When You Feel Alone in Motherhood: Offering Warmth and Care to Yourself

Christi Young
Nov 25
3 min read

There is a unique ache that rises in a mother’s heart when her friends don’t understand what she’s walking through. The sleepless nights. The unpredictable emotions. The invisible weight of caring for a tiny life while trying to stay connected to your own.

Feeling misunderstood can stir anger, loneliness, and even resentment. It can make you feel like you’re carrying a world no one else can see. But here’s the beautiful truth: your emotions are not signs of failure—they are signals that your heart needs tending.

When others don’t show up the way you hoped, you can still show up for yourself with warmth, care, and truth. And God meets you there: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Below are simple art therapy practices to help you reconnect with compassion, grounding, and emotional steadiness.

Art Therapy Exercises for Difficult Times

1. “Hold My Heart” Drawing

Purpose: To give space to the emotions you’re carrying and offer them compassion.

Materials: Paper + colored pencils or markers.

Prompt: Draw a pair of hands gently holding a heart. Inside the heart, write or sketch the emotions you’re experiencing—anger, loneliness, exhaustion, fear, frustration.

Then around the hands, write phrases you wish someone would say to you such as:• You’re not alone.• You’re doing beautifully.• It’s okay to feel this.• You matter too.

Reflection:

Notice how it feels to speak kindness to yourself, instead of waiting for others to offer it.

2. The “Warm Words” Line Drawing

Materials: Pen + paper.

Instructions: Draw long, slow lines across the page—waves, stripes, or loops. Inside each line, write one comforting sentence:

• I’m doing the best I can today.• God is with me.• I don’t have to pretend.• My feelings matter.• I am still loved.

Why it helps:Repetition + truth calms the nervous system.

3. “Safe Arms” Heart Outline

.Materials: Pen/pencil.

Instructions: Draw a simple heart. Around it, draw several larger hearts, as if the smaller one is being held by many layers.

In the smallest heart, write:“This is me today.”

In the surrounding layers, write:“God’s care,” “God’s strength,” “God’s nearness,” “God’s understanding.”

Bible Reminder:

“Underneath are the everlasting arms.” — Deuteronomy 33:27

4. “Where I Feel It” Body Outline

Purpose: To acknowledge stored emotions.

Materials: Pen + paper.

Instructions: Draw a simple outline of a body (stick figure is fine!).Mark where you feel tension or emotion.

Use colors or small shapes to show what it feels like.

Then add a second color and draw warmth flowing into those spots.

Reflection question:“What is my body trying to tell me?”

5. “The Kind Tone” Word Cloud

Purpose: When she feels criticized or judged.

Materials: Pen.

Instructions: Write words she wishes someone would say to her:• seen• supported• brave• strong• cherished• doing enough• not failing

Draw soft shapes around the words—clouds, leaves, petals.

This becomes a visual “tone of kindness.”

6. “Five-Second Gratitude Marks”

Purpose: A reset when overwhelmed.

Materials: Any pen.

Instructions: Draw five small dots or stars. Next to each one, write a tiny thing she’s grateful for in this moment:• warm coffee• baby’s breath• one quiet minute• God’s presence• sunlight• her own endurance

This takes under a minute but shifts emotional focus.