By Amélie Moncel | Mindset & Identity Coach for Working Mums

Let’s be honest.
Guilt is the shadow that follows many working mums, especially when you're ambitious and deeply devoted to your family.

Maybe it hits you at daycare or school drop-off.
Or when you’re on a work call and your sick child is crying in the background.
Or when you're actually enjoying your job and suddenly feel like that enjoyment means you’re doing motherhood wrong.

Here’s the truth:
You’re not a bad mum because you want more than motherhood.

Where “Mum Guilt” Comes From

It’s not your fault.
Guilt is baked into the expectations we’ve been raised with:

• That “good mothers” are selfless and always available
  

• That work should be your priority, but so should your kids
  

• That you should always be grateful, patient, and smiling
  
  

We’ve internalised impossible standards. No wonder we feel like we’re never enough.

The Real Cost of Guilt

Guilt drains your energy.
It clouds your decision-making.
And worst of all, it disconnects you from yourself.

I see so many brilliant women feeling stuck, torn between roles, slowly losing confidence in who they are beyond the job title and the mum label.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

5 Ways to Release Guilt and Reclaim Yourself

1. Redefine What Being a “Good Mum” Means to You

Let go of the Pinterest-perfect version.
What if “good” meant honest, human, and loving, not perfect?

2. Notice the Voice of Guilt and Talk Back

That inner voice that says “You’re failing”?
That’s not you.
That’s your conditioning.
Catch it. Question it. Replace it with something true: “I’m allowed to love my work and my kids.”

3. Reconnect with Your Identity

You are more than your roles.
When you reconnect with who you are at your core, your values, your strengths, your vision, decisions get easier, and guilt loses its grip.

4. Model Wholeness, Not Martyrdom

Your children don’t need a perfect mum.
They need a present one. A real one. One who shows them that it’s OK to have needs, dreams, and a full, complex identity.

5. Surround Yourself with Guilt-Free Women

Community changes everything.
Find women who don’t make you feel small, who remind you that you’re doing enough and being enough.

You Don’t Have to Choose Between Motherhood and Yourself

You can be a present mum and an ambitious woman.
You can love your kids and want space for yourself.
You can work, rest, grow, cry, laugh and still be an incredible parent.

This isn’t about doing more. It’s about being more you.
And I’m here to help you find your way back to her.

Ready to feel like you again?
Download my free e-guide: https://freebie.ameliemoncel.com/free-guide
Let’s talk about what’s really keeping you stuck and how we can shift it.