When Mother's Day Hurts

It's okay to allow yourself to feel.

Mother’s Day is everywhere—flowers, cards, brunches, smiling photos, and sentimental tributes flooding every feed. For many, it’s a day of gratitude and celebration.

But for some of us, it’s something else entirely.

It’s complicated. It’s heavy. It’s painful.  It’s a day we skip church and do our best to stay off social media.

Because not everyone grew up with a mother who nurtured, protected, or loved unconditionally. Some of us associate the word mother not with safety, but with absence, confusion, or trauma.

Maybe your mother wasn’t there.

Maybe she was, but couldn’t give you what you needed.

Maybe she hurt you—emotionally, physically, or both.

Maybe she tried her best, but her best still left scars.

And on days like Mother’s Day, that grief can roar.

The grief for what you didn’t get.

For what you needed and never received.

For what you still quietly long for.

It can feel extremely lonely, carrying that pain while the world celebrates something that never felt safe or good to you.

So, if Mother’s Day is hard, please know:

You are not alone.

Your experience is valid.

Your story matters.

You’re allowed to grieve.

To feel angry, numb, confused, or nothing at all.

You’re allowed to skip the celebration, log off, turn inward, set boundaries, and reclaim the day however you need to.

Mother’s Day doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone.

And if it hurts for you—whether a little or a lot—know this:

You are not broken for feeling this way.

You are surviving what you never got.

And that survival? That’s its own kind of strength.

Healing is not betrayal. Grieving is not weakness. And you deserve space for both.