How to Find Joy in the Mundane Repetition of Motherhood

Wake up, drink coffee, feed the kids, wipe their butts, change their clothes, find something to do… Repeat. Day after day, you carry on, taking care of your kiddos. You know that this work is important, yet you struggle to find joy in the day-to-day of everyday life. You’re not alone.

Life with littles can often feel very mundane.

Social media presents us with laughing toddlers, smiling moms, and everything just so picture-perfect. You aspire to be that mom—the fun mom who always has a ready smile and the best activities waiting to be done. Truly, she seems to have discovered how to experience joy in the mundane of motherhood. Yet, you find yourself feeling grumpy, uninspired, bored, and just downright tired.

The beautiful thing about littles is that their needs are simple. Demanding? Yes. But simple. It’s the simplicity of it that can get to us. On one hand, you experience an overabundance of stimulation that overwhelms you—sometimes so much that you go numb to it. On the other hand, you can feel way under-stimulated and unfulfilled. Of course, that brings its own pile of guilt, and the cycle goes on.

You start to wonder if and how you could shake things up a bit. That thought leaves you conflicted. You love your routine—it makes you feel comfortable and safe—but you know something has to change.

Faith can help us shift our inner narrative, which can then help us find joy in the mundane.

I love to imagine what life must have looked like for the Holy Family—particularly Mary’s daily rhythm. For one reason or another, the Holy Spirit wanted to keep this time in Jesus’ life hidden from our knowledge. Yet that same hiddenness allows us to put ourselves in her place—or rather, put Mary in our place—and meditate on how she would respond.

I imagine that her days were also filled with the same tasks day after day, year after year (some of which are probably similar to ours today). Yet what we do know about the Blessed Mother is that she “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” I can only imagine that’s what she did in those early years too.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux had a similar approach to experiencing joy in the mundane.

She embraced her littleness and offered every mundane thing to God. I often think of her “Little Way.” It’s so simple, yet so profound. It’s perfect for mothers who feel stuck in the monotony of life—especially early motherhood. It shows us that nothing we do is too small to offer to God. In a way, it gives new meaning to the smallest of tasks. It helps us discover joy in the mundane.

Honestly, I really need to think about this more myself when I’m in the thick of it. The thought is easy, but the application takes practice. It takes time to master—but that’s where God’s grace comes in. All you have to do is ask Him for His help.

Jesus is always ready to help you carry your cross.

And that’s what this is, isn’t it? The mundane is part of the little sufferings we get to receive as part of the cross that we get to bear. The joy in the mundane is that He doesn’t ask us to carry it alone. He is there with us—at every diaper change, during every tantrum, and even as we put food on the table that’s met with disgust. He is there, too.

Even as we shift our perspective, we still have to embrace the reality of our cross. It’s up to us to decide how we will carry it.

As we’re about to discuss in the next section, faith and action go hand in hand. The Intentional Day Blueprint helps you customize your own hidden rhythm formed through the lens of Faith. You can get it now here!
→ Get The Intentional Day Blueprint for $7 through December 5th with discount code ADVENT2025.

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Discovering joy in the mundane starts with a perspective shift, but it can also help to refresh your routine in a way that isn’t scary or uncomfortable.

Once you’re in a pattern—even an uncomfortable one—it can feel easier to stay there instead of changing it up. The key is not to look at it like a complete overhaul. Instead, look for small tweaks you can make to your day that offer relief from the monotony.

Rotate your activities.

You probably know how much I advocate for a mama to have some daily prayer time. But I’m not sure I’ve shared how often I get bored with my own prayer routine. It never stays the same for very long. For a while, this bothered me—it felt insincere and hypocritical. Yet I realized that it wasn’t what I did that mattered most, but the heart behind it.

Now you’ll find me happily switching up my prayer routine every couple of months or so.

We can apply this same idea to our daily rhythms. In the same way that I have morning prayer time, maybe you have a special morning outing that you do. However, this outing has been the same thing for a long time. You can change things up by switching where you go every few weeks or months. Change it based on how bored or uninspired you feel.

A few simple options to rotate through could be the park, the library, or a short class that only runs a few weeks at a time.

Create a list of activities to choose from for when you’re feeling bored and the kids are cranky.

Take time to think and write down your ideas when the house is quiet. These activities don’t have to be extravagant. They can be as simple as “play with playdough” or “build with Legos.”

These can be activities you do with the kids or ones they can do independently. The list serves as a tool so you’re not trying to think of things off the top of your head in a frazzled moment. It reduces the mental load by easing some of the decision-making burden—and that helps create space to see the joy in the mundane.

Similarly, keep a list of activities that YOU like to do that bring you joy—and add them to your routine.

Just as you did with the kids’ list, take a quiet moment to think about the activities or hobbies that bring you joy or have brought you joy in the past. It’s possible that you might not know what brings you joy anymore, and that’s okay. Start with what used to bring you joy and go from there.

Then, open your calendar, planner, or notebook—whatever you use to organize your day—and make space to do something from your list. For me, this has often been during nap time or after the kids are in bed.

Creating space to do something you love helps spark a renewed sense of purpose in the day-to-day of life. I think we often worry that doing something we love is selfish or competes with our primary vocation as mothers. It’s not selfish.

Might it need to be tempered? Sure. You can’t get so hyper-focused on it that you ignore your kids’ needs. However, an intentional life allows time for both your needs and the kids’ needs to be met. It uses perspective shifts that help you do it well—or at least better. We’re all a work in progress.

Get the free Mom’s Guide to a More Organized Day for a peek at what one well-ordered day could look like!
→ The Mom’s Guide to a More Organized Day

While life with littles can feel monotonous and heavy, you can experience joy in the mundane of everyday life.

You have the gift of Faith that allows you to draw from the wisdom of the Holy Family and the saints. Meditate on what they say and how they lived. It can give you great insight into how you can view your own life with its unique challenges.

Then, make a few tweaks to your routine. These small shifts can bring a sense of spontaneity within the comfort of your rhythm—and might even make room for a new spark of joy in something that was long forgotten.

If you want to dig deeper into developing a peace-filled rhythm for you and your family, check out The Intentional Day Blueprint. It’s $10 off until December 5th with the discount code ADVENT2025!

For a quick peek at what one stay-at-home mama’s routine looks like, download my free guide: A Mom’s Guide to a More Organized Day.