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The Mama Circle: Why Motherhood Feels Like This
The Mama Circle: Why Motherhood Feels Like This

66. You’re not stuck. You’re in a Maintenance Season

25 min•17 februari 2026

Om avsnittet

If you’re keeping everyone fed, answering the urgent messages and getting through the week, but feel like you’re not moving forwards, you may not be stuck. You might simply be in a maintenance season.

We live in a culture that celebrates growth, momentum and reinvention. It pays far less attention to the periods when our energy is needed to keep life stable, protect what we already have and prevent everything from tipping into burnout.

In this episode, I share what my own maintenance season looks like while working, mothering through a heavily weighted childcare split and rebuilding life after separation. That includes meal preparation, routines, asking for help, letting non-urgent emails wait and choosing rest instead of forcing myself to be productive.

We talk about:

  • the difference between maintenance, stagnation and failure

  • why routine can feel more supportive than spontaneity

  • reducing decisions when your mental capacity is stretched

  • recognising when the pressure to “move forwards” is self-created

  • protecting your time, finances, nervous system and relationships

  • why consolidation and integration are necessary before future growth

Maintenance isn’t glamorous, but it serves a real purpose. Sometimes success doesn’t look like adding more, growing faster or reinventing yourself. Sometimes it looks like knowing your capacity, keeping the important things steady and trusting that this season is preparing the ground for whatever comes next.


If this episode resonates, start with my free audio guide: The 5 Villages Every Mum Needs — a free audio guide naming the kinds of support modern mothers are missing, and why love alone isn’t enough. 👉🏽 ⁠⁠The 5 Villages Every Mum Needs⁠⁠⁠


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The Mama Circle: Why Motherhood Feels Like This med Natalie K. Martin finns tillgänglig på flera plattformar. Informationen på denna sida kommer från offentliga podd-flöden.