26 Inspiring Quotes on Motherhood and Mental Health
The psychological toll of motherhood can be great.
Protecting your mental health as a mom can be challenging. The demands of daily parenting often interfere with strategies we know support wellness. However, there is no more important task for a mother than to care for her own physical, psychological, and emotional well-being. Only from a full cup can she pour out the necessary care to support the growth of her children.
In celebration of motherhood and self-care, we’ve listed below some of our favorite quotes that capture the joys and trials of parenting and mental health.
But before we dive into the quotes, we wanted to remind you of three critical mental health truths moms must remember.
Mental Health Reminders for Mothers
Perfectionism isn’t possible. Remember, you don't have to be perfect. It's okay to make mistakes and learn from them. What matters is that you're doing your best.
You don’t have to be the perfect mother, you only need to be a good enough mother for your child to thrive. In fact, mental health professionals understand that a healthy amount of frustration and imperfection is a critical part of children’s development.
There is so much pressure on mothers to perform and live up to arbitrary standards set by their peers or even total strangers on the internet. But, perfection is an illusion. The moment you create the most ideal conditions for your child, the moment disappears as life happens and new variables emerge. Enneagram expert Suzanne Stabile likened perfectionism to an ice sculpture. She said, “It lasts only as long as there’s no change in the atmosphere.” Release yourself from the pursuit of perfectionism in parenting, knowing that in the gaps in your responsiveness to your child, you may be helping them develop a healthy understanding of how the world works.Self-care isn’t selfish. Remember, the more you honor your needs, the better you’ll be able to care for others.
One of our favorite quotes on self-care you’ll see in the list below comes from L.R. Knost. She says, “Taking care of yourself doesn't mean me first, it means me too.” Mothers who prioritize their own well-being understand that it’s not always about putting themselves first. Instead, self-care is about realizing they make the list! It’s important for mothers to prioritize their own needs and make time for activities that support their mental and emotional health. When a mother has her own needs met, she then has the margin and bandwidth to invest time, energy, and attention into meeting the needs of her children.
Model mothering, not martyrdom. There are no rewards or medals in parenting for neglecting yourself. Remember, witnessing constant self-sacrifice might set your children up for future failure.
Much of what children learn is caught, not taught. When mothers model martyrdom by consistently neglecting their own needs or desires for the needs or desires of others, they teach their kids to do the same. Glennon Doyle wrote succinctly, “When we call martyrdom love we teach our children that when love begins, life ends. This is why Jung suggested: There is no greater burden on a child than the unlived life of a parent.”
We love teaching kids to be generous with whatever resources are at their disposal. But we also want to teach children what it looks like to have healthy boundaries and take responsibility for providing for themselves. Mothers have the power to normalize healthy emotional responses by showing their children what it looks like to exist in the world with strong mental health.
If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression related to motherhood, you do not have to suffer alone. There are ways to overcome the pressures of parenting and the tension of juggling competing life demands. Reach out to our Care Coordinator today to schedule a free consultation and get help during this season of your life.
Quotes on Motherhood, Self-Care, and Mental Health
1.) “Behind every great kid is a mom who’s pretty sure she’s screwing it all up” -unknown
2.) “The very fact that you worry about being a good mom means that you already are one.” — Jodi Picoult
3.) "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." — Anne Lamott
4.) “You are worth the quiet moment. You are worth the deeper breaths and you are worth the time it takes to slow down, be still, and rest.” – Morgan Harper Nichols
5.) "When you can't find your purpose in a day, make it to look after yourself." — Dodie Clark
6.) "If you feel 'burnout' setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself." — Dalai Lama
7.) “Courage allows the successful woman to fail – and to learn powerful lessons from the failure – so that in the end, she didn’t fail at all.” — Maya Angelou
8.) “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” -Charles Spurgeon
9.) "Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment." — Stephen Covey
10.) "To be a good parent, you need to take care of yourself so you can have the physical and emotional energy to take care of your family." — Michelle Obama
11.) "The challenge is not to be perfect, it is to be whole." — Jane Fonda
12.) "Self-care is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation." — Audre Lorde
13.) “I've had three kids. And then after each child, I had a different experience. One kid, I had kind of mild postpartum and then one kid, I had severe postpartum where I had to take pretty heavy medication because I just wasn't thinking straight at all. And then I had one kid where I had no postpartum at all. … But I do think hormones are such an understudied and under, not understood, and I kept reaching out to my doctors for answers. ... So I have deep compassion for women who are, who are going through that and really always trying to help, you know, the people that I'm in touch with. And even my audience on Instagram and everything connected to people over that. Postpartum is very real. And there's so many resources that we just have to help each other find what they are and keep getting the word out there.” — Reese Witherspoon
14.) “Self-neglect is sacrificing yourself to serve others. Self-care is making sure that helping others doesn’t hurt you. Setting boundaries doesn’t mean you’re self-centered. It means you’re self-aware.” — Adam Grant
15.) “Our mothers always remain the strangest, craziest people we’ve ever met.” — Marguerite Duras
16.) “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.” — Oprah Winfrey
17.) “Perhaps it takes courage to raise children." — John Steinbeck
18.) “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” — Elizabeth Stone
19.) “Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, to put someone else’s happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you’re not sure what the right thing is… and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.” — Donna Ball
20.) “No one worries about you like your mother, and when she is gone, the world seems unsafe, things that happen unwieldy. You cannot turn to her anymore, and it changes your life forever.” — Adriana Trigiani
21.) “Don’t try and make children grow up to be like you, or they may do it.” — Russell Baker
22.) “Just because you become a mother, it doesn’t mean you lose who you are.” — Beyoncé
23.) “Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” — Linda Wooten
24.) “Taking care of yourself doesn't mean me first, it means me too.” ― L.R. Knost
25.) “A mother only does her children harm if she makes them the only concern of her life.” ― W. Somerset Maugham
26.) “When we call martyrdom love we teach our children that when love begins, life ends. This is why Jung suggested: There is no greater burden on a child than the unlived life of a parent.” ― Glennon Doyle
Schedule a free consultation for therapy, coaching, or medication management to get support for parenting at Healthy Minds NYC. Take our 2-minute Do I Need Therapy quiz to identify which service is best for your needs.
