It is Mother’s Day. The day we celebrate all things Mom.

Social media is flooded with images and postings of mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, and various other female family members from all walks of life.

It is a day set aside for us as mothers to cherish and celebrate our lives with our kids.

Motherhood is magical.

What happens when you, the mom, are not “feeling” it on Mother’s Day?

I hear commercials on the radio, “she’s the mother of your kids, the center of your world” and that doesn’t fit everyone. This narrative is not for everyone. Some moms feel as though they are barely holding themselves together, much less their families.

There feels like a competition in our social media world to prove we have the “best” mom, or that we are the “best” mom. Motherhood is hard. It is even harder when we start to compare ourselves to others and how they are managing to raise their own children, to manage their own motherhood.

It feels like Valentine’s Day. Let’s just tell and show are moms how we value them all the time, not just one day. The pressure to make the one day perfect is just too much. Kids will be themselves, dishes, laundry, life, in general, all continues to go on, even on a marked day.

Also, due to my mental makeup, I find myself reflecting, which leads to second-guessing, which leads to feeling pretty low. I find myself reading the amazing mom posts and wondering over and over if I am doing enough.

I woke up today, feeling pretty “blah.” I am aware that as a mom, I am supposed to feel cherished, special and all that. I don’t feel it.  I feel annoyed.  I feel stress left over from my work week. I feel pressure for the season of life that we are in (my brain just realized my oldest will be graduating 2 weeks from today). I feel tired.

I was not feeling the whole, “smile and present as a perfect family” today.

Because I am feeling all these things, I am also feeling inadequate, if I am honest.  What type of mom isn’t overjoyed to spend a day of pure magic with their offspring?

Some of the best mothers that I know do not feel that they are the best. They feel like they are barely keeping it together day in and day out.  This is the season I am in.

We lay it all on the line, every day. We find ways to make dinners happen. We attend sports, Arts, school events, church events, and more. Some of us go to work outside the home. Some of us work more than one job.

Then comes one day, and we are supposed to set it down, relax and have a Norman Rockwell type of day.  Sometimes, when that day rolls around, all the mom really wants to do it vacuum the living room and take a nap.

Today, I am not feeling Mother’s Day.

But oh, how I am loving these messy, crazy kids of mine. Whether the calendar is telling me to or not.