Professional exhaustion is real – and we must continue to talk about it

What is professional exhaustion?

Professional exhaustion is not only for companies. These are not only late deadlines and nights and reception boxes. It is emotional exhaustion. And no one is more vulnerable to this than parents – especially mothers. Because this work is never done. There is no out-of-she. No annual leave. No one else to take over.

Last week, I found myself in the depths of the Minecraft experience – literally, guys, not metaphorically. It was super fun and my children were next to them with happiness.

But it was also dark, immersive, warm, chaotic and I was on the second day of my period (iykyk), operating on about 40%, if that. I hadn’t eaten enough. I hadn’t had enough water. I scratched on smoke and good intentions. And when we went out on the other side, and my daughter asked gently if she could paint my nails with the little bag she had brought, I just broke.

I became so motivated. Not glaring, not dramatic – just flat, effiloche, irritable. I said “no” too abruptly, I looked at her face falling, then I felt this now familiar wave of guilt. I wanted to be warm and open. Instead, I was wiped and extinguished. It is also professional exhaustion.

It is death by a thousand cuts: an end of the evening here, a medical request there, a WhatsApp family who needs to answer, a party to organize, a list of invisible tasks that works in the background of your brain, even in dreams.

And then you find yourself watching your phone at 9 p.m., not even crying – I scroll, empty.

Here is the thing. I know I’m a good mom. I really do it. I do crafts. I plan the adventures. I introduce myself. I listen to. I apologize when I’m wrong. I build in small moments of joy, even when I am tired. I continue.

But even the big mothers are exhausted.

Even big mothers need a break.

Even the big mothers say yes too much, go to their children, translate, want silence, fear school pickup, wake up numb on Christmas day or shop just for 20 minutes.

Professional exhaustion is real. And it’s absolutely a maternal mental health problem.