Life can be demanding and ever-consuming if you allow it.
What happens when mom never gets a break?
She breaks.
Here are some signs you might be pushing yourself too hard, and it’s time you take a break.
1. You Stop Believing In Yourself
Spending 99% of your day running around for everyone else will leave you zero energy to work on your goals and dreams.
Without the daily little wins and steps towards your goals in your corner, you can stop believing in yourself quickly.
Even small tasks can bring you to your knees.
This can also lead to low self-esteem.
2. Loss Of Identity
It’s easy to lose your identity as a mom when your life revolves around your kids, homelife, and work.
A loss of personal identity can stem from neglecting to take the time to figure out who you are, what motivates you, and what your likes and dislikes are.
It’s important to schedule time to embark on a self-discovery journey and always check in with yourself and better understand who you are.
3. Frequent Feelings Of Overwhelm
Do you have so much going on that feeling stressed and overwhelmed is a typical day?
Are you overwhelmed and barely able to deal with even the most minor stressors?
A busy life with too many demands and not enough breaks can lead to feeling like you’re drowning all the time. Work, family, and other obligations can sometimes be too much.
Working even harder to rectify the situation seems unreasonable when you feel you’re already working at total capacity.
4. Chronic Frustration
Frustration is the emotional response to the stress you’re feeling from not giving yourself time to relax.
The daily stress of constantly being on the go will compound your frustrations.
This is what happens when a mom never takes a break.
5. You Get Exhausted And Lethargic Feeling
You start to feel exhausted and lethargic daily, both physically and mentally.
Daily tasks that were once so easy to perform can now feel like you are trying to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
6. Emotionally Burnt Out
Always racing from one thing to another will undoubtedly cause emotional burnout at some point.
You’ll start feeling empty and mentally exhausted, devoid of motivation and beyond caring.
When experiencing emotional burnout, often, you don’t see any hope of positive change.
You are no longer drowning in your responsibilities; you feel all dried up.
7. You Feel Unappreciated
Without taking a break to treat yourself, intense feelings of being underappreciated will stem from all the unacknowledged and unseen hustle you do for your families.
You also underappreciate yourself when you don’t invest time in yourself.
How will you expect others to respect you when you don’t appreciate yourself and give yourself a break?
8. Lack Of Motivation
Lack of motivation is a common symptom of pushing yourself to the max without taking a break.
The stress caused by overworking yourself hinders your motivation and decreases your overall work productivity.
This is what happens when a mom never gets a break.
9. Loss Of Focus And Concentration
You’re unable to think logically, and your short-term memory turns mush.
Your once solid daily strategies start to fail and falter under low pressure. You no longer follow them or even realize they exist.
You wander through the tasks and trials of the day with no natural finish line or goals in mind.
It’s hard enough to achieve your goal and get stuff done as it is, but to do it without a plan is almost impossible.
You may lack motivation because you’re not leveraging powerful tools like affirmations or a schedule.
10. A Lack Of Confidence
When you don’t take the time to recharge, being emotionally drained takes a toll on your confidence level.
When you don’t allow your body and mind time to rest, it cant build back up the resources that help you feel confident.
This opens up room for insecurity also.
11. You Start To Feel Negative About Everything
You become your biggest cheerleader for all the negative thoughts running through your head when you don’t streak yourself to a break.
You will wake up one day a pessimistic, glass-half-empty gal.
Negativity can discourage you, increase stress, strain relationships, make you less productive, and reduce overall happiness.
12. Misplaced Anger Frequently Arises
“We feel all our emotions more intensely when we’re tired or sick,” explains Dr. Renshall.
Irritability and quick anger arise when you push yourself to the max without taking time for yourself.
Persistent feelings of anger will crop up and instigate constant battles with your temper.
Minor inconveniences send you over the edge, making it hard to remain patient and level-headed.
13. Resentment Sets In
Being too available to others and overly generous of yourself and your time can impact your self-worth and confidence.
While you’re busy attending to everyone else’s needs, you have most likely forgotten your own or given them a lower priority.
This may cause you to experience feelings of resentment towards situations and people, a growing irritation that you may be unable to express.
14. It's Hard To Sit Still
Stress and burnout from overworking yourself can make it hard for you to sit still.
You find yourself aimlessly fidgeting around, always looking for something, not able to sit and relax even when you want to.
15. Unhealthy Boundaries Surround You
Living with your family makes it easy to lose yourself, allowing you to be pulled in all directions.
When you have unhealthy boundaries in your relationships, with yourself and others, you are not respecting yourself and your time.
To prevent this from happening, set and communicate boundaries that relate to you taking time for yourself and using that time with other people or doing hobbies that you love by yourself.
16. Difficulty Sleeping At Night
Motherhood comes with a certain amount of loss of sleep.
However, when you chronically can’t sleep because it’s hard to turn off your brain and stop thinking about all the daily tasks you have going on, that’s a problem.
Worrying that you don’t have enough time in the day will keep you up at night, causing you to be less engaged, responsive, and present for your children during the day.
17. Guilt Seeps In
Mentally draining yourself by always working to the max without proper rest can cause chronic feelings of guilt in all areas of life.
