Is the media and "here's a pill for your problem" epidemic going to cause the Mommy Zombie Apocalypse?

Not that I buy into the whole media thing, but I was again quite amused this past week when the internet lit up with tabloids writing about Kate Middleton's post baby body one day after giving birth! Really? So the media wants us to look like a fit supermodel after birth, Time wants us to be Mom Enough by committing to breastfeeding and attachment parenting for the first five years of our kids life, and Forbes is challenging us all to consider whether we are a "have it all" woman with our perfectly balanced career and family.

Wow, like women alone, don't put enough pressure on themselves, we get the constant reminder of how we're all fat, not mom enough, and can't ever have it all. Sorry, but the whole thing kind of makes me laugh. I am amused by the media, but I do let the pressure I put on myself and that I feel from those that know me get to me. I think moms and really women in general put a lot of pressure on themselves. One day I feel like I'm taking on the world and the next I feel like it's taking me under.

The expectations of today's mom are high. Higher than they have ever been I feel and it is stressful. As I contemplate how to handle it all, I started a discussion with my sister about seeing a doctor to help "balance" me out we'll say. My reply was if I go to a doctor for help because I'm a little overstressed, I'm going to end up medicated for ADD, anxiety, and probably depression. I'm going to become a mommy zombie without a care in the world anymore. I have weird issues with being medicated for anything, not just mental health. I feel strongly that our society overmedicates people today. You have a problem, here's a pill. You go from taking one pill for one thing to ending up on half a dozen before you know it. I just feel that's there's more natural, thearapuetic ways to deal with things before turning to pharmaceutical drugs right away. I will take something if  I feel it's necessary.

But I couldn't help seeing how the media just constantly attacks mothers with their unrealistic expectations like Kate not looking like a celebrity supermodel a day after she gives birth. Why does she even feel like she has to look like one a year after giving birth for that matter? We bust our butts to be the best we can be, and are overworked, underappreciated at times, exhausted, and incredibly stressed. A survey by Today Moms shows that moms gave themselves an 8.5 out of 10 for how stressed they are (Mom Stress). According to Harvard Medical School women are 2 1/2 x more likely to need antidepressants than men, and the number of women and Americans in general on antidepressants have increased over 400% since the 90s . These are large shoes we're walking in today and  maybe seeing a doctor would help me or any mother overstessed, but I feel that some get too carried away with prescribing meds before considering other alternatives. I could see doctors  overmedicating all us poor mothers and then we'd all be wondering around like zombies with no cares in the world. Can you see it? The media frenzy of the mommy wars is going to lead to the mommy zombie acopolypse. We'll all feel so defeated that we can't meet society and media's unrealistic expectations that we'll become super depressed and then we'll go to doctors who will fill the pharmaceutical company's pockets with our hardearned money and we won't care about expectations anymore or doing anything for that matter. Nothing will ever get done and we won't care! Then when people just piss us off, we'll just eat them. And we won't even care that we just did!



On a side notes, maybe I should quit watching the Walking Dead.