“I feel like I don’t financially contribute enough to my family. I yell. A lot. I talk to God every week, but I haven’t been to church in years. I dye my hair when I’m feeling stressed.”

‘I messed up my eyebrows so bad I drew them on for years. I shave my face and toes.’: Woman shares candid truths about her insecurities to encourage others to live authentically

‘I wasn’t thankful last night. I can be a real witch at bedtime. It saddens so much to admit that.’: Mom ‘upset, frustrated’ kids climb in bed with her at night, ‘I threw in the towel’
“We’ll call bedtime ‘rest,’ because it sure as hell isn’t a good night’s sleep. So, when one of my kids can’t fall asleep, it freakin’ frustrates the heck out of me. Then I feel guilty because my poor child is frustrated she can’t sleep, and here I am, making it worse by getting upset with her. I wasn’t thankful last night. Nope. But then she puts her head on my chest.”

‘Hey friend, I’m coming over. Please don’t clean up. Please don’t dress up.’: Mom doesn’t want friend to ‘apologize’ for being messy, ‘don’t stress the mess’
“Get ready to answer your door. Please don’t apologize. Please don’t freeze up. Please don’t clam up. Please just BE. Allow me to do the same. If you need to whine, I’m all ears. If you need to wine, I’ll bring a bottle. I’m coming over to support, help, empathize and entertain. I’m not coming over to speculate, assess, criticize or mock.”

‘The last thing I wanted to do was hug her.’: Overwhelmed mom ‘swallows her pride’ to embrace daughter during meltdown, ‘they don’t need you to shame them’
“She had just bit me. And screamed at me. She wanted to be in control. So did I. But here I am, on the bathroom floor, engulfed in her embrace. I’m not innocent in all this. I was ignoring her. She lost it on me. ‘Do you need a hug?’ I sure did.”

‘I’m raising a Dollar Tree princess. She could get expensive. You may think, ‘Uh, heck no.’: Mom insists she’s going to raise budget-conscious kids as long as she possibly can
“Listen, I ain’t fancy. I like my purses from Walmart, my sandwiches from Subway, and my clothes from consignment. It’s a bit brazen, just like spending a dollar on something when you could spend $4 on the same dang thing elsewhere.”

‘To the men giving their wives all they’ve got, it’s not enough.’: Wife urges ‘there’s not enough time’ for intimacy after daily chaos, ‘I get it, you’re tired’
“Truthfully, all you’ve got left to give at the end of a long workday is not a lot. I get it — you’re tired. Here is your wife, wanting all you’ve got left. And it’s just not enough.”

‘I got rear-ended today. He said he didn’t see us. Am I frustrated? Absolutely.’: Mom says she’s the one who left an accident feeling ‘guilt’ despite it being other man’s fault
“The seemingly nice fella told a fib to the reporting officer. I quickly corrected that nonsense. I’m not mad at him, just peeved he lied to begin with. He seemed distressed and kept apologizing, thanked me and drove off. Then guess who carried the guilt home? I did.”

‘Stop telling moms not to blink. It’s okay for us to miss some stuff.’ Mom’s candid response to those who claim ‘we only have 18 summers’ so ‘make your moments count’
“Don’t tell me we only have 18 summers. I’m a mom who can’t get enough of my kids, but quickly has ‘had enough.’ I’m a mom who wanted nothing more than to be a wife and a mother, and here I am, being those things. Well, guess what? It’s a lot harder than I ever imagined.”

‘If not your breasts, they’ll attempt to convince you your worth depends upon your thigh gap, complexion, weight.’ Mom shuts down 8-year-old daughter thinking her body is ‘flawed’
“My darling girl, there is something I must get off my chest before you grow into yours. As you get older, society, men, even some women, will try to convince you that your breasts — their size, shape, level of ‘perky’ — are what define you as a woman. Hear me clearly when I firmly inform you, they are wrong.”

‘You’re too young to get married,’ they said. I was 22, fresh out of college. This man was 8 years my senior. ‘What do you see in him? It will never work.’
“If you can get past my pencil-thin eyebrows in this picture, then you might see LOVE. Young love. ‘What is he doing with someone your age?,’ they asked. Well, I’ve got some words for you.”