Mom’s Emotional Facebook Post Reveals the Realities of Mental Illness and Anxiety

On January 20, Cierra Lyn Fortner took her sons on their weekly trip to Walmart. While on the checkout line, a cashier complimented her for having everything in her life “together.” While she took the compliment in stride, a Facebook post later in the day revealed how conflicted it made her feel.

Fortner began her Facebook post by setting the scene.

“Today I was at Walmart doing my weekly Friday shopping when the cashier says to me ‘I see you in here all the time, your kids are always dressed cute, behaving and you just seem to have it all together.’ At the time I just thanked her and giggled because that’s far from the truth, but as I drove hom,e there was more I wanted her to know about me.”

From there, she began describing things she’s gone through under the surface of her smile:

“I want her to know I battle a personality disorder everyday with anxiety and depression mixed and I’m a two times suicide survivor.

I want her to know that I can’t always get myself up off the couch to feed them anything more than frozen pizza and cereal.

I want her to know that my son is late for school 3 out of 4 days because I regularly forget what day and time it is, despite the toddler size calendar in my kitchen.

I want her to know I have those “I’m losing my shit” moments when I have to lock myself in the bathroom and cry.

I want her to know I wasn’t always the most active mom because I use to work 80 hours a week and go to school full time and Jayce spent many days and nights with his grandparents.

I want her to know that I hadn’t washed my hair in 3 days and my kids hadn’t had a bath in 2.

I want her to know that I was trying to hurry out of there because I had forgot the diaper bag at home and Brenton was hungry.

I want her to know that once we got to the parking lot the “well behaved” child decided to stand up in the cart and I wasn’t paying attention and barely caught him as he almost hit the concrete.

But most importantly, I want her to know I don’t have it together and may never have it all together.”

Cierra Lyn Fortner ended her post with a message to other mom’s who are feeling overwhelmed.

She wrote, “I don’t know a mother out there that has it all together but everything we do is done with love for our children and that right there makes you the perfect mom and in our children’s eyes we most definitely have it all together. From one exhausted mom to another, you’re doing great, have that melt down, let your kids eat the crap out of that cereal and take care of yourself always.”

Fortner’s post clearly struck a nerve, with over 161,000 reactions and 92,400 shares as of January 30. In addition, the post garnered many positive comments in support of the Missouri mom. The viral reaction to the post is perhaps unsurprising, considering that anxiety disorders afflict 40 million American adults, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

“I’m literally in awe to the amount of mothers and fathers this post has connected with on a personal basis,” Cierra Lyn Fortner told YDD about the reaction to her post.

“It’s a good feeling knowing I helped them reassure themselves as parents and reminded them it doesn’t take having it all together to be a good parent.”