Lately, something has been sitting with me. I’m hearing it from clients. I’m hearing it from friends. And if I’m honest, I’m feeling it myself… It’s this constant feeling of not doing enough. As a mom, as a partner, as a woman, it feels like life has become this endless cycle of doing. Work. Clean. Make supper. Feed everyone. Take care of the kids. Take care of the house. Build the business. Answer the messages. Remember the appointments. Think ahead. Plan. Organize. Provide. Do. Do. Do. And somehow, even after doing all of that, there’s still this quiet voice whispering… “You should be doing more.” Even when I finally sit down, I don’t actually relax. I immediately start thinking about what I should be doing instead. The laundry. The dishes. The email I forgot. The business idea. The garden. The groceries. It’s almost like somewhere along the way we learned that simply existing isn’t enough. That rest has to be earned. That productivity somehow determines our worth. And I don’t know when that happened. I don’t know who taught us that. But I know I’m not the only one carrying it. The more conversations I have with women, the more I hear the same thing. They’re exhausted. Not because one particular thing is hard.
Because everything is. Modern womanhood feels… heavy. We’re expected to contribute financially. Be present mothers. Supportive partners. Keep a clean home. Take care of ourselves. Exercise. Eat well. Build meaningful friendships. Show up at school events. Volunteer. Be emotionally available. Smile. Be grateful. Be ambitious. Be calm. Be patient. Be everything. And somehow make it all look effortless. It’s no wonder so many of us feel like we’re falling short. Lately, I’ve also found myself wondering if part of this comes from living in constant action. Always planning, solving, producing, moving. I’ve heard people describe this as living mostly in our masculine energy. To be honest… I’m still figuring out what I think about that. What even is feminine energy? Is it softness? Presence? Receiving? Creating? Trusting? Resting? Intuition? And if it is… where does it fit in a world that seems to reward doing more over being more? How do we find balance? How do we allow ourselves to slow down without feeling guilty? How do we stop believing that our value comes from how much we accomplish? And what does it look like for the masculine people in our lives to step into their own strengths while we reconnect with ours? Is that even possible anymore?
I honestly don’t know. These aren’t questions I have answers to. They’re questions I’m living. Questions I’m noticing, that keep showing up. Sometimes I wonder if I’m overthinking all of it. Maybe I’m just being emotional or making something out of nothing. Then I hear another woman say almost the exact same thing I’ve been thinking. And I realize… Maybe it’s not just me… Maybe this is something many of us are quietly carrying. Something we don’t always say out loud because we’re worried someone will tell us we’re being dramatic. Or ungrateful. Or weak. But what if naming it is actually where things begin to change? What if talking about it allows someone else to finally exhale and think, “Me too.” I don’t have a list of five ways to fix this. I don’t have the perfect morning routine. I don’t have a productivity hack. I’m simply noticing something that keeps showing up. And maybe that’s enough for today. Maybe awareness is the first step. Maybe giving ourselves permission to ask these questions matters just as much as finding the answers. So if you’ve been feeling like you’re constantly doing and still wondering if it’s enough… I see you.
I’m asking the same questions. And maybe, just maybe, we’re allowed to believe that who we are has always been enough, even on the days when we don’t accomplish everything on the list.