Why Motherhood Feels Like Constant Starting and Stopping

The Day You Finally Decide to Do the Thing You’ve Been Putting Off

Today is the day.
I’m finally going to clean and organize the boxes of kids’ clothes in the basement.

It’s Saturday, so you know you’ll have extra help at home. You head downstairs and start unpacking tiny lives — newborn sleepers, toddler leggings, the million pieces of little-human clothing that won’t be passed down again.

Soon you’re sitting in a literal mountain of fabric, sorting:
what goes to Goodwill,
what goes to little cousins,
what you’ll save for memory,
what needs to be let go.

And then you hear it.

“MOMMY!”

How a Simple Plan Slowly Unravels

You’re needed.

Mommy, can you get me water?
Mommy, I’m hungry.
Mommy, can we go to the park?
Mommy, she hit me.

On and on.

Before you know it, you’re making lunch. Cleaning up the lunch mess. Putting kids down for a nap. Two hours have passed before you even remember the pile of clothes waiting downstairs.

Sound familiar?

Motherhood is full of starts that don’t get finished.

You begin one task and are interrupted by something urgent. You begin the next task, knowing there’s no time to return to the first. Eventually — maybe — you circle back, only to be interrupted again the moment you find your rhythm.

The Pattern We Don’t Usually Notice

This constant start-and-stop can feel frustrating. Like you’re never fully focused. Like you’re failing to follow through. Like the day is happening to you instead of with you.

But what if this pattern isn’t a flaw in the day — or in you?

A Familiar Rhythm, Seen in a New Light

If you’ve ever tried to meditate, this might sound familiar.

You sit down.
You settle your body.
You focus on the breath.

And then — a thought appears.

You notice it.
You name it.
And you return to the breath.

Again.
And again.
And again.

The thoughts don’t stop coming. That’s not the failure — that is the practice.

And suddenly, a mother’s day starts to look very similar.

One task.
An interruption.
A return.

What If This Is the Practice?

Motherhood isn’t preventing you from being present.

It is the practice.

It is the practice of returning — again and again — to yourself.

You don’t need silence or long stretches of uninterrupted time. You don’t need to do anything differently. You just need to notice what’s already happening.

The Pause You Didn’t Ask For

The interruption is a built-in pause.

It rarely feels like one — especially when you’re in the middle of a workflow. You might even hear yourself say it out loud:

“I’m in the middle of something!!”
“Can you just take care of it?”
“Please help your sister!”

You just want to finish. To complete a task or project. That desire is completely understandable.

But the truth is, the “Mom!” is the pause.

It’s physical. Audible. Immediate.

And while it can feel frustrating, it’s also an invitation — one handed to you whether you asked for it or not.

In that pause, you get to take a breath.
You get to decide: Okay, I have to move on.
And just as importantly: I can — and I will — return.

You don’t have to fight the pause.
You don’t have to resent it.

You can let it be a moment of choice.

And once that choice is made, there’s nothing else to do but notice what’s here.

Beginning Again, As Many Times As It Takes

Noticing doesn’t mean fixing.

It simply sounds like this:

Ah. This is an interruption.

Maybe you’ll return to the task later.
Maybe you won’t.
This is the moment that’s here.

That noticing can happen a hundred times a day. A thousand. No pressure. No need to be aware of it all the time. Just start with one or two moments.

Because you are already a living, breathing mindfulness practice.

And when you pause long enough to see it, something shifts. You realize you are the experiencer of this life. This is your present moment — imperfect, interrupted, unfinished — and you are making the very best of it.

You get to share it with the most incredible little humans.

You are doing meaningful work.
And you deserve to see it — through your own eyes.