A Gift for Mom! 🤍
SearchSearch
SearchSearch

Motherhood

It’s Late and I Should Be Sleeping, But I Can’t

  • 2  Minute Read
Woman awake in bed sitting up tired
Stock-Asso/Shutterstock.com

It’s 2:30 in the morning, and I should be sleeping. But, I can’t.

If I’m being honest, a lot of my lack of sleep these days comes from my own doing.

When the house gets quiet, my thoughts get louder.

Sometimes I can’t get to sleep, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for hours.

My brain just doesn’t want to stop sometimes. I don’t understand why I need to lay here and cringe about something embarrassing that happened to me years ago. Or why I need to shop on Amazon.

RELATED: Why Tired Mothers Stay Up So Late

I don’t understand why my mom guilt creeps in. Wondering if I’ve somehow managed to ruin my kids because I didn’t coddle them enough when they skinned their knees—even though they stopped crying seconds after it happened. And vowing to be a better mother tomorrow.

I know I’m a good mother. I’m the one who was chosen because the Lord knew I could. And I know I can, too. He will not let me fail.

But sometimes late at night, doubt creeps in.

When you become a parent, it’s like you suddenly set an impossibly high bar for yourself. You want to give your kids the BEST life possible. But, all your kids need is for you to just do your best.

When you’re lying there in the middle of the night, though, thoughts of your failures as a parent start to flood your mind. Is my very best enough?

RELATED: To the Mom Left Worrying While Everyone Else is Asleep

We have to retrain our thinking in these moments. We have to remind ourselves of our successes when thoughts of our failures try to take over.

Instead of, “The house is a wreck,” we should think, “It was fun watching the kids laughing and playing outside.”

Eighteen years is a long time to worry ourselves and lose sleep over every tiny little hiccup. Our kids have certainly not given it a second thought. We are doing our best. As long as we do that, we have nothing to worry about.

Previously published on the author’s blog

RELATED: Moms Hardly Sleep, But That’s Not Why We’re So Tired

So God Made a Grandmother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our book, SO GOD MADE A GRANDMA

Order Now!

Jessie Ballard profile image Articles by Jessie Ballard

Jessie Ballard

Jessie Ballard is a cool mom of boy/girl twins living in the great state of North Carolina.  She enjoys a life full of good people, good humor, and without judgment.

Facebook: Jessie Ballard

Letting You Go Is Still So Hard
In: Grown Children, Motherhood
Walkway toward water at sunset
by Chelsi Cacciatore

Nothing really prepares you for the day your child leaves the house. Last September, my husband and I moved our 18-year-old son into his dorm room. Right after that, he was swept away into all things orientation, and we began our 1,000-mile journey back home. Leaving this beautiful human I raised and spent all those years with felt foreign. During our final hug goodbye, despite trying to hold in my pain, I broke out in huge, ugly, guttural tears. Our drive home was a long two days. It took every fiber of my being not to turn around. Returning to...

Keep Reading

Behind Every Smiling Graduate Is a Mother Letting Go
In: Grown Children, Motherhood
Mom and grown son smiling
by Shalene Roberts

Every year, millions of American families send their children off to their freshman year of college. Their pictures dot our social media feeds. Images of excited students holding collegiate pennants, maybe wearing a hat or holding up their school’s hand sign with beaming smiles. Their parents post excited words about futures and hopes and dreams. One chapter closing. Another opening. A new beginning. So why am I struggling so much? Why does this feel more like a loss than a gain? Why are my tears always on edge, threatening to spill over each time I think about August and what...

Keep Reading

Life Lessons from My Grown Children
In: Faith, Motherhood
Two women's hands on teacups
by Christa Rogers

“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.” – Rabindranath Tagore Quietly communing with a loved one in the early morning hours is such an intimate and precious time. Visiting with one’s grown child when all is dark and still is one of life’s purest pleasures. I remember the conversation clearly. My daughter’s husband, small children, and father were all asleep as we whispered and chatted. She and I are both fidgeters by nature, unable to be still for long. This inner restlessness must be remedied, and we are compelled by biology to...

Keep Reading

As a Medical Mom, I Measure Growth Differently
In: Kids, Motherhood
Little girl climbing outside
by Tasha Carter

In most homes, the marks on the wall are a simple celebration of time passing. They are pencil lines that track how many inches a child has gained since their last birthday. But in our home, those marks represent a much deeper, more complex story. When your child lives with multiple hormone deficiencies, growth is never just “natural”—it is a carefully managed medical achievement. However, as any medical mom knows, the story doesn’t end at the top of the head. It begins deep inside, with a tiny gland that isn’t sending the right signals. Having multiple hormone deficiencies is often...

