Whilst I agree that in our darkest moments the love of parents is often the thing that gets us through, I no longer believe that it is optimum for a mother (as it is usually only mothers to whom this phrase is applied, not fathers, funny that!) sacrifice “everything” for their dc. Why is this seen as beneficial for either party?
Especially when your dc are older. At a certain point, teens stop needing hands on parenting and want and need a decent role model instead: a functioning adult with a job perhaps, or if not a job then a balance of hobbies and interests and activities. It’s far too much pressure on dc to know that their parent has sacrificed “everything” for them surely?
And what does it actually mean anyway? That they have sacrificed their career prospects, health, chance of a decent relationship, chance to study?
In the context of this thread though, especially now that so much more is demanded of parents, I think it is entirely normal to feel somewhat “spent” by the time your dc are at uni, as by that time you have done 20 years or so of hands-on parenting, housework, cooking, juggling of everyone’s needs, basically facilitating everyone else’s requirements… and at this point I think it’s entirely normal for the average woman to want some time back to focus on themselves for a while before the grandchildren arrive!