To the Overwhelmed Mom Who Thinks She’s Failing: It Gets Easier
In honor of Mother’s Day, I’d like to give a shout out to all the new mothers out there who feel like you’re struggling as you try to do everything – all at once – perfectly.
IT GETS EASIER
I started blogging when my daughter was four and my son was two and potty training. (They’re now 18 and 16.) My doctor told me I was borderline obese, my business was failing, my marriage was shaky and that’s when I got the invitation to my 20th high school reunion. Because God has a sense of humor.
In an act of sheer desperation, I entered a bodybuilding competition knowing absolutely NOTHING about what I was getting myself into. It changed my life forever.
Eventually, my blog posts got turned into a book, She’s Losing It! which is like a Rocky for moms.
New Mom Encouragement / Realistic Motherhood
To the mom who has somehow found this blog post in your feed: You are a rock star, even when you don’t feel like you are.
An excerpt from She’s Losing It, a quirky little memoir about weight loss, bodybuilding and dealing with small children
IT GETS EASIER
Later that day, it’s time to leave nursery school, only my kids don’t want to go home. We are in the common area with all the other well-behaved children and their ubermoms who have stopped by to have lunch with their kids.
The other children were making advanced robotics and speaking fluently in Chinese and Farsi.
My kids?
One was having the mother of all temper tantrums, and the other was literally running in circles holding a Lego.
Bending over to try to get the one child off the floor, it began to rain Cheerios from the overstuffed (and apparently open) diaper bag on my shoulder, and my shirt flew up, exposing to the world that even though my “baby” was two years old, I am still wearing maternity pants because I can’t shake the weight.
My face gets redder and redder from anger and embarrassment and I yell at myself internally.
Why can’t I get my act together? All the other kids don’t seem to have a problem! I read the parenting books! I watched Super Nanny! Why are all the other moms so much better at this than me?
I know their success is not my failure, but in this moment in time, I feel like the most incompetent woman on the planet.
Two moms with older kids are sitting on chairs and watching me. I must look a sight. One of the moms kneels down and helps me pick up the Cheerios. She says to me kindly, “It gets easier.”
Tears of gratitude filled my eyes because “easier” is something I can look forward to. Suddenly, it was instantly easier knowing that these other moms weren’t judging me, they were empathizing with me.
“I’m entering a bodybuilding competition,” I blurt out, for inexplicable reasons.
“Wait, what?” she asks straightening up.
“I’m going to do a bikini competition called the Texas Shredder in April.”
“Lisa that’s . . . awesome!”
***
At the time, I thought entering a bodybuilding competition was about losing weight. Looking back, I realize it was really about reclaiming confidence, identity, and hope during one of the hardest seasons of motherhood.
Hang in there! It gets easier.
Lisa 😉
Copyright (c) Lisa A. Traugott 2014-2026. All rights reserved.
