08/11/2026
Have you ever felt insane mom guilt leaving your kids at home with their dad to go have fun with friends?
I did. Once upon a time, I wouldn’t even allow myself to do it.
Somewhere along the way, I had picked up this idea that being a good mom meant always being available, always putting everyone else first, and certainly not disappearing for a weekend simply because I wanted to enjoy myself.
Funny enough, I was perfectly capable of leaving for a workshop, a conference, or something related to work or education. That was “productive.” That had a purpose, so that was allowed. But leaving for fun felt selfish.
It didn’t change overnight. I didn’t suddenly wake up one day free of guilt and book a girls’ weekend.
It happened slowly.
First, I learned that my family was perfectly fine without me for a day. That bruised my ego a little. 😆 Then I learned that my husband is, in fact, fully capable of parenting his own children.
I also learned that being away from my family doesn’t mean I love them any less.
More importantly, I began questioning why work and productivity felt like acceptable reasons to leave, while joy somehow didn’t. Why did something have to make me smarter, more valuable, or more useful to be worthy of my time?
As I grow and mature, it’s becoming clearer to me that sometimes the purpose can simply be happiness. Friendship. Rest. A long dinner. Being a woman with people she loves, without needing to be Mom for a little while. Then coming home genuinely happy to see everyone again.
At the end of the day, every mom is also a human being. We need moments when the responsibilities aren’t sitting entirely on our shoulders.
Sometimes it’s perfectly okay to lean on our support system like our partners or husbands, however imperfect their cooking and cleaning skills may be 😂, and sometimes in my case, my mom, who happily gets extra time with her grandkids on these occasions.
Growth doesn’t always look like accomplishing more. Sometimes it looks like finally allowing yourself to enjoy the life you worked so hard to build.
And if none of that makes you feel better, just remember this: turtles lay their eggs and basically say, “Best of luck, babies. Buh-bye.”
So comparatively speaking, us Mom are doing pretty good. 😆🥂💆🏻♀️✨
