🌸 EMPTY CUPS AND HEAVY HEARTS: THE COST OF OVER-NURTURING IN WOMEN’S LIVES

By Naomi Stockman
Licensed Therapist & Depression and Anxiety Specialist

💔 THE SILENT WEIGHT OF BEING THE NURTURER

We’re taught from a young age that caring for others is noble—
that self-sacrifice is love, that a “good woman” puts her family first.

And while nurturing is a beautiful part of womanhood, it often comes at a quiet cost.

As a clinical hypnotherapist working with women across Australia, I see this pattern time and time again:

✨ Women running on empty.
✨ Women who’ve spent years—sometimes decades—giving to everyone else.
✨ Women forgetting to give anything to themselves.

Many of us are the emotional anchors in our families—
the ones who remember birthdays, organise school notes, manage meals, and support partners, children, ageing parents, friends, and even colleagues.

We are the glue that holds everything together.

But what happens when the glue starts to crack?

🔥 FROM BURNOUT TO BREAKDOWN

The truth is, when we consistently prioritise others over ourselves, it’s not sustainable.

We begin to feel:

• Overlooked

• Unappreciated

• Unsupported

Our own careers, dreams, and passions are often put on the backburner for the sake of someone else’s ambitions.

And while we smile and say, “It’s fine, I’m fine,” inside we may feel anything but.

This emotional over-functioning doesn’t just lead to exhaustion—
it can open the door to depression, anxiety, resentment, and disconnection.

I often see women who feel guilty for wanting more than just survival.
Women who’ve become so socially withdrawn they hardly recognise themselves anymore.
Women who say: “I don’t even know what I like anymore.”

This isn’t weakness.
This is the result of living in a world that praises selflessness but forgets to teach self-preservation.

🫗 YOU CANNOT POUR FROM AN EMPTY CUP

It’s a phrase we hear often, but rarely take to heart.

If your cup is empty—if you are depleted, disconnected, and emotionally drained—
you simply cannot be the mother, partner, friend, or colleague you want to be.

Self-care is not selfish.
It is foundational.

And I’m not talking about bubble baths and candles (although they’re lovely).
I’m talking about the deep, transformative self-care that comes from reconnecting to your own needs, values, and sense of self.

Women don’t just battle exhaustion—
they battle silence, stigma, and the pressure to hold it all together.

🌿 HEALING THROUGH HYPNOTHERAPY

In my practice, I help women access the subconscious patterns that keep them stuck in cycles of self-neglect.

Many of these beliefs are absorbed early in life:

• “I must keep the peace.”

• “I’m not allowed to rest.”

• “My needs don’t matter.”

These invisible scripts shape our reality—until we choose to change them.

Through hypnotherapy, we can gently untangle these beliefs and replace them with healthier, more empowering truths.

✨ We create space for inner clarity, confidence, and calm.
✨ We rebuild the relationship with self—the one that all others are built upon.

🌸 YOU DESERVE TO BE SEEN, HEARD, AND SUPPORTED

Let this article serve as your reminder: You matter.

💖 Your needs are valid.
💖 Your dreams deserve attention—not just when the kids are grown or when things “settle down,” but now.

Celebrating womanhood isn’t just about honouring what we give—
it’s about reclaiming what we need.

You are allowed to rest.
You are allowed to receive.
You are allowed to thrive.

✨ It’s time to refill your cup. ✨

📩 You can reach out to me, Naomi Stockman, in the YTG40+ Facebook group via direct message if you would like support with your specific circumstances.

🌐 Website: www.mylocalhypnosis.com.au
📍 Clinical Hypnotherapist & Transformation Therapist

By Naomi Stockman
Licensed Therapist & Depression and Anxiety Specialist