Are you in The Mommy Trap?

Vagia Campbell, a Respiratory Therapist and mother of two, always wanted children, four or more, in fact. But then the all-consuming reality of parenthood set in. “When you lose the complete luxury of doing something purely selfish, the inability to think for just yourself, that’s suffocation," says Campbell. "Compound that with the feelings society imposes on you as a mother, telling you how you should act and feel. That’s the mommy trap.”

Motherhood is the hardest transition most of us will ever make. Day upon day spent indoors with small children can push even the most prepared mother to the precipice of madness. When parenting becomes about just making it through, counting down the hours until we crawl back under our sheets, something’s got to give.

Here are five tips for breaking free of The Mommy Trap.