Dear Reader,
Writing this month’s post was challenging. Usually, the topics I want to write about come naturally, almost always connected to the experiences and dilemmas that shape my journey as a mother. But now, it’s December, and I’m so tired. Are you feeling tired too?
I can hardly believe the year is over. 365 days have passed, and sometimes I wonder where all that time went. The everyday demands, the trips, the holiday celebrations, the interrupted nights, and the mornings that start far too early. And let’s not forget the endless mental lists we carry: what’s missing from the grocery list, the laundry that needs to be done, the vaccine we can’t forget, the work email that still hasn’t been answered. Sometimes, it feels like we’re carrying the world on our shoulders, yet we still feel like we’re never doing enough. And despite it all, we keep going.
Maternal exhaustion is an invisible weight—difficult to put into words, but easy to recognize in ourselves and others. And it’s not about the demands of our children, though those can be overwhelming. It’s about the overload of everything else that weighs on us: work obligations, managing the household, finances, social commitments, and taking care of those around us.
We live under the pressure of the modern ideal of motherhood—intensive, dedicated, and sovereign. This model places us, mothers, at the center of every family decision, as strategists, planners, and often executors tasked with achieving perfection and total devotion. But this expectation ignores an essential truth: we are human. We have limits, vulnerabilities, and needs of our own.
In the fast-paced lives we have, exhaustion often becomes something we learn to ignore. It’s a silent companion we carry without even realizing it. But I want to remind you—and myself—that we are not meant to be tireless.
So, I want to invite you to do something simple but powerful: take a pause. I know the end of the year brings even more demands, but there is strength in the small breaks. These moments of pause are not indulgences; they are essential. They help us refuel and remind us that we don’t have to carry everything alone.
You are not alone, dear reader. May the new year bring more moments to breathe, more opportunities to pause, and the courage to allow ourselves to ask for help and, why not, let a few plates drop.
