Mom Burnout

What is Burnout??

Burnout is chronic exposure to stress, feeling disconnected, feeling physically exhausted, and feeling ineffective in your role. This happens when we are stretched too thin.  When we are constantly giving and giving, without any time or space for ourselves and what we need to recharge. 

Up until 2018, the research surrounding parental burnout focused solely on parents of sick children.  Researchers took a look at parental burnout just a few years ago, and most of the research is pre-pandemic, mind you.  We have seen rates of burnout in our clinical practice increase tremendously and have personally felt the effects of burnout ourselves. 

 What we have seen in our clinical practice and heard from our Instagram community is that ___ are feeling burn out.  It is April 2021 that we are writing this and we have been living in a constant stress response for over a year now.  Restrictions still aren’t lifted in many areas of the world, contact with our supports, family, and friends look vastly different than it did a year ago. 

What are some signs of parental burnout?

Am I burned out?? I mean I am exhausted but could I actually be experiencing burnout??

 It feels like this but I’m not sure if it’s a lack of sleep, constant noise, or all of these hormones.. How do I know if I am burned out or just tired??

• You lack energy
• You feel you are dragging yourself from task to task
• You feel hopeless that you are going to feel better
• Difficulty acknowledging emotions
• Quick to anger
• Feelings of shame
• Doing something for yourself feels impossible
• No interest in being intimate with your partner
• Look forward to the end of the night where you numb through drinking
• Have no energy for conversations with friends and family
• You feel like you cannot muster up the energy to be engaged with your children

If this sounds like you or your partner, you may be suffering from a case of parental burnout and we are glad you have turned to our site. We got you.  We are going to give you practical, easy to implement strategies to help you get back to feeling like yourself.