PEPTALK | Take the pressure off yourself this Christmas

Motherkind

Zoe Blaskey

Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 863 Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If Christmas already feels like too much, this December pep-talk series is your support system for navigating the mental-load Olympics. Today’s episode is your reminder that you’re allowed to do it differently. The pressure on mothers at this time of year is enormous — the mental load, the expectations, the never-ending lists — and most of it lands squarely on our shoulders. Zoe shares a simple, grounding reframe to help you take the weight off and bring the joy back. In the first of our December pep talks, Zoe breaks down why the festive season can feel overwhelming and how to step out of the “shoulds” that pile up as the year draws to a close. Instead of chasing perfection, she invites you to focus on the feeling you want to create — for yourself and your family — and offers a practical tool to help you get there. In this pep talk, you’ll hear: The explosion of Christmas expectations (and why mums carry the load) How to stop doing everything and focus on how you want the season to feel Zoe’s simple Do / Ditch / Delegate method to cut the overwhelm fast Why real magic comes from presence, not perfection Remember to subscribe to Motherkind — it helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing. Feeling like you’re carrying it all? Download your FREE Mental Load Cheat Sheet and learn how to start feeling lighter, even if nothing in your life changes. Connect with Zoe: Follow Zoe on Instagram Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’ This Motherkind episode is sponsored by: Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply. For a £100 sponsored job credit, visit Indeed.com/ Motherkind Get 40% off a Calm premium subscription at calm.com/motherkind Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Zoe. Welcome back to Mother Kind. We are sponsored by Wild Nutrition's Women's Supplements. And every Monday in December, I'm going to give you a little December pep talk because let's be honest, December is the mental load Olympics. Everything ramps up. and I want to be a voice that is the antidote
0:22.6	to all the Christmas pressure and perfection so you can enjoy it much more. Now just a quick note,
0:28.1	I'm going to be mentioning Christmas, but this could be any celebration this December or just the
0:33.2	pressure that comes with the end of the year. So this episode is about the shoulds and the pressures
0:39.9	we can feel at Christmas. And I want to offer a different perspective. You can do it your way. You're
0:45.6	allowed to say no to a tradition that doesn't work for your family anymore. You're allowed to say
0:50.3	yes to something different. And most of all, you are allowed to take the pressure off yourself.
0:58.0	So I think that under all the pressure and the lists and the shoulds, we're actually after a feeling.
1:03.7	I think most of us want to create magic for the people that we love. Of course we do. But I don't think
1:10.3	that creating magic always comes from
1:11.9	doing everything. The expectations in the last five years, I'd say, around Christmas have exploded.
1:18.3	Christmas Eve boxes, matching PJs, multiple Santa visits. It's insane. And actually, it's a lot.
1:24.6	And I have to say, speaking to our community, most of it falls on our shoulders.
1:33.0	And now a quick word from our sponsors.
1:38.3	This episode is sponsored by Calm. The pressure to make the most of the final months is real. So if you woke up today
1:46.0	thinking of all the things you should be doing, please stop shudding on yourself. You're doing
1:50.9	the best you can. And when the shoulds pile up, calm is the tool that I reach for to release
1:56.6	stress and find space to breathe even in December. Calm is the number one app for sleep and
2:03.3	meditation and it's here to help you feel better. I have used calm every single day for over
2:09.5	10 years now. It's been the biggest support on my motherhood journey so far from my first
2:15.0	to sadly experiencing baby loss, to having my second, to relocating
2:20.5	and growing this podcast. Calm has been with me every single day. And I want you to have it with you
	...

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