Louise East Coaching and Consulting
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Sometimes pressure is disguised as responsibility. Sometimes pressure is disguised as responsibility. I remember catching myself late one night, feeling guilty about not baking more lunchbox snacks. My child wasn’t going to go hungry, but I had absorbed the idea that being a good mother meant making homemade, varied, healthy lunches… with baked goods. It’s not just responsibilities that are exhausting, but the expectations around them. Yes, I had to pack a lunchbox (well, actually, I could have submitted a lunch order 😉), but the pressure regarding what I put in it was based on social expectations. Sometimes everything starts to feel like a non-negotiable. Working mothers are carrying not only the practical responsibilities of life, but the invisible pressure of expectations layered on top. Feed your children, but make it homemade, healthy and fun to look at. Spend quality time with your children, but make it meaningful, memorable and enriching. Exercise for your wellbeing, but do it consistently, properly and make visible progress. Work to support your family, but don’t ever prioritise your children over your career. And after a while, it becomes hard to distinguish between what genuinely matters and what is pressure we’ve slowly normalised. When everything feels equally important, the nervous system never really gets to soften. One way to think about this is to separate things into: ✅ Have to ✅ Should ✅ Want to Because some things genuinely are necessary, but some things are pressure disguised as responsibility. And recognising the difference can make life feel a little lighter and more intentional. I wrote more about this in my latest blog post. LINK IN BIO https://louiseeast.com.au/2026/07/02/overwhelmed-working-mother/ #workingmothers #matrescence #mentalload #motherhoodandcareer #honestmotherhood
Clients often come to me wanting to improve their Clients often come to me wanting to improve their organisation, manage their time better or figure out how to get more done in a day. Those aren’t bad goals, but they’re rarely the real issue. The women I work with are incredibly capable. They’re carrying an immense load and working hard both in their careers and at home. Their employers expect a lot of them. Or they’re running businesses. They’re raising children. They’re managing households, relationships, appointments, birthdays, school notes, emotional labour and all the invisible work that keeps life moving. Of course, it feels overwhelming. Yes, we can look at priorities. We can simplify where possible. We can make better decisions about where their time goes. But we can’t optimise our way out of an impossible set of demands. You can’t rearrange an unrealistic workload and make it realistic. This isn't a capacity or a productivity issue. It’s a demand issue. It's a workload and expectations issue. So, instead of asking "How can I fit more in?" we can start asking "What needs to change here?" or "How do I make my workload more sustainable and manageable?" #WorkingMums #MentalLoad #SustainableSuccess #WorkLifeBalance #MatrescenceMatters
Have you ever noticed how quickly we explain our s Have you ever noticed how quickly we explain our struggles by making them about ourselves? “I’m just not coping.” “I’ve become less ambitious.” “I’m terrible at boundaries.” “I should be able to handle this.” I hear versions of these every week. And while those explanations feel true, they’re often only part of the story. We’re all trying to make sense of our experiences. We create stories about who we are based on what we’ve lived through, the expectations we’ve absorbed, the relationships around us and the messages we’ve received about what it means to be a good mother, a successful woman or a capable leader. Those stories help us make sense of our experiences. The challenge is that we rarely stop to question whether they’re the most accurate way of understanding what’s happening. That’s why so much of my work isn’t about giving women answers. It’s about helping them understand themselves more accurately. Because when we mistake the story for the truth, we often end up solving the wrong problem. If I believe I’m overwhelmed because I’m disorganised, I’ll look for better systems. If I understand that I’m navigating matrescence, carrying unrealistic expectations or living by a definition of success that no longer fits, I suddenly have different choices available to me. That’s what changes in coaching. Not just what you do but how you understand yourself. And when that changes, the decisions you make begin to change too. #workingmums #workingmumlife #worklifebalance #aussiemums #motherhoodjourney
I won’t tell you how to do it all. Because I don’ I won’t tell you how to do it all. Because I don’t think that’s the question we should be asking. Firstly, because “doing it all” can mean different things to different people and secondly, because my clients are generally fed up with trying to do it all. They’ve been told they should be able to, and it’s left them exhausted and chasing other people’s definitions of success. The conversation I want to have is different. What does a meaningful life look like for you, now? Not before children. Not according to social media. Not according to what you think you should want. What do you really want more of? What feels like it’s no longer working? What would you choose if you stopped measuring yourself against everyone else’s expectations? Every life involves trade-offs. The goal isn’t to avoid them. It’s to make them intentionally. To build a life that reflects what matters most to you in this season, rather than trying to meet every expectation placed on you. I don’t think success is about doing it all. I think it’s about being able to look at your life and say, ”This feels like my life.” #workingmums #modernmotherhood #matrescence #workingmother #redefiningsuccess
I think one of the most supportive things a mother I think one of the most supportive things a mother can find is other women who understand that it’s okay to want a life that includes her too. Women who love their children deeply and also care about their own growth. Women who are questioning old expectations and trying to work out what they want now. Women who are building lives that reflect who they are becoming, not just who they have always been. Because that journey can feel lonely at times, and it can be hard to make changes when everyone around you seems content doing things the way they’ve always done them. It’s hard to trust yourself when you’re making choices that don’t fit someone else’s idea of what a good mother should want. It’s hard to keep backing yourself when you’re still figuring it out as you go. But when you find people who get it, it feels better. You need people who don’t need you to stay the same. People who understand that motherhood changes us. People who celebrate your growth, your dreams, your boundaries and your wellbeing alongside your role as a mother. You don’t need hundreds of people. Just a few who remind you that it’s safe to evolve. And that wanting a life that includes you isn’t something you need to apologise for. #MotherhoodJourney #MatrescenceMatters #WomenSupportingWomen #WorkingMums #MoreToMum Shoutout to my biz mum friends: @busylittlebeebooks @emma_humphrey_osteopathy and @the.nutrition.circle who joined me for this photo taken by the amazing @angeladicellophotography, at a photoshoot organised by @theparentshub.
Being the responsible one has cost me more than I Being the responsible one has cost me more than I realised. For years, I saw being responsible as a strength. I was dependable and capable. The person people could count on. The one who would figure it out, get it done and keep things moving. And those qualities served me well in many ways at work, in relationships and in motherhood. But over time, I started noticing the cost. Being the responsible one had cost me rest. It had cost me support. It had cost me asking for help. It had cost me the freedom to be imperfect. And when you're known as the one who has it together, people often stop checking whether you're okay. And sometimes you stop checking too. Do you know this feeling? We take on roles like "the strong one", "the organised one", "the good girl", "the high achiever" or "the one that holds everything together" for good reasons. They help us succeed, belong and feel valued. But motherhood and matrescence have a way of revealing the cost of the roles we've been carrying. The same roles that once helped us can start leaving us exhausted, overwhelmed and disconnected from ourselves. We need to ask ourselves: What has my role cost me? Not to judge it or get rid of it completely, but to see it clearly and make conscious choices about how much you want to step into this role. What has your role cost you? #MatrescenceJourney #WorkingMothers #HighAchievingWomen #MotherhoodAndIdentity #SelfAwarenessJourney
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