“If you've ever felt like you're the only one struggling with motherhood, this book is for you.” —Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play From a maternal mental health specialist comes an empowering guide to help reshape your internalized expectations and beliefs around motherhood. Every mom wants to be a good parent—but if you’ve found yourself burned out and overwhelmed trying to be “the perfect mom,” you’re not alone. “We get handed a rulebook of motherhood without realizing it,” says Erica Djossa. “That rulebook comes with an invisible load—a world of mental and physical tasks that keeps us pushing toward perfection while barely being able to breathe.” With Releasing the Mother Load, this renowned parenting specialist shares a guide to help you break free from the crushing burden of unrealistic expectations and reclaim the joy of motherhood while staying true to your own values. As a therapist and the founder of the Momwell community, Erica has learned how many mothers from all backgrounds and walks of life feel trapped by modern motherhood. Here she dispels the falsehoods our culture has built around what it means to be a mom and shares practical, proven guidance for a more empowered approach to parenting, including: • What is the Mother Load? Where our expectations come from and why they don’t serve us or our children • Making the Mother Load visible—the true emotional and physical cost of the many jobs, habits, and beliefs we carry • Sharing the load—tools to establish strong boundaries, express your needs, and build a support system • Practical techniques and scripts to help you create a healthy, balanced, and enriching approach to motherhood “You can chart your own journey in a way that is freeing, feels right to you, and reignites passions and dreams that you thought had died when you began to put everyone else’s needs first,” says Erica Djossa. Here is a life-changing guide for developing a new vision of motherhood that lets you parent more freely and with greater fulfillment—so you can finally release the Mother Load.

Beloved author and blogger Meredith Ethington shares her experiences, heart, and wisdom for mothers everywhere in her newest book, The Mother Load. Taking an honest look at her own journey as a mother, Ethington presents pieces of advice for each moment of motherhood—the good, the bad, the ugly, and every part of the in-between. Filled with raw, honest anecdotes, Ethington’s portrayal of motherhood is fully transparent—at times humorous, at times painful—never shying away from the tougher subjects of motherhood that may often get pushed under the rug. While motherhood may often feel like an uphill battle, Ethington is here to guide mothers inward, where they are encouraged to reflect upon their own journeys as mothers. Ethington’s book provides readers with insights on topics such as: - Nurturing yourself and caring for your mental health - Letting go of the idea of a “road-map” for motherhood - Practicing gratitude - Releasing expectations - Prioritizing authenticity over perfection Ethington draws from her own experience to present the lessons she has learned along the way, including the importance of self-care, balance, and grace amidst the busy day-to-day routine of many mothers. With Ethington’s poignant, vulnerable perspective on motherhood, mothers everywhere will be encouraged that the load they carry is one they never have to carry alone.

"Motherload's core arguments are that security-seeking is the driving force of intensive mothering and that high expectation of security in the mother-child relationship--i.e. the motherload--is what makes mothering so difficult today. It further argues that the motherload, carried with every good intention to produce security through this one uniquely powerful relationship, can unintentionally undermine families' security. Strategies of producing security vary fundamentally along two dimensions. First, some strategies use mother-child connection as the primary security-producing tool whereas others use independence. Second, some strategies are intended to provide security to the child while others are aimed primarily at the mother's security. So, for example, one mother may use independence to create security for her child, and another may use connection to create security for herself. Motherload explores this variety of security strategies and argues against a one-size-fits-all understanding of intensive mothering. For each of these different strategies, I include a chapter to explore the various factors that predispose women toward mothering in that particular way, the family dynamics that security strategy tends to foster, and the early 'outcomes' associated with that strategy, including how the mother-child relationship itself tends to fare when a woman uses that strategy as versus another"--Provided by publisher.

A candid, humorous, and heartfelt guide to self-care in motherhood from a meditation expert and mother-of-five. Managing the Motherload is a practical system for sanity from a happy, ultra-productive, and sometimes tired mother of five. This five-part system will help readers create a life that they love while allowing all the items on their to-do list to flourish in their own time. In the book, meditation guide and popular YouTuber Rebekah "Bex" Borucki features her favorite healing and stress-reducing modalities, including her signature 4-minute meditations. Deeply personal, heartfelt stories of her struggles and tender moments raising five children are highlighted throughout the book. As a birth doula and meditation guide, Bex offers a wealth of personal and professional experience in managing the demands of motherhood and the need for self-care and stress management. "I want every woman who reads this book to come away with a feeling of confidence in finding her own way as a mother and a human being. Upon finishing the pages, the reader will have the know-how to create a path to happiness, freedom, and success that can be achieved not in spite of her tremendous responsibility as a mother but in total alignment with it." -- from the author

Juggling two young kids and a full-time job derailed me. This book put me back on track and even had me laughing. Thank you, Carly! Lisi Harrison, best-selling author of The Clique series, The Alphas series, and Monster High series. www.lisiharrison.com You need this book if you consider yourself lucky when you have time to shave both legs your kids think its odd when you spend more than a few hours with them you think running out the door counts as exercise youre having a more intimate relationship with your smart phone than your spouse you think putting on clean clothes is dressing up you look forward to your annual pap just to have some me time So many moms neglect themselves and their well-being because they think its the only way to take care of their family. After all, isnt that what a good mom does? Carly Cooper, a certified life coach for moms, shares her unique R.E.I.N.V.E.N.T. System that she created to help busy, stressed-out moms shift this backward perception and get back in touch with who they really are. Using practical advice, tips, strategies, and hands-on exercises, you are shown exactly how to become the best woman and mom you can be by learning to have more freedom, more sanity, and more time to enjoy it all.

"In this honest memoir, May recounts how she came to feel connected with her body again. It's a moving work for new moms about a subject that is often overlooked in conversations about postpartum depression." —Real Simple Molly Caro May grapples with questions of grief and rage as she undergoes several unexpected health issues after the birth of her first child. Body Full of Stars both reveals deeper truths about how disconnected many modern women are from their bodies and celebrates the greatest story of all time: mothers and daughters, partners and co–parents, and the feminine power surging beneath it all.