everything is pissing me off at the moment

[StealthPolarBear]

There is not one aspect of my life i don't want to have a good moan about

Yes, I do remember everyone wanting a piece of me - overneeded is a very good word.

I think my problem is that it's gone the other way & I'm feeling a bit empty-nestish (although they've not all left home yet).

I feel very nostalgic reading birth stories on here and think what a lovely time it was with little ones (completely forgetting the weeping with exhaustion that I frequently did).

I just need to get a grip really.

Not at all - or you could say the same about me.
Everyone has the odd bad day but when my bad days outnumber the good days then it becomes a bad childhood for my children, which is just stupid. There is no actual reason why life should be this hard and why we should enjoy so little of it.

And yes, Stealth this is your thread. Of course child-related things get easier.

You can reason with older children (and tell them to get their own water!)

You can even reason with teens, they can be quite nice really, definitely easier than 2-4 year olds.

And they sleep a Lot.

Funny how empty nesters hold this rose-tinted view of their DCs younger years. I hope I do that too...but atm, it's pretty much crap, crap, crap, all day every day.

But we'll all get there, and I would rather nostalgically remember the good times, rather than the good times I missed because I was scrubbing the floor, iyswim.
And I have no problems with sharing this thread with people who are also generally pissed off. TBH I know this is a phase and life will get better. I am usually a very optimistic person (to the point where I do make some bad decisions) but at the moment I just feel all optimism has been knocked out of me. It will probably only take one good event - DS/DD learning something new, DD starting to sleep through, new job for me to see everything differently. I seem to either be superwoman, coping with everyhing or on a downer and feeling like life's getting me down.

I think that having to be superwoman all the time is no doubt what's wearing you out.

I do wonder why I only hear this stuff on MN. I have NEVER in RL heard a mother (except me!) say she feels she's had enough- or say it in a way that isn't meant to be a wry 'joke' a least.

I think the maternal conspiracy of silence is a killer. Maybe people feel that if they ask for help or even tell the truth they'll be pitied, which is perhaps worse than stress for some?

It honestly doesn't get harder. It gets...different. Which is what you need, because it's the mind numbing mundanity of it that really wears you down. Well, that and the exhaustion.

I remember when mine were tiny, slightly dreading each day, just the thought of doing the same shite in the same order. Even nice days out felt a bit like I was pretending to be a nice mummy, when all I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed, or at least go to the loo on my own. I used to feel like they were all pecking bits out of me until there was nothing left.

I wasn't depressed or unhappy. I have a really nice life, and a nice husband, but it is really, really hard. I think lots of mums feel like this, and there is always some bastard who will say 'if you think this is hard, wait until they are 3/4/13/26'. It's bollocks. It gets much much easier.