When Overwhelm Feels like Laziness: The Truth About Mom Burnout

Maybe you were scrolling on social media during a late night feed with a sleepy newborn. Or it could have been the perfectly designed playroom your child gushed about after a playdate. We’re constantly bombarded with examples and images of perfectly styled homes, outfits, and lives. Slowly (or maybe all at once) the guilt creeps in and you find yourself comparing and even competing with other moms. “Why can’t I keep up?”

What feels like laziness is often burnout

 What burnout actually looks like

Whether you’re working outside or inside the home, the visible and invisible labor starts adding up as soon as your feet hit the floor. Nursing, pumping, bottle prepping, lunch making, clothes washing (and drying and folding), drop-offs, appointments, field trips, work deadlines, client calls, practices, forgotten instruments, mystery rashes… you get the picture. Adding up everything we do in a day to keep the balls in the air quickly shows that it’s rarely laziness we’re facing. It’s burnout.

Why moms blame themselves

We spend so much time and energy on parenting and keeping our personal and professional lives humming along that when things don’t go to plan, our default reaction is often to blame ourselves. After all, who else could possibly be at fault?! Hint: There may not be any blame to place to begin with.

The pressure culture of motherhood

Hustle culture
The constant push to do more, be more, and make more has created a hustle culture that’s less about doing what’s right for your family and more about keeping up with everybody else.

Productivity obsession
Our fixation on making every moment as productive as possible has made even meeting basic needs for rest, hygiene, and self-care feel like a luxury.

“Do it all” myth
We’ve been sold the idea that if we work hard enough, we can have it all. It’s a nice idea that oversimplifies the reality of modern life and doesn’t account for individual family circumstances.

How burnout affects your wellbeing

Decision fatigue
From sun up to, well, whenever our head hits the pillow, we’re making decisions for ourselves and those around us at home and at work. And then we need to figure out what to make for dinner. While many of these decisions seem inconsequential, it continually adds to the mental load. When we run out of bandwidth, decision making can feel draining.

Gentle recovery practices

Micro-rest
Allowing time for breathing exercises, meditation, or a quick walk outside gives us a chance to rest our bodies or minds.

Boundaries
Setting boundaries like no texting at the dinner table or adhering to established work hours can help create the space needed to recover from the hustle of our day-to-day. Boundaries can also look like choosing a few enjoyable activities for kids to participate in without lining up commitments every day of the week.

Support
Support comes in many forms. For some it’s a trusted babysitter, a partner to lean on after a rough day, or a routine that helps keep the house in order where everyone pitches in.

Moms need support that meets them where they are and what works for one mama may not work for another. What the right support looks like may change over time, but creating support systems that work for your family can help lighten the mental load and free up bandwidth to be more present for yourself and your family. Dive deeper into this topic with Emily on the Mama Mode podcast as she sits down with career and wellness coach Kelly George, Ph.D., to discuss burnout and the power of making more room for yourself in the midst of busy personal and professional lives.

Ready to Lighten Your Mental Load?

The Mama Mode app and our free 7-day guided reset were created specifically for moms feeling overwhelmed with the mental load they’re carrying. With organizational tools, meditations specifically for moms, customizable routines, reminders, and even a chore distributor system, the Mama Mode app experience can be tailored to the needs of each user.

New users can try the app for free with a weeklong trial to explore the tools and features designed by a mom to support other moms on their motherhood journey. 

We’re in this together, mama.

MAMA MODE | FEB 25, 2026 | MAMA SUPPORT

Take the mental load off, mama.