When Life Hits Hard: Motherhood, Business, and Surviving the Year That Broke Me

When Life Hits Hard: Motherhood, Business, and Surviving the Year That Broke Me

Last year was hard.

Not “busy season” hard.
Not “algorithm changed again” hard.
Not “launch didn’t convert” hard.

Life-altering hard.

In 2023, I got divorced and moved from Texas to Utah. New state. New home. New normal. I was rebuilding everything at once, my personal life, my identity, my routines. 

Shortly after we moved, my son left for Brazil on a two-year mission for our church. Two years. Different hemisphere. Different language. Different everything. I was so proud of him… and at the same time it was just different. 

Then in December of 2024, my daughter had a snow skiing accident and broke her back.

Yes. Her back.

The physical pain was intense. The recovery was long. But the mental toll? That was the part that almost broke me.

My daughter has wrestled for seven years. Wrestling wasn’t just a sport. It was her identity. It shaped how she saw herself – strong, disciplined, tough. And in one moment on a mountain, that identity was taken away.

As her mom, I wasn’t just navigating doctor visits and physical therapy. I was helping her grieve who she thought she was.

And I have always taken motherhood seriously. It is my number one priority. I don’t say that casually. I say it with conviction. I wanted to be a mom. I chose this role. I treasure it.

So between:

• A divorce
• A cross-state move
• My son leaving the country
• My daughter breaking her back
• I was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted.

And I was also the provider.

The Entrepreneur’s Unspoken Reality: You Still Have to Show Up

Here’s the part we don’t talk about enough.

A very, very important part of being an entrepreneur is showing up.

We have to show up for our clients.
We have to show up on social media.
We have to show up in inboxes, on calls, inside launches, inside memberships, inside conversations.

Consistency builds trust.
Trust builds sales.
Sales build stability.

But what happens when you are exhausted?

What happens when your brain feels foggy and your nervous system is shot?
What happens when you’re finishing up appointments and you still have content to post, emails to write, and clients who need you at your best?

I wish I could tell you I had some magical formula.

I don’t.

I didn’t show up perfectly.
I didn’t show up at 100%.
Some days I barely showed up at all.

And my business felt it.

Revenue dipped. Energy dipped. Creativity dipped. I wasn’t on my game. I wasn’t as sharp. I wasn’t as strategic.

But I didn’t quit.

Sometimes survival is the win.

Life Will Break Your Illusion of Control

Here’s the truth no productivity hack will save you from:

Life is not always going to be easy.

Divorce happens.
Accidents happen.
Kids grow up and leave.
Health scares happen.
Loss happens.

You can color-code your Google Calendar all you want, but life doesn’t check it first.

So the real question isn’t:

 “How do I avoid hard seasons?”

The real question is:
“How do I prepare for them?”

Because they are inevitable.

The Power of Relationships

When everything feels unstable, relationships are the stabilizer.

I learned very quickly that isolation makes hard seasons harder.

Good relationships – friends, family, mentors, faith – became oxygen.

They were the people who:

• Brought meals.
• Sat with me when I didn’t have words.
• Let me vent without trying to fix everything.
• Reminded me I wasn’t failing… I was surviving.

Entrepreneurs tend to pride themselves on independence. We’re capable. Resourceful. Self-starters.

But independence without support is a fast track to burnout.

If you are building a business, build relationships with the same intensity.

Not networking-for-leads relationships.

Real ones.

The kind that can hold you when your capacity is gone.

Systems Save You When You Don’t Have Capacity

This is the part where my inner systems nerd comes out.

Because here’s what I know for sure:

When your energy disappears, your systems either catch you… or expose you.

During this season, I was grateful for every automation I had ever built.

Email sequences that ran without me.
Funnels that continued nurturing leads.
Onboarding processes that didn’t require me to reinvent the wheel.

Did they replace me? No.

But they reduced the load.

And when you are in crisis mode, reducing the load is everything.

We glamorize hustle.
We romanticize “just push through.”
But resilience in business isn’t built on hustle.

It’s built on infrastructure.

Systems are not just about scaling.
They are about protection.

They are the safety net for the version of you that will one day be tired, grieving, overwhelmed, or healing.

Build them before you need them.

Giving Yourself Permission to Be Human

One of the hardest parts for me wasn’t the logistics.

It was the pressure I put on myself. 

I am the provider.
I am the mom.
I am the leader.
I am the one who teaches other entrepreneurs how to build sustainable businesses.

I felt like I should handle it better.

But here’s what I’ve learned:

You can be strong and still be exhausted.
You can be capable and still need help.
You can be a leader and still be in a hard season.

Being human is not a brand flaw.

It’s reality.

And honestly? The entrepreneurs who pretend life never touches them are not the ones building sustainable success.

The ones who build longevity are the ones who build margin.

What I Would Do Differently (and What I’m Doing Now)

Hard seasons reveal weaknesses.

Not to shame you.
To strengthen you.

If I could go back, I would:

• Build even more recurring revenue.
• Reduce reliance on real-time energy (like constant content creation).
• Expand my support network sooner.
• Prioritize my own self-care and recovery just as seriously as my daughter’s physical therapy.

Now?

I am doubling down on margin.

More automation.
Clearer offers.
Less noise.
Deeper relationships.

Because I don’t want a business that only works when I’m at peak performance.

I want a business that works when I’m human.

If You’re in a Hard Season

Maybe you’re listening to  this and you’re in it right now.

You’re tired.
You’re stretched.
You’re showing up, but it feels heavy.

Let me say this:

You are not weak.
You are not behind.
You are not failing.

You are navigating real life.

And if you can keep going, even imperfectly, you are stronger than you think.

But also…

Don’t wait for the next crisis to prepare.

Build relationships now.
Build systems now.
Build margin now.

Because one day, you may need them more than you realize.

Last year broke parts of me.

But it also clarified me.

It reminded me that motherhood is my priority.
That business is a vehicle and not my identity.

That showing up doesn’t always mean shining; sometimes it just means staying.

And sometimes, staying is enough.