Are you in an emotional person? I don’t think that I am a very emotional person – or more to the point, I don’t cry very often. I think I’m happy the majority of the time and am normally pretty level headed. I don’t ride big waves of emotion {maybe only having 3 periods in 5 years might have something to do with it?}. I keep most feelings to myself and have a ‘just get on with it all’ attitude.

Growing up, I didn’t come from an ’emotional household’ – which is a little ironic, when you live with a younger sister and a gay brother. My mum wasn’t/isn’t an emotional person. In fact, growing up I don’t think I ever saw my mom cry.

Actually in our family we had a joke that when you were ’emotional’ you got a sympathy pat on the back – rather then a hug.

I think that I’ve had a pretty intense year. We moved into state. We had a third child. And we started a new business. My husband has spent the majority of the time working, which has left me at home doing the brunt of the parenting work. I’m not complaining, in fact it’s what I feel I was born to do. But at times, my husband has said that I’ve been ’emotional’.

It’s kind of grinds my gears when my husband calls me ’emotional’, because I know that I am not very emotional. I often comment to him that I’m not emotional in the scheme of things. And then he replies that if I was more emotional than we wouldn’t be together.

Having children 24/7 is like working in a pressure cooker situation. And so I think that I should be cut a little slack when I do seem to get ’emotional’ or maybe more to the point ’emotionally drained’.

I’ve read that what drives human beings everyday is the motivation to accomplish something. We wake up every morning to embark on the journey towards our goals in life. Emotional exhaustion can deplete that motivation to take the initiative towards a goal and leave you psychologically paralyzed, even though you are still a physically functioning human being.

I think my biggest goal in life is to be a good Mum. I just want to do the best for my kids and for them to be happy and healthy people. But sometimes the guilt of thinking that you aren’t doing the right thing or making the right choices in paralyzing. Or just the mental drain of organising three other people {on your own}.

I saw that Lauren from The Thud published a new article the other night called ‘stop telling me to cherish every moment’. And I just wanted to reiterate that motherhood is emotionally draining. Not all moments are ENJOYABLE {insert lots of happy emojis #blessed}. I mean, yes, I am blessed to be a mum and I am grateful for my boys EVERY DAY! But some stuff is hard and some stuff is emotionally draining and some times you just need to have a good cry or you will loose your marbles.

And new Mums need to be aware of this – and know that if they’re experiencing a crappy day or week or month that it’s NORMAL and it’s okay to ask for help. Ask your Mum or your sister or a friend or your MACH nurse or someone from your Mum’s Group – I always find it helps to find someone who has children of a similar age, because they will really understand what you’re going through.

Literally, one of my best ‘Mum friends’ is a women who I went up to at ‘Paint and Play’ in Canberra and said ‘can I buy you a coffee?’ Our love of coffee and bringing our children to paint and play drew us together and it turns out we had a lot in common.

I know motherhood can seem isolating sometimes, but you need to find your people. Just to talk, unload, ‘be emotional’ with. Your husband may be your best friend – but they don’t think like women do, and sometimes you’ll just want to talk and they’ll think that it means that they need to ‘fix your problems’.

So tell me, how emotional do you think you are in the scheme of things? Where did you find your ‘village’ to help you thrive at motherhood? Who is your greatest support? Do you think sometimes you just need a big cry and then you feel better?