that:
Glorifies overwork and burnout as if it’s a personality trait.
Offers zero structural support for postpartum recovery, mental health, or child-rearing.
Medicalizes and medicates moms the minute they say, “Hey, I don’t feel okay.”
Tells us to "enjoy every moment" while we haven’t peed alone since 2019.
Sound familiar?
The American medical system? Oh, you mean the one that tells moms to “just take the Zoloft” instead of looking at her nutrient deficiencies, hormone chaos, or actual life stressors? Yeah. That system. It's not broken—it’s functioning exactly as designed… and we’re the ones it's failing.
The Real Reasons Moms Are So Damn Tired
Let’s break this down. If you’re feeling like your body is betraying you or that your brain is melting into oatmeal, here’s a little list of reasons why that’s actually very reasonable:
1. You’re Always On
Even when you’re “off,” your brain is scanning for school forms, overdue dentist appointments, weird rashes, and that one birthday gift for the kid in your son's class whose name you still don’t know. This 24/7 mental load is like running a marathon in your mind… every. single. day.
2. Your Hormones Are Doing Cartwheels
Motherhood wrecks our hormones in ways the average OB-GYN will never talk about unless you bring it up and beg. Estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, thyroid—you name it. Add in birth control or postpartum shifts, and it’s like someone lit a match and threw it into your endocrine system.
3. You’re Malnourished (No, Really)
You might be eating three meals a day (cold, and standing, usually), but most moms are running on caffeine, toast crusts, and kid leftovers. Your body is begging for minerals, fats, protein, hydration, and probably magnesium. Not another Starbucks iced latte.
4. Sleep is a Mythical Creature
It’s not just about being woken up by a kid or a dog or your own spiraling thoughts. It’s about never getting into deep, restorative sleep because your nervous system is constantly on high alert. Moms don’t sleep—they monitor with their eyes closed.
5. You Have Zero Margin
You go from work to pickups to meals to tantrums to laundry to packing lunches to worrying about how you’re going to survive another day—without a single second to just sit and not be needed. There’s no time to recover because you’re never “off duty.”
6. You Were Never Given Tools to Actually Heal
And here’s the kicker—most of us were never taught how to truly care for ourselves. We were taught how to perform health. We were told to smile, bounce back, be grateful, and do it all with a Pinterest-worthy glow. But no one handed us tools for rebuilding our bodies after birth, managing our stress, or rebalancing after trauma or depletion. Just a "6-week postpartum checkup" where they ask if you’re still bleeding and then send you on your way.
Here’s the Good News (No, Really—There Is Some)
This is not how it has to be. You’re not powerless. In fact, you are the exact opposite of powerless.
You don’t need fixing—you need support. And maybe a nutrient-dense smoothie and a full night of sleep in a dark room without anyone breathing on you.
Taking your energy back starts with calling out the bullsh*t and stepping into your own authority. It’s time to stop outsourcing our sanity to systems that were never built with us in mind.
Here’s what you can do:
Start with nourishment: Eat real food. Protein, healthy fats, leafy greens. You need to be fed like a queen, not a raccoon scouring snack wrappers in the minivan.
Sleep like your life depends on it (because it does): Shut the screens off earlier. Prioritize rest over laundry. Buy blackout curtains. Lock the door.
Say no with zero guilt: Boundaries are not just self-care—they’re survival tools.
Ditch the energy vampires: That might be sugar, toxic people, over-scheduling, or another glass of wine that tanks your sleep.
Get your hormones and labs checked by someone who gets it: Spoiler: it’s not your average GP.
Find your village: Whether it’s online, in your neighborhood, or through a coaching group—connection is the antidote to burnout.
You Are Not the Problem—But You Are the Solution
You didn’t cause the chaos, but you are powerful enough to rise above it. Not by doing more. Not by pushing harder. But by rewriting the rules.
Rest is radical. Nourishment is rebellious. And moms who take back their energy are downright dangerous (in the best way possible).
