I had a therapist tell me once that I was ‘functioning at a very high level’ — and she meant it as a compliment. I took it home and sat with it and eventually realized: functioning at a high level is not the same as thriving. And for a long time, I had confused the two.
Mom life — especially founder mom life — is very good at producing high-functioning women who are quietly underwater.
You build the business. You pack the lunches. You handle the school stuff and the logistics and the brand strategy and the content calendar and the contractor invoices. You smile at pickup. You show up. You function at a very high level.
And then you get in the car at the end of the day and you feel nothing. Or everything. Depending on the week.
“Struggling mentally while thriving professionally is a thing. You can be building something incredible and also be in pain.”
I started taking my mental health seriously — like, really seriously — a couple of years ago. That meant actual therapy, not just venting to my friends (though also that). It meant looking at my relationship with anxiety and how it showed up in my business decisions, my parenting, my relationships. It meant being honest about the loneliness that can come with building something largely on your own.
Here’s what I want to normalize in the Mommish community: you can love your kids ferociously and also feel depleted. These things are not contradictions. They’re just life.
Therapy. Medication if you need it. Rest that you don’t earn — rest that you take because you’re a human being. Community. Movement. Honest conversation.
These aren’t luxuries. They’re infrastructure.
You matter. Not just as a mom. As a person. Start there.
— Christa, Founder of Mommish
