Navigating Motherhood Without Your Mother
Are you navigating the wild ride of motherhood without the support of your mother? When your mom is absent due to estrangement, illness, distance, or loss, the journey of motherhood can feel especially heavy and heart-wrenching.
Navigating Motherhood Without Your Mother is the go-to podcast for moms who lack maternal support and desire to make peace with the past, build confidence in their present role, and break harmful generational patterns for the future. This show empowers moms to achieve lasting results, such as improved emotional regulation, breaking cycles of dysfunction, and fostering a healthy family environment.
Alyssa Carlene, your host, is a dedicated mom on a mission. With emotional depth and passion drawn from her transformative journey, she proves that the absence of a motherly figure can make you stronger—and that you don't have to face this path alone. Through her 5-step ROOTS framework, listeners will learn to Recognize harmful patterns, Own their stories, Open their hearts to forgiveness, Transform limiting beliefs, and Set new boundaries.
If you've been asking questions like:
- How can I make peace with the past and be the best parent for my children?
- How can I build confidence in my present role as a mother?
- What can I do to break unhealthy and harmful generational cycles?
- How do I set healthy boundaries with my mother and/or other family members?
- What are ways I can foster emotional resilience?
- Where can I find support navigating motherhood without my mom?
- What are the potential root causes of my chronic pain and mental health struggles?
- How can I create a healthier and stable home environment for my family?
- What are some alternative methods for overcoming the wounds of my past?
- How do I stop people pleasing so I can better care for my needs?
- How can I open my heart to forgiveness to move forward and continue healing myself?
Are you ready to transform yourself and cultivate the loving home you’ve always dreamed of and deserve? Then this show is for you!
Navigating Motherhood Without Your Mother
22. Encouragement for the Days You're Barely Holding On
Feeling like you’re running on empty as a mom?
This short and gentle episode is a love letter to the mom who's exhausted, overwhelmed, and barely holding it all together. If you're in survival mode, this is your reminder that you’re not alone. You’re still enough, and you don’t have to do it all to be worthy of rest and love.
Listen to the episode to answer the following questions:
- What can I do when I feel like I have nothing left to give?
- How do I remind myself that I’m enough, even on my hardest days?
- Is it normal to feel this tired and still love my children deeply?
- Can I let go of the guilt I feel when I’m not doing “all the things”?
- Where can I turn for support when navigating motherhood without my mother?
1. Want to join a supportive, heartfelt community with other moms who are also navigating motherhood without their mothers? Join our Facebook Group today!
2. Are you ready to build confidence and emotional resilience as a mom, even without the support of your mother? Access the free video training now: Five Steps to Navigating Motherhood Without Your Mother!
3. Want to chat more about what it's like to mother without your mom and get personalized support? Send Alyssa Carlene a DM on Instagram!
The other day, my sister-in-law sent me a video on Instagram of a mom who decided that she was going to count with one of those tally clickers. How many times her kids said mom, mommy, mama, mom, all throughout the day. And by the end of the video, it was 404 times. Mind you that she was gone for maybe... two or three hours so it could have been more but it just was this blatant reality of how emotionally taxing it can feel as a mom when you have kids who constantly need you and today's episode is for Moms who feel like they're just running on empty, they're barely hanging on because I feel you, I'm with you, and it's going to be super light, super encouraging and supportive because at the end of the day, we're all in this together and it's okay to feel like it's not okay in the moment. You're listening to Navigating Motherhood Without Your Mother. Here, we help moms with young children who lack support from their mothers to make peace with the past, build confidence in their present role, and break harmful generational patterns for the future through the five-step Roots Framework. My name is Alyssa Carlene. I am a motherhood empowerment and generational healing coach. My mission is to help you discover the root causes of your struggles so you can foster emotional resilience and create a healthy, loving home environment for your family. Please remember that my podcast content is for educational purposes only and should never replace proper medical and mental health guidance from licensed professionals. Let's get started. Hey mama, if you're listening, you're probably exhausted. You might be fighting and battling mental health struggles, feeling like you're hanging by a thread. I've had all the thoughts, I've had all the feelings, and I myself am feeling this way. It's kind of built up over time. