Why Mother’s Day Is The Best Time To Recalibrate as a High Achiever

Happy Mother’s Day to the women who are currently the CEO of literally everything.

I hope today involves someone else making the decisions and you getting to sit still long enough to actually enjoy the view. You do so much for everyone else that it is easy to forget you are allowed to have needs too.

But let's be honest about why it's so hard to actually sit still today. Professional women are the most over-committed and under-resourced people in the workforce and I have the receipts to prove it. We spend our lives managing complex systems at work and then come home to keep everything running smoothly for everyone else.

This Mother's Day, the reality is that most successful women just want a moment to breathe without being the point person for every single decision. You are exhausted because you have been trained to believe that high performance means saying yes to every request until you are running on empty. 

Start with acknowledging that trying to do it all is a cycle that eventually needs to stop for your own sake.

The High Cost Of Being The Reliable One

I spent forty years in the corporate world thinking my value was tied to how much I could carry without dropping a single ball.

Unfortunately, I am not the only one who experienced that. A friend once told me she spent an entire week before Mother's Day closing a massive deal while also coordinating a family gathering that she really didn't have the energy for. 

It was a lot to handle and it was a wake up call that she was trying to prove her worth by doing too much.

But that is the feedback loop we get stuck in when we are good at what we do. People keep giving you more because they know you will get it done.

Research on chronic stress shows that this level of persistent pressure actually changes how our brains process joy. You can find more about the long-term effects of high-stress environments at The American Psychological Association.

Why You Are Under Resourced At Home And Work

We are often the highest earners but still carry the highest mental load for the family schedule.

It is a recipe for a breakdown that we try to mask with expensive coffee and a better planner.

But a planner cannot fix a life that has too many entries and not enough blank space for yourself. 

Stop waiting for someone to give you permission to take a break or to hire the help you actually need. What you tolerate is what will continue. And you have been tolerating far too much for far too long.

Reframing The Mother’s Day Narrative

This holiday should be a reminder that you are a human being and not just a human doing.

It is time to step away from the performance of the perfect executive and the perfect mother for a moment. 

The world will not stop spinning if you decide to rest. In fact, people might actually learn how to be resourceful if you stop being their constant safety net.

But you have to be willing to sit with the discomfort of not being needed for a few hours. It is the only way to get your life back and start feeling like yourself again. Take the win today and let yourself be celebrated without feeling like you have to jump up and fix something.

Often, you think you’re stuck because of your workload or your calendar, but the root cause is usually a cycle of over-commitment you haven't even looked at yet. If you've experienced this too, let's have a 30-minute conversation to find the actual "off" switch so you can lead your life without losing your mind.