Mental Health Awareness Month | Terrini M. Woods Counseling
There is a particular kind of tired that doesn’t show up on your face right away.
It lives in the space between your last commitment and your next one. It hides behind the smile you offer at the school pickup line, the patience you summon for the third request before 8 a.m., the way you quietly fold yourself smaller so everyone else can have more room. If you’re a mother, a grandmother, an auntie who shows up like a mother, or anyone who has loved with the fierce, devoted energy of a caregiver — you know this exhaustion intimately.
This May, as we celebrate mothers and maternal figures and honor Mental Health Awareness Month, I want to offer you something different from another list of self-care tips. I want to offer you a conversation — and perhaps a permission slip.
The Permission Slip You Didn’t Know You Needed
You are allowed to have limits.
Not because you’ve earned them through enough sacrifice. Not because you’ve finally done enough for others to justify caring for yourself. But because you are a whole human being whose wellbeing matters — full stop.
Research consistently shows that caregivers are among the most vulnerable populations for burnout, anxiety, and depression. The very act of loving others at great personal cost, without adequate support or recovery, takes a measurable toll on our minds and bodies. Studies estimate that more than 40% of family caregivers report high levels of emotional stress, and women disproportionately carry that weight.
This is not a character flaw. It’s a physiological reality. And boundaries are one of the most powerful tools we have to address it.
What Boundaries Actually Are
Let’s clear something up: boundaries are not walls. They are not punishments. They are not the opposite of love.
Boundaries are the intentional structures we build around what matters most — our energy, our time, our values, our peace. When we set them, we are saying: I have something worth protecting. And what we’re protecting isn’t just ourselves — it’s our capacity to show up for the people and purposes that mean the most to us.
Think about it this way. When you’re depleted — emotionally, mentally, physically — everyone around you feels it. The patience wears thin. The presence becomes hollow. The love you so desperately want to give gets buried under resentment and exhaustion. But when you honor your own limits, something shifts. You show up more authentically. You have more warmth. More patience. More of the real you.
The most loving version of you is a boundaried version of you.
Boundaries as a Spiritual Practice
For those of us who are faith-rooted, this can feel complicated. We’ve been taught to serve. To sacrifice. To put others first. And there is beauty and virtue in that call to love generously.
But consider the words of Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Rest is not laziness. It is alignment. It is part of how we were designed to live — in rhythm, in restoration, in the sustainable cycle of giving and receiving. Even Jesus withdrew. He went to the garden. He rested. He set limits on his time and energy so he could show up fully for the moments that required everything.
You are allowed to do the same.
One Small Boundary This Month
If the idea of setting boundaries feels overwhelming, start here: choose one area of your life where you sense something is off. Where you feel the most drained, the most resentful, the most invisible. Then practice one small boundary in that space.
With your time — say no to one commitment that doesn’t align with your values or capacity, or protect one hour each week that is non-negotiable for your own restoration.
With your energy — identify one interaction or activity that consistently leaves you depleted, and reduce your exposure to it, even by just 25%.
With your relationships — have one honest conversation about what you need, without apologizing for having needs.
With your values — notice one way you’ve been quietly compromising yourself, and gently begin to reclaim it.
You don’t have to do this perfectly. Small is enough. Small is sustainable. Small is sacred.
A Question to Sit With
What would it feel like to believe that protecting your own peace is an act of love — not just for those around you, but for yourself?
Take that question with you this week. Journal it. Pray over it. Let it breathe. There’s no rush to answer perfectly.
You are doing beautiful, important work. And you deserve to protect it — all of it, including yourself.
Peaceful blessings,
Terrini M. Woods, LPC Counseling is a Spa for the Mind
If you’re navigating burnout, caregiver fatigue, or are ready to explore what healthy boundaries could look like in your own life, we’d love to walk alongside you. Schedule a consultation with Terrini M. Woods Counseling today — because you deserve a space that’s just for you.