You find your overwhelmed, exhausted self yelling at your kids; then you feel guilty.
You over-volunteered yourself to help out, so you feel guilty sitting your kids in front of the TV so you can get the work done.
When you spend time with the kids, you’re stressed about the past and the future, so you feel guilty for not being present with them.
All these feelings of guilt that go unchecked only compound over time. If left unaddressed, this inaction can lead to depression or other mental health issues.
18. When Mom Never gets A Break She Gets Stuck Living In The Past
Constantly ruminating on perceived shortcomings of the past is a sure way to burnout. Stop all the runn; things you wished you said; expect you didn’t say.
You may be circling back unnecessarily to previous similar attempts to achieve your goal and getting locked into how it didn’t work out so well that time.
Wipe the slate clean and move on—if you live in the past you’ll never be able to move successfully toward the future. You’re always on edge. No patience
19. Your Relationships Start To Suffer
What happens when mom never gets a break?
Your relationships start to suffer, especially the ones closest to you.
Not having a small circle of closely-knit friends is a prominent symptom of poor self-care.
Good friends are there through the good times and the bad and can be an invaluable part of your well-being.
Your friendships will hit the back burner when you constantly hustle without taking a break. You will start to feel isolated and withdrawn from your loved ones.
The loneliness and isolation from withdrawing from yourself will add stress and unfulfillment to your life.
Before long, social isolation will creep in.
20. Your Support Team Spirals Toward Negative People
What happens when mom never gets a break and never asks for the help she needs?
She starts to drown.
You’re not getting the support you need, and asking for help is hard.
Are the people around you supportive and checking in to see how you’re doing, or are they disparaging you are rarely around to lend a hand?
Consider spending less time with negative people who reduce your motivation and that drain your energy.
When you have a strong supportive group of people around you, it’s not as impossible to ask for help.
Chances are the right friends and family will be there, already volunteering their help.
21. You Start Feeling Personally Unfulfilled
Your actions don’t align with your core values, and you start to lose track of your purpose, gifts, and joy in life.
You may be grown and have a home and money in the bank, but you still feel that you have achieved nothing or not enough.
This could result from personal unfulfillment. Perhaps you can never complete what you want because you always do for others.
You have no energy to pursue a passion or may not find your current path rewarding.
You no longer find happiness in doing the things you love/enjoy.
22. Experience A Lack Of Joy In Life
Constantly living your life for others brings you no absolute pleasure; you’re just going through life without truly finding joy in the day-to-day moments.
You don’t stop to take in the views on your way to work, you don’t experience joy from little things your kids do, and you only look forward to going to bed.
Feeling as if life has no real purpose for you can not only be sad, but kick starts a cycle of negativity and can spiral into depression.
23. You Become Physically Ill
This is one of the more severe symptoms of not taking a break, as it directly affects your well-being on a physical level.
Lack of exercise and never relaxing boosts the likelihood of developing adverse health effects reduces the quality of life, and harms your appearance.
Some symptoms include:
- Low energy
- Headaches
- Upset stomach
- Insomnia
- Tend to be sick more often
24. You Develop Unhealthy Relationships With Food
What happens when mom never takes a break?
Chances are you will develop an unhealthy relationship with food.
You’ll eat all over the place at different times, go with unhealthy choices, and can also experience a loss of appetite.
Stress and constantly being on the move can also cause increased consumption of sugary bad foods.
25. You Start To Overthink And Question Everything You Do
Research suggests 73% of 25 to 35-year-olds chronically overthink, along with 52% of people ages 45 to 55.
Overthinking could be rumination, often involving persevering on past events and even the present with a negative mindset.
Most of the time, you don’t even realize you are overthinking.
Overthinking can increase stress, cloud clear thinking, and hinder you from moving forward positively.
26. You Become At Fault For EVERYTHING
You blame yourself for everything that goes wrong, especially when things don’t go as planned, even if the cause or events are beyond your control.
A pattern of self-blame leads a person to feel guilty and inferior, inhibiting them from becoming more creative and striving to do better.
Self-criticism deprives you of objectively looking at your own efforts or abilities. You will usually avoid taking the initiative.
You will not be able to engage in healthy self-reflection, allowing you to be more accepting of past mistakes.
Plus, you will punish yourself and never forgive yourself for your actual or made-up shortcomings.
If left unaddressed, this inaction can lead to depression or other mental health issues.
27. Inability To Think Straight
Not allowing yourself time to rest will undoubtedly fry your brain, resulting in subpar performance.
When your brain is overworked, and under strain, you cant concentrate on easy everyday tasks, you find yourself zoning out, and you start lacking fundamental problem-solving skills.
Brain fog symptoms include:
- Feelings of dazed and confused
- Headaches
- Thinking more slowly than normal
28. Your Home Becomes Chaotic
Your home may be a reflection of your mental state.
If you wake up one day and nothing in your home is in order, it can reflect your hectic, crazy, all-over-the-place brain.
Conclusion
What happens when mom never gets a break?
She breaks.
If you can identify with any of these feelings, it’s time for you to give yourself a break.
If you identify these symptoms in any of your friends, you should reach out and ask if they need help.
