What Really Happens When Mums “Push Through” Their Emotions

So many mums comment on my TikTok & Instagram posts saying:
“Yes it’s hard… but we don’t have a choice. We just push through, have a quick cry, and get on with it.”

I want you to know something important:
I see you. I was you.

For years, I believed that pushing through was what made me strong. I thought motherhood was supposed to feel like survival mode — like I was always one moment away from falling apart, but still holding everything together on sheer force of will.

But there’s a truth many mums don’t realise:
Your body always keeps the score. And it will always tell the truth before your mouth ever does.

What ‘Pushing Through’ Really Does to a Mum’s Body

When mums say they “just push through,” they don’t mean they feel fine. They mean they’re overriding their internal alarm system.

Biologically, this is what happens:

• Your sympathetic nervous system goes into chronic activation

• Cortisol stays elevated far longer than your body can safely tolerate

• Emotional energy that should move through the body gets stored inside the body

• The brain shifts from connection → survival mode

• Your capacity to regulate your child’s emotions decreases dramatically

This isn’t you “failing.”
This is your biology doing what it’s wired to do under chronic stress.

When we skip the emotional processing and jump straight into functioning, the nervous system never gets to complete the stress cycle — and unfinished stress always demands repayment.

The Hidden Symptoms of Suppressed Stress

If you’ve ever felt:

• Sudden rage that comes out of nowhere

• Emotional numbness

• Panic attacks or chest tightness

• Feeling disconnected from your kids, partner, or yourself

• Exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix

• Brain fog and irritability

• A constant feeling of being “on edge”

These are not personality flaws.
These are physiological consequences of long-term emotional overload.

Your body isn’t betraying you.
It’s protecting you — the only way it knows how.

My Wake-Up Call (Your Body Always Speaks Loudest When You Don’t Listen)

For me, the breaking point wasn’t dramatic.
It was everyday motherhood — one too many sleepless nights, one too many meltdowns to co-regulate, one too many moments suppressing tears because “there’s no time for this.”

Then came:

• The unhealthy coping mechanisms 

• The panic

• The shutdown

• The emotional numbness

• The distance between me and the people I loved most

• The headaches and physical illnesses

It felt like my body had turned against me, when in reality, it was crying for a different way of living.

The Path Forward — Nervous System Rewiring Through The Anchored Mum Project

Healing doesn’t happen through willpower.
It happens through repatterning the nervous system, which is exactly why I created The Anchored Mum Project.

In this 6-week program, we don’t just talk about overwhelm — we train your body to respond differently.

Together we practice somatic tools that help you:

• Process emotions instead of suppressing them

• Complete the stress cycle safely and gently

• Bring your body out of survival mode

• Rebuild your window of tolerance

• Restore your connection with your children

• Feel calm even during chaos

Week by week, mums feel their body shift from:

reactive → responsive
disconnected → grounded
overwhelmed → anchored

This is not about forcing yourself to be strong.
This is about becoming regulated, resilient, and emotionally available — from the inside out.

You Deserve More Than Survival Mode

If you’re still the mum who cries in the bathroom, wipes her face, and keeps going…
I am not judging you.
I know you’re doing the best you can with the tools you currently have.

But when you’re ready to stop living in survival mode and start feeling present, connected, and genuinely alive again — there is another way.

I’m here when you’re ready.
And you don’t have to do this alone. 💙