Can Your Mother Wound Affect Your Career?

What is the Mother Wound?

The mother wound is a deep emotional wound that stems from early childhood experiences with your mother figure. These experiences can include emotional neglect, abandonment, abuse, or a lack of unconditional love and acceptance. The mother wound can manifest in various ways, including low self-esteem, difficulty setting boundaries, people-pleasing tendencies, and a sense of inadequacy.

The Mother Wound in the Workplace

The mother wound can negatively impact our professional lives, influencing our relationships with colleagues, supervisors, and clients. The most obvious trigger will be a female figure with power over you but it may also be any person with power over you that triggers it.

It can manifest as difficulty asserting ourselves, taking on too much responsibility, or struggling to receive recognition or– on the flip side criticism. We might find ourselves repeating unhealthy patterns in our work relationships, mirroring the dynamics of our childhood relationships with our mothers. If you find yourself crying frequently or not being able to stop thinking about work, that’s big sign you’re mother wound is being triggered at work. 

Reclaiming Your Power at Work

Be reflective about moments that feel particularly overwhelming at work: moments when you cried, got very angry, or had difficulty thinking straight. 

Try to identify what need is being triggered: Are you feeling unsafe? Unseen? Not valued?

Knowledge is power. Once you know what is the trigger is, you practice grounding tools. Use tools like deep breathing, affirmation, or other sensory tools, you can help you nervous system regulate. 

Knowing how your mother wound informs how you relate to others means you can begin to choose differently. You'll start to develop ways to speak up for yourself, set boundaries, learning assertive communication, etc. These are also the kind of skills you develop in therapy. So if you're looking for more support, feel free to reach out to work with me or check out more resources from me like my substack to stay in touch, patreon for free weekly content, or my YouTube channel for videos on mental health.