I spent years trying to be a supermom. Getting sick taught me that my son needed to see me rest, too.

The author, pictured with her son, said she is glad she is modeling healthy self-care. Courtesy of Ashley Archambault. Health struggles have forced me to be a less-present mom than I've been in the past. I felt a lot of guilt about this until I realized that my son needs to see me take care of myself. Now I'm showing him that rest is allowed and needed, and that's important, too. I've been dealing with health struggles for years and often feel a ton of mom guilt about not being there for my son as much as I used to be when he was younger. I was a single mom for the first seven years of his life, and he watched me do it all. He saw me work and then do everything around the house, all while still spending a lot of time with him.