Some Days the Win Is Just Keeping Everyone Alive
A love letter to the moms building businesses, rebuilding themselves, and reheating the same cup of coffee four times.
Written by Katrice Jalbert, Founder of R.O.A.R
There’s a version of productivity culture that makes women feel like if we didn’t wake up at 5 AM, meditate, journal, drink lemon water, run six miles, answer emails, meal prep organic lunches, build a business, and somehow remain emotionally stable through all of it… we’re failing.
Respectfully? That version can kiss my overtired ass. 😏
Because some days the win is just keeping everyone alive.
Some days the biggest accomplishment is:
the baby got fed
the dishes only smell mildly concerning
nobody cried in Target
and you managed to answer one email without forgetting what you were saying halfway through
That counts.
And I think more women need permission to hear that.
Especially the women trying to rebuild themselves while also raising tiny humans.
Because motherhood has this funny way of cracking you wide open.
It exposes every insecurity, every coping mechanism, every place you’ve abandoned yourself to survive.
And then somewhere between the laundry piles, the grocery runs, and trying to remember why you walked into the kitchen… you realize:
you still want more for your life.
Not because your family isn’t enough.
But because you matter too.
That realization can come with a lot of guilt.
At least it did for me.
I’ve had seasons where I was trying to build businesses during nap times, answer client calls while making bottles, and hold onto some tiny thread of identity outside of “mom.” There were days I felt powerful and capable… and other days where my nervous system was just completely shot.
Nobody posts those moments on LinkedIn.
But those moments are real.
And honestly?
They’re probably more important than the polished highlight reel.
Because resilience rarely looks glamorous while you’re living it.
Sometimes resilience looks like:
showing up exhausted anyway.
Sometimes it looks like:
trying again after a terrible week.
Sometimes it looks like:
admitting you need help.
And sometimes it looks like:
resting before your body forces you to.
I think we’ve confused constant productivity with worthiness.
But your value does not disappear just because you’re tired.
You are still becoming someone extraordinary in the messy middle of all this.
Even here.
Especially here.
So if today all you managed to do was survive?
Feed the baby?
Answer one email?
Take one tiny step toward your future?
That still matters.
Because rebuilding a life rarely happens in giant cinematic moments.
Most of the time it happens quietly.
In exhaustion or In courage nobody claps for.
And one day you’ll look around and realize:
the small steps built an entirely different life.
Final Thoughts
If you’re in a rebuilding season right now, I hope this reminds you that progress does not need to look perfect to count.
You are allowed to grow slowly, and be tired AND to become someone new without having everything figured out first.
And if nobody has told you lately:
I’m proud of you for continuing anyway.
For the women rebuilding themselves while reheating coffee for the fourth time, I see you. Keep going. 🦁
— Kat Jalbert
Founder of The R.O.A.R. Collaborative
