Honest Motherhood: Finding Joy in the Hard Realities of Life

Decluttering Mom Guilt to Embrace Authenticity With Libby Ward 

Motherhood is often romanticized on social media, leading many moms to feel inadequate when they experience challenges. Yes, we all love our kids and wouldn’t trade them for the world, but sometimes it feels like we’re supposed to find tantrums, poop, and direct sneezes to the face fun…or ignore the fact that mom guilt is suffocating, certain lifelines fall short of our expectations, and systemic issues create a heavy mental load, financial strain, and exhausting pressure. 

So if you’ve ever felt the pressure to appear as if you have it all together, or guilty for not loving every aspect of motherhood, I want you to know you’re not alone.

On a recent episode of the Paring Down podcast, I sat down with mega-mom influencer Libby Ward to discuss finding joy in the hard parts of motherhood. One thing struck me over and over again was this:

Acknowledging the difficulties in motherhood helps us find authentic joy.

It sounds a bit counterintuitive, but it’s true.

As you’ll hear in the episode, Libby’s own motherhood journey initially felt isolating and shameful, partly because of comparison to the seemingly perfect lives of other moms in her personal community and online. Only when she started recognizing and sharing the hard parts of motherhood did Libby discover she wasn’t alone. 

At the time she started showing up online, no one was speaking honestly about the hard parts. But what started out as a way for her to express herself honestly soon brought her closer to other moms who felt similarly, creating a supportive, authentic community. Over time she acknowledged that being so honest helped her feel empowered and find authentic joy, and her fast-growing following proved that so many moms yearn for this level of realness-meets-joy.

Hardship and joy coexist in life.

Embracing this duality helps us understand and appreciate the full experience of parenthood without shame. As Libby shares in her book, Honest Motherhood, she shoved the hard feelings down and leaned into pleasing people, which only made the difficult parts of motherhood worse.

Through being authentic with herself and the world, she learned that all the feelings she had were valid, and the only way to work through them was to accept herself, her circumstances, and her own goodness that doesn’t rely on perfection. When all the feelings are felt, every emotion gets its chance to be present. And once that happens, we get to be present— present as humans with real needs that must be met in order to show up as the moms we want to be.

Listen to the Full Episode 148: Finding Joy When Motherhood is Hard With Libby Ward:

• Spotify
• Apple
• Watch on Youtube

Libby Ward is a mother of two, a content creator, and the author of “Honest Motherhood“. She started sharing her experiences on social media to support other moms who might be feeling alone in their struggles. Libby’s authenticity and openness have resonated with many, making her a relatable voice in the motherhood conversation.

• Get Libby’s new book: Honest Motherhood
• Visit her website: Libbyward.com
• Find Libby on Instagram: @LibbyWard 
• Find Libby on TikTok: @LibbyWardOfficial