A friend emailed this little snippet to me, not sure where she got it but I thought it was great and that I would share.

Mommy martyrs, huddle up. I'm about to put some truth up in your day.
We think because we put the happiness of our children before our own, this makes us better mothers. We might even postulate it's a mother's job to put the happiness of her children before her own. Mommy martyrs aren't better mothers and they sure as hell aren't happy people.
When we place the happiness of others before our own, we're just hidin' out. We're just scared of takin' ownership of our lives. Isn't it easier to take ownership of our children's lives? Isn't it easier to work on them than it is to work on ourselves?
Makin' other people happy 'cause we love them is one thing. And even though sacrificin' our happiness sounds noble, we're just hidin' behind our babies. We're hidin' from ourselves. And worse, we're raisin' children who will look to others to find their own happiness.
I'm so damn tired of the notion that our lives are supposed to be centered on the complete and total happiness of our children. And if they're not, we're bad mommies. That's stupid crazy nonsense. We're supposed to raise our children. Love our children. Cherish them. But this whole concept of bein' a mommy martyr is regoddamndiculous. We aren't selfish for havin' lives and goals that are independent of our children.
Our children are better served when we're happy and fulfilled. Our happiness shouldn't be dependent upon our children or sacrificed for them either. What I'm tellin' y'all is this. We need to get a damn life. Our own lives. We need to stop bein' so codependent on our children 'cause we feel like we aren't important anymore. They didn't ask for us to stop livin' once they were born. They didn't ask us to sacrifice our happiness for theirs. Our children don't need martyrs. They need mothers.