CHChrystal HurstFounder/CEO at The Sister Circle

If your life feels heavy right now, it's time to adjust!

16 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:08

In this motivational monologue, Chrystal Hurst highlights how women disproportionately shoulder emotional and mental labor within families and homes. She explains that women’s daily schedules shift through distinct "seasons"—from the demanding 5‑to‑9 workday of a career‑focused mother, to the unpredictable 5‑to‑9/10/11 rhythm of caring for small children, to the "sandwich" period of simultaneously supporting aging parents and growing kids. Hurst argues that persisting with the same strategies across these seasons leads to exhaustion and frustration. Instead, she urges women to consciously adjust their approaches to align with the current season, emphasizing that a "full" season (busy and overloaded) is not the same as a "fruitful" season (productive and sustainable). The talk serves as a call to recognize invisible burdens, re‑evaluate personal expectations, and adopt season‑appropriate tactics for wellbeing.

Chapters

Women carry a disproportionate amount of emotional and mental labor in homes and in families. We got a 5 to 9, a 9 to 5, and then a 5 to 9 or 10 or 11. And if you're not careful with how you manage that in your seasons and evaluating your life based on what you're doing, then no wonder you're exhausted. No wonder you're carrying invisible weight. If you are a working woman at home with small children, every time your children change seasons, something in your schedule will change. So maybe you were leading meetings and traveling and moving around quickly, and you had uninterrupted interrupted focus. Now the naps determine the meetings. Now your toddlers will interrupt calls. Now your emotional labor is increased and your flexibility matters more. But if you keep acting in this season with those little babies like you did before you had them, you will be frustrated and overwhelmed. A different season, a different strategy. If you are sandwiched in between caring for your parents and caring for your children, you've gotta adjust your strategy because if you don't do that, I can guarantee you, you are not living in the right season the right way. And a full season and a fruitful season are not the same thing.