Keep Reading

Hannah Harper Is Every Mom with Babies in Her Arms and a Dream In Her Heart
In: Living, Motherhood
Hannah Harper American Idol winner sings with her young son on her lap
by Krystal Sieben

By now, you’ve probably seen the posts flooding your feed: A young mom. Three little boys. A guitar strap embroidered with her children’s drawings. And a crown. When Hannah Harper won American Idol this week, moms everywhere erupted. And honestly? Same. There is something collective about watching a stay-at-home mom win on such a large stage. The celebrations have been pouring in. Moms, we can do it. She didn’t abandon her dreams. She went for it. And all of that is true, and all of that is worth celebrating. But I want to add something to the celebration. Not to...

Keep Reading

Watching Your Children Build the Life You Prayed For Is Beautiful
In: Grown Children, Motherhood
Mother dancing with son at wedding
by Debbie Prather

“I love you, Mom.” “Hmmm?” (A little louder) “I love you.” “I love you too…so very much.” I’d been deep in thought, listening to the lyrics we were slowly dancing to. I knew this moment of ours was supposed to be the time to say all the things, but this boy and I had already said all the things, so the song the deejay played—written by Lori McKenna and sung by Tim McGraw—enchanted our ears: When the dreams you’re dreamin’ come to you When the work you put in is realized Let yourself feel the pride but Always stay humble...

Keep Reading

I Lost My Daughter on Mother’s Day: 3 Truths I’m Believing Today
In: Grief, Loss, Motherhood
Woman and young daughter smiling
by Kelly Aalseth

Editor’s note: This post discusses child loss Child loss changes Mother’s Day. My 19-month-old, Julia, died suddenly on Mother’s Day in 2024. Three months later, her autopsy revealed she had B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL, also known as SUDNIC). Julia died a week after we did an embryo transfer at an IVF clinic in an attempt to have a second child. We found out three days after Julia’s death that the embryo did not make it either. Six months later, we did another embryo transfer that succeeded, and I now have an 8-month-old daughter, Lucy Mei (“Mei Mei” means “little...

Keep Reading

If You Give a Mom a Bouquet…
In: Motherhood
Woman arranging bouquet of pink flowers on table
by Joy McLaughlin

If you give a mom a bouquet… She goes to grab a vase to put it in. As she grabs the vase, she also grabs the duster because she knows the spot for the vase is probably dusty and she has guests coming for dinner. As she begins dusting, she notices the stack of books that needs to go back on the shelf. When she gets to the shelf, she sees the bendy action figures in battle formation that need to go back in the bin. When she gets to the bin, she spots the toy food that needs to...

Keep Reading

Here In the Liminal Space of Parenting
In: Motherhood
Woman in tunnel
by JD Arbuckle

It’s Friday night at 8:00. The intermittent snoring of an 80-pound lap dog is the only thing slicing through the silence of my home. It feels empty, and there is a stillness in the air. I have nowhere to be; there is nobody waiting to be picked up. I’m staring at the empty takeout boxes from dinner sitting on the coffee table. There was no need to cook a big meal; it was just the two of us, my husband and me, sitting together wistfully in this liminal space of parenting. It is the quiet place between an empty nest...

Keep Reading

Mothers Are the Givers
In: Motherhood
Mom embracing young daughter
by Valerie Sawicki-Bellomo

As we were decorating the tree last Christmas, my son dug to the bottom of a box and pulled out a Snoopy ornament. He set it off to the side quickly and continued his rifling. But I noticed the faint crack along the red jukebox that Snoopy stood beside. In an instant, I was standing back in the kitchen of our first home watching my son wander in to ask, in the cutest toddler voice, if he could “pwess” the button on the ornament to play the music. With gleeful excitement, he pressed too hard. The ornament slipped from his...

Keep Reading

Motherhood

Being a Single Mom is Completely Exhausting

Next Post

Dear Mama, When You Feel Like You're the Only One

Motherhood

Dear Mama, When You Feel Like You're the Only One

You May Also Like

I Can’t Have Postpartum Depression…Right?

Grief, Health, Mental Health

I Can’t Have Postpartum Depression…Right?

“Mommy, Can You Wash My Feet?”

Faith, Motherhood

“Mommy, Can You Wash My Feet?”

You’ll Always Be My Baby

Motherhood

You’ll Always Be My Baby

As a Mom with ADHD, I’ve Learned to Be Kinder to Myself

Living, Motherhood

As a Mom with ADHD, I’ve Learned to Be Kinder to Myself

Dear Kids, Let’s Have an Ordinary Summer

Kids, Motherhood

Dear Kids, Let’s Have an Ordinary Summer

God Knew the Mother I Would Be

Faith, Motherhood

God Knew the Mother I Would Be

Being a Mom With Anxiety is the Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done

Motherhood

Being a Mom With Anxiety is the Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done

The One Question Your Kids Need You to Ask

Kids, Motherhood

The One Question Your Kids Need You to Ask