It’s exhausting to be needed all the time.

There, I said it. Got that off my chest.

Alright, so before anyone says the famous “you signed up for this!” line, let me stop you right there.

As mothers, we sign up for a lot. We know we do. We certainly don’t go into motherhood lightly. We know the immense amount of responsibility that goes into bringing children into our lives, regardless of the method in which that occurs.

We know this, sure. But while being needed 24/7 by our children is unbelievably rewarding and brings so much joy to our days, it is utterly draining.

It’s nonstop. It’s every single day. Sometimes, it’s all day.

It’s constantly having a little person either by your side or on your hip, tugging at your pant leg, or pulling the collar of your shirt.

It’s preparing breakfasts, lunches, or snacks, and dinners—often multiples—since it’s almost a guarantee that SOMEONE isn’t going to be pleased with what you prepared them.

It’s sitting on the toilet, thinking you finally have a moment to relieve your bladder that has been screaming at you for the last two hours, only to find the door busted open by your children, wondering why you weren’t there to answer their 4,256 questions.

It’s loud. It’s screaming into your ears. It’s fighting. It’s “mommy, mooommmyyy, MOOOOMMMMYYY” at increasing volume if you don’t answer within the first .03 seconds. It’s tantrums and the just-folded laundry now strewn about in a mess all over the living room floor.

It’s loving your children more than you could possibly express in words and wanting to do everything in your power for their happiness, but also feeling like your soul has been completely sucked out.

It’s slowly losing your identity, day by day. As you are now the snack-keeper, the booboo kisser, the tucker-inner, the story-reader, the play-pretender, the toy doctor, the make-believer, the game maker, the craft-inventor, and a trillion more titles.

But you’re also the safe space and the protector. You are the shoulder to cry on. You are the hugger-to-make-everything-better.

You are mama. You are mommy. You are mom.

Let me also say that if you also find it exhausting, you are NOT alone. Finding it exhausting does NOT make you a bad mother.

And no matter how exhausting that role may be, or how hard we pass out by 8 pm, or how awake we are at 3 am with momxiety, we’ll happily step up every single day.

This piece was originally published on the author's Facebook page.