Post by LYV.on

Today I want to step outside the formal language of leadership for a moment. Motherhood is a journey like no other. From the moment you see a positive pregnancy test, your life begins to change. The anxiety. The questions that keep you up at night. Am I going to be a good mother? How am I going to balance it all? And then your baby arrives, and you go straight into sleep-deprived mode, still expected to perform, still expected to show up, still holding the weight of the world. I talk about leadership in the professional sense often. But I believe true leadership is how you show up at home and in the workplace. The invisible labor that working mothers carry — the mental load, the emotional labor, the constant giving — is one of the most demanding leadership roles that exists. And it is one of the least recognized. To every working mother reading this: The fact that you are here, showing up, trying, loving, leading — at home and at work — while running on empty some days? That is not weakness. That is extraordinary. My hope for you today is rest. Permission to put yourself first, not at the bottom of the list. And a reminder that the best gift you can give yourself this Mother's Day is the beginning of a different way of living. Happy Mother's Day. You have earned every bit of this day.