I started getting into podcasts, like the rest of the United States. I like that podcasts are now a thing. They’re great, aren’t they? It makes me think about the radio and how everyone used to sit in their living rooms listening to people talking from a wooden box. I know earbuds, cell phones, Bluetooth, and apps are technically a far cry from what was available during the Boomer’s generation. However, I can’t help but think about my dad dialing into “Mystery Hour” on the CBS radio station and finding some joy in that. I particularly like podcasts due to the accessibility of hearing others relate to my own thoughts and feelings at any given time.
Over a year and a half ago, I was listening to Dr. Becky Kennedy on her podcast “Good Inside” talking about Mom Rage. I felt a piece of shame chip off my shoulders as I heard her therapeutic voice explain how all mothers have it, and we are not bad people because of it. She said Mom Rage can come about from the endless days and nights of not feeling seen or appreciated, as well as not getting the mandatory “me time.” She insisted mothers find the time, even if it’s 15-20 minutes a day, to do something for themselves. She illustrated how resentment can grow when a mother takes care of everyone’s needs but her own. I know that it was really difficult for me personally when my two girls were both toddlers and my husband and I were always at odds. I never had time for me. Never.
Then at the end of 2025, I heard one of my favorite authors/illustrators, Dan Santat, on an episode of KidLit Happy Hour. Santat was talking with the hosts and co-collaborators of the book “The Day the Books Disappeared.” (My children and I love this book, and I highly recommend readers check it out.) He started off brushing on the topic of all the crazy things that are currently happening in our country, especially with all the current book bans. It was interesting to find out that librarians are finding themselves in a difficult position. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about this before. If the librarians speak up and say that “all voices need to be heard, especially those that are marginalized voices,” they could lose their job. It’s extremely eye opening just how far back our country has gone. Santat even discussed having a conversation with one of these librarians in a rural area and how her stance gave him a little bit of hope that there are people ought there fighting the good fight. I will say that librarians are definitely just some of our unsung heroes.
Anyway, Santat also discussed how he felt like he was just screaming into a vast void of likeminded individuals when it came to social media and current events. I, too, feel this way. Yet I feel I need to use my voice any way I can, which would include posting on social media and sharing posts/ stories that ought to be shared. I do not know if what I am doing over social media is making any small significance… But I do it anyway.
I can’t get Santat’s and Kennedy’s words out of my head… “screaming into a vast void”… “Mom Rage”… I think it all goes back to feeling unseen and unheard. When someone tells another person, “I see you,” what can be better than that? We all just want to be significant in our own Lifetime movie. No one wants to feel like they were an extra or the battered and bruised stuntman who isn’t important enough for someone to search the credits for their name. We want to be seen. Especially when we are all working so hard to do everything right.
If there is anyone who truly knows me, and I mean truly, I am pretty sure they would tell you that I am passionate. I am passionate about what I believe in. I am passionate about who I believe in. Basically, when it comes down to it, I am passionate about what is overall GOOD. When I speak up about any kind of unfairness or injustice, and it could even be in one of my relationships with a family member, I more than often feel like my cries go unheard. When I see other people who are dealing with an ungodly amount of pain, like the mothers who are battling their children’s cancer, I can feel it in my bones. Maybe I’m an empath… I do not know. But I do know that their cries need to be ricocheting off their bubbles of misery into the hearts of the people that can make a serious change. I actually made the design above titled “Mom Rage” in my desire to help bring these mothers and their children more recognition and representation.
In general, I feel women and mothers of all ages and ethnicities should be heard more. I think it’s so barbaric how so many women are treated as objects without a mind or soul in third world countries. Also, I think science is here for a reason. I think that there have been strides to help women and their health, but things like this administration have gotten in the way. For example, Joan Burge, a Harvard scientist, lost the $7 million grant that was on its way to fund her research for preventing breast cancer. She was discovering the genetic seeds in the breast tissue that would enable a person to know if they would wind up with breast cancer, but all of that has been halted thanks to Trump. Then there’s the abortion issue… when it’s deemed medically necessary and the lives that have already been lost because the doctors were forbidden to provide them with one. Or women now being arrested for having a natural miscarriage in states like Texas and Tennessee. As if mothers didn’t already have enough on their plates. We now have a man as the US Secretary of Health and Human Services telling mothers to not give certain vaccines to their babies, when this man has never gone to medical school. I didn’t mean for this blog to get political, but… I can’t help it… it’s everywhere. They have their fingers in everything. Women are not only losing their voices in a void… We are losing our fundamental rights along with so many other human beings in this country.
I would like to end this blog on a good note. Even though I feel so many people feel like they are screaming into a vast void of nothingness… and there are so many moms out there stuffing down their Mom Rage so that they can just get through their day by ticking all the boxes… I like that we are not alone. I like that we can pick up our phones and listen to a podcast that we know we will identify with. I am grateful to the individuals who were brave enough to start their own podcast. Our journeys are unique, yes. But when you read stories from our past and learn from our parents and grandparents and listen to strangers… we have so many similarities that unify us in a most spectacular and magical way. Whether if it’s joy or pain, it’s freeing all the same, when we get together and truly LISTEN.
