Starting Therapy: Why It’s Okay If It Takes a Few Tries

Many mothers struggle to explain why they feel so exhausted, even on days when nothing particularly “big” happens. From the outside, it may look like they’re managing just fine. But internally, there is often a constant hum of responsibility that never fully turns off.

This is the invisible mental load of motherhood. And it takes a real toll.

Maternal rage isn’t constant anger. It often shows up as irritability, resentment, snapping, or feeling like your emotional fuse is much shorter than it used to be.

This doesn’t mean you are an angry person or a bad mother. It often means your nervous system is overwhelmed and stretched beyond capacity.

At some point after becoming a mother, many women feel an unspoken expectation to return to who they were before. Before pregnancy. Before birth. Before everything changed.

There’s pressure to feel like yourself again, to function the same way, to want the same things. And when that doesn’t happen, it’s easy to wonder if something is wrong.

The truth is, motherhood changes you. And that change is not a failure.

The start of a new year often brings pressure to set goals, improve habits, and somehow become a better version of yourself overnight. For many mothers, especially those in demanding or tender seasons, that pressure can feel more overwhelming than motivating.

Motherhood has a way of teaching lessons quietly. Not all at once. Not neatly. But deeply.