Saying Yes to Everything is Breaking Us — And Women Are Paying the Highest Price

In a world that glorifies hustle culture and perpetual busyness, ITV’s Susanna Reid has issued a stark, painfully honest warning: saying ‘yes’ to everything is not empowerment — it’s a fast-track ticket to exhaustion, resentment, and burnout.

Her recent confessional column is more than a celebrity lifestyle anecdote — it’s a damning indictment of the modern expectation that women, particularly mothers, should be endlessly accommodating, self-sacrificing, and available to everyone but themselves.

Reid’s Monday — which reads like a survival marathon rather than a normal working day — is disturbingly relatable.

From a 4am alarm for live television, navigating government policy discussions, ferrying her son to university, hosting a birthday dinner for another child, preparing for the next day’s show, and still feeling guilty for not calling her parents — this is not “having it all.”

This is having nothing left.

The ‘Year of Yes’ Trap

Ironically, Reid cites Shonda Rhimes’ “Year of Yes” — a self-help phenomenon that encouraged women to embrace new opportunities — as a catalyst for this spiral.

But what began as a liberating manifesto has morphed into a weaponized social script: women must lean in, say yes, show up, smile, nurture, cook, clean, and never, ever complain.

Reid’s revelation cuts through this toxic narrative.

“The truth is women have a tendency to say ‘yes’ even when we’re at tipping point,” she writes.

And that tipping point is where careers derail, relationships fracture, mental health collapses, and invisible labour drains women of their very essence.

Pandemic Pressure and The Female Breaking Point

Reid’s candour echoes Loose Women’s Andrea McLean, who recently disclosed her own breakdown from trying to “do everything and be everything.”

The pandemic only intensified this pressure — as homes became offices, schools, restaurants, and hospitals overnight.

But this isn’t about famous presenters.

This is about every working mother stitching together her sanity with scraps of time — dashing from Zoom calls to school runs, from cooking meals to comforting anxious children, all while managing the creeping dread of another wave of lockdowns.

Saying ‘Enough’ is the Real Power Move

The tragedy is that the first thing women sacrifice is themselves.

Self-care isn’t bubble baths or scented candles — it’s boundaries.

It’s saying: “The kitchen is closed.”

It’s understanding that being a good mother is not synonymous with being perpetually available or endlessly accommodating.

Reid’s decision to step back from her column after a year of lockdown reflections is not weakness — it is profound strength.

She is modelling what real leadership looks like: prioritising family, mental health, and presence over the shallow performance of ‘having it all.’

The Final Word: Redefining Success

As Susanna Reid closes this chapter, she leaves us with a powerful truth.

“I may look like I’m in control on TV, but underneath I’m trying to hold it together like we all are.”

This is not a confession of failure — it is a manifesto for a new kind of success.

One where women stop breaking themselves on the altar of endless yeses.

One where saying ‘enough’ is not defeat — it is survival.

To every busy woman — every mother, daughter, partner, and friend — this is your permission slip to put something down.

To stop spinning plates.

To say no.

Because real power isn’t found in burnout — it’s found in boundaries.

And let’s be clear: it should never take a pandemic to remind us of that.