11 Purchases I Regret as a Burned-Out Christian Mother (And What Actually Worked)

I spent thousands of dollars chasing relief as a burned-out Christian mother. Thousands of dollars on supplements, detoxes, gadgets, therapies—only to end up more tired, more frustrated, and more confused. I knew something was “off” and I chased relief.

Maybe you’ve felt it too. That ache that something must be missing—something in your diet, some secret supplement, some tool that would finally fix you.

And for a while, I believed it. Each new purchase promised hope. Each new protocol gave me hope like, “maybe this will finally be the answer.” But it never was.

So today, I’m sharing the 11 purchases I regret the most—because they cost me thousands of dollars and years of peace. And more importantly, I’m going to show you what actually worked.

So many of us mothers are wasting time, money, and emotional energy chasing surface-level fixes. And the longer we chase, the deeper we sink into discouragement thinking “nothing will work for me.”

I know, because I lived this. I bought all the powders and planners, the oils and tests, the supplements and the detoxes. And none of it gave me the peace-filled home I longed for.

So, by the end, you’re going to see the real reason so many Christian mothers stay stuck in survival mode, no matter how many things they try. And I’ll show you the exact system that finally set me free.

Keep in mind: some of these things might actually have helped you or are currently helping you—and if that’s the case, I think that’s wonderful—don’t change a thing! This is just what I personally experienced and what helped me finally find lasting relief if you’re in a similar place as I was.

The 11 Purchases I Regret

1. Therapy

First, I turned to where most people who are lucky enough to afford it turn to when they’re struggling: therapy.

I know this one will be controversial, but therapy didn’t work for me—and it drained my bank account. I tried a half a dozen different counselors who each had different approaches, and while some Christian counselors are truly incredible, they’re few and far between. I spent more time searching for the right one than actually healing, and it felt discouraging.

2. Hiring More Childcare or Housekeeping Help

Next, I thought if I just had more free time, I’d finally feel calm and capable. This was a logical next step—I simply needed more help. It takes a village, right?

So, I hired help, and yes, it gave me more time—but here’s the thing: the same stress, the same overwhelm, the same reactivity showed up just the same.

3. Supplements

I’m not knocking supplements. There’s a time and place to use them, but I went on what I call the “supplement merry-go-round” where I was chasing relief from my symptoms with supplements.

Then, because I noticed I was just throwing supplements at the problem without knowing what I was actually deficient in, I did all the tests. Blood tests, hair analysis tests—you name it—so I could get accurate information on what supplements I actually needed to be taking.

I thought I was doing supplementing the “right” way by spending hundreds of dollars on the testing before spending hundreds of dollars on the supplements. But even then, I was missing the point.

Supplements were never meant to be the foundation of my health—they’re just that: a supplement. Something to fill a temporary gap, not a crutch to keep me going. And while the tests gave me data, they couldn’t tell me the deeper truth about why I was so depleted, stressed, and overwhelmed.

The real problem wasn’t a magnesium deficiency that a capsule could fix, or low iron that beef liver was supposed to restore, or even a gut imbalance that probiotics promised to heal.

The root issue was that my nervous system was stuck in survival mode. Once I addressed that—once I began rebuilding rhythms of peace and calm in my actual daily life—I was able to step off the supplement merry-go-round completely.

Now, I’ll use a supplement here or there for a short season, but it no longer defines my health or my hope.

4. Food-Based Supplements

Then the supplements transitioned into a new “epiphany”: food-based supplements.

I thought, Ah, this must be the missing piece. Not capsules—real, nutrient-dense foods in their most natural form.

So I would read something and think, ah, yes, I’m low in iron, or vitamins A, D, or B. And instead of capsules, I would take cod liver oil, or Brazil nuts, or oysters—treating them like medicine instead of food.

It felt smarter, more natural, even Biblical. But the truth is, I was still chasing healing in the same way—hoping that one more “superfood” would finally fix the chronic exhaustion in my body.

5. Plant-Based Hormone Balancers (Ashwagandha, Adaptogens, St. John’s Wort)

This was the next stage of my chase. After supplements and food-based remedies, I moved into plant-based “hormone balancers.”

Things like ashwagandha to calm anxiety and stress, adaptogens to boost energy, St. John’s Wort to lift mood. Everywhere I turned, someone was promising that this herb or that plant could finally fix the fatigue, the irritability, the mood swings, the overwhelm—the never-ending emotional rollercoaster I was on.

Since I was desperate, of course, I tried them all. And for a little while, I noticed tiny shifts—a fleeting calm in the morning, a small lift in my mood. But it never lasted.

Within days or weeks, the exhaustion returned, the irritability crept back in, and the stress spikes were just as high as before—and I felt even more discouraged.

Here’s the thing: these plants are wonderful in the right context. They can support healthy stress responses and mood for some people. But for me—and maybe for you too—the problem wasn’t just a chemical imbalance that could be corrected with herbs.

It was that my nervous system was constantly on high alert, misreading ordinary life as dangerous. My brain and body were stuck in survival mode, and no amount of herbal support could fix the underlying hypersensitivity.

The pattern was familiar: I would take an herb, hope for relief, get a brief shift, then crash. It was addictive in a way—I kept thinking the next bottle or the next combination would finally work.

It wasn’t about the herbs. It was about retraining my brain, calming my nervous system, and learning how to respond to life—not react to it. That’s when real change happened.

Once I addressed the overstimulation and the patterns of my brain, my body finally started to feel relief.

6. Essential Oils for Mood and Energy

Next, I learned about this Doterra hormone kit for mood management.

Same story here: tried, no relief, felt discouraged, onto the next.

7. Detox Protocols

Then I learned somewhere that unless you detox, your body can’t even hold on to essential nutrients. That idea felt like a missing piece of the puzzle. If I just flushed out the toxins, my magnesium, my iron, my probiotics—everything I was taking—could finally work.

So I dove in: cleanses, detox teas, binders, charcoal, liver flushes—you name it. Each promised to purge the body of impurities, reset my system.

The reality is that all these did was give me tummy aches and made me use the bathroom a lot.

But the truth was the same as with supplements and herbs: my nervous system was stuck in survival mode. No external cleanse could fix the chronic overstimulation, the trauma responses, the fight-or-flight wiring that made every day feel unbearable.

8. Electrolyte Packets and Hydration Powders

The thought here was that I was actually flushing out all the minerals my body needs by staying so hydrated—so I had to replenish those minerals using electrolyte packs.

9. Special Planners or Time-Blocking Systems

These are amazing, but the issue wasn’t the work that needed done, or my schedule—and they didn’t solve my constant stress.

10. Decluttering and Minimalism Binges

Minimalism became all the rage during this time and I thought, Okay, I’m probably just suffocating in all my things so if I declutter, I’ll finally clear my mind and feel less overwhelmed by visual chaos.

I genuinely love a simple, clutter-free home, but even that didn’t hold a candle to the deep stress I was carrying inside.

11. Food Elimination Diets

Dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, etc.—I restricted my diet like crazy, convinced I had some hidden food intolerance causing all the symptoms in my body.

And honestly, I wasn’t entirely wrong—my body was reacting to certain foods. That was obvious.

But the real breakthrough came when I healed my nervous system’s overactive stress response. Once that happened, my body stopped freaking