Women today are fed up. What used to be the stuff of comedy—the harried mom in sweatpants and the messy bun—just isn’t funny anymore. Being everything to everyone is just too much pressure and the cracks are starting to show. Think of the number of times you’ve asked a woman how she was, only to hear, “I’m exhausted.” “I’m so stressed out.” “I’m just so busy.” Think of how many times you’ve said it yourself. 

Modern motherhood is something very different from what our grandmothers and mothers experienced. The pressure to produce the most healthy, balanced lunches for your children, enroll them in enriching extracurricular activities for just the right amount of days a week, the birthday party bonanza that must be photo-worthy of posting on social media, and the pressure to get your kids into the right school—these are today’s concerns. Add in work-life balance, disconnection from friends and families, and a healthy dose of social media–induced anxiety and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. No one can sustain this, but millions of women are living this way and doing themselves damage in the process, because constant exposure to this kind of stress causes you physical and emotional harm. This is what Mommy Burnout looks like. 

Dr. Sheryl Ziegler, a Denver-based child psychotherapist, learned after nineteen years of counseling families and children that while it’s generous to go above and beyond for your kids, the fallout goes beyond moms—husbands, partners, colleagues, and, most of all, children are feeling the effects, too. In Mommy Burnout, Dr. Ziegler shares insights on:

• How to identify if you are suffering from depression and anxiety that requires medication, or burnout, or all three
• How burnout can put marriages in jeopardy in surprising ways
• How working moms envy at-home moms, and at-home moms envy working moms, and their levels of dissatisfaction are surprisingly similar
• How your burnout makes your kids feel, and how it can even be contagious
• Why burnout makes you feel like your life has no purpose

So how do we stop the burnout cycle and protect our children from the damage?