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I just weaned my baby from breastfeeding and my hormones are all over the place. I also found out some news about my mother and her living situation and her decline and her already very severe mental illness and mental health. So there's just been a lot of things that have really been... Piling, piling up, and I've felt this need to do a lighter episode today. Light in the sense that it's not going to be long. It's going to be pretty short, but maybe a little heavier in that we feel a lot of pressure as moms. We feel the weight of life. And that emotional, mental toll of our own well-being while taking care of others and not having our mom to fall back to. Today on Threads, I asked specifically if there were moms who can't turn to their mom, who do they turn to? And a lot of people said, you know, I turned to my mother-in-law. I turned to, you know, moms who have been doing it for so long. I turned to this person and that. And it was really good to see that people feel like they have outlets because sometimes it's hard. It's hard to find that maternal support when you need it. And if you're running on empty and feeling not only mentally exhausted, but physically exhausted or sleep deprived or whatever it may be, it's really hard and today I've had to take a step back and let myself feel a lot of emotions let myself feel pretty angry and you know like having that honest moment with myself and even with you it's like you know I'm tired it's not this you know I need a nap it's like I am emotionally tired I'm mentally tired and it's felt like life is you know asking for more my kids are asking for more other people around me are asking for more and it feels some days like I have nothing left to give I felt like it was important to bring some of my own personal experience but also to bring you some gentle reminders like you don't have to do this all perfectly and that you can take the day moment by moment Honestly, one of the best parts about life for me personally, and I'm sure other people feel the same way, is the fact that the day turns to night and then the night turns to day again. And it's a brand new day. And some days are really messy. And even if you're messy and you're lashing out and you're making mistakes, your love is enough. And if all you did today was you kept your kids fed and and safe you did a lot because your worth is not measured in your productivity and if you're mentally feeling low your worth is not dependent on that either I think I'll get on social media sometimes and I'll see these moms who look like they've got everything together and they're positive and they're teaching other moms and it's hard and sometimes I start to put feel down on myself put myself down like man I should be better and the reality is that We are all in it and social media is not real and we are figuring this out and that's okay. I just really wanted to do a little guided reflection because wherever you are, if you have a minute to close your eyes and take a deep breath, this could be really valuable. And if not, keep listening, just listen and really listen with intent. But I want you to Close your eyes. And I'm going to do this too. And take a deep breath. And I want you to just think of one thing that you've done this week that you're proud of, no matter how small. Okay? Think about that. And if you have that in your mind, hold it close. And then what would you say to your best friend or the person you trust the most in your life, the person you share everything with? If she was feeling this way, like you, what would you say? And then in turn, return it to yourself. So for me, if I was going to tell this to someone I really cared about, I would say, you've had a rough day. You've had a rough time. It's been really hard. Your body is functioning on very little sleep. Your body is functioning on mental exhaustion and fatigue. You lack support from your mother. and you're trying to be the best mom, but sometimes you put too much pressure on yourself. And it's okay to feel the emotions that you're feeling and to know that today will end and tomorrow will come. It'll be a new day with new opportunities. So just know that you are doing much better than you think. And if you need a sign to rest, take this as your sign. to take it easy. Maybe it's not necessarily taking a nap or resting physically, but mentally taking it easy and knowing that you're not alone and feeling like you're just barely hanging on, hanging by a thread, running on empty. It's so important that we have these vulnerable, honest conversations and There's going to be a lot more Because I think we get so caught up in comparing ourselves to other people and their lives and what we see online or what we see around us and friends and family that we forget to be vulnerable. We forget to share our honest thoughts. And if I could share that with you and help you feel better and you can share some of your honest life circumstances and scenarios and help someone else, that's an amazing thing. So I hope that you know that you're not alone and that you really, like I said, are doing so much better than you think. It's okay to feel the emotions and it's okay to feel like you don't have it all together. And if you don't have it all together, that's okay too because none of us do. So even on empty, you're enough. Thanks for listening. Can't wait to see you in the Facebook group and stay tuned for another episode next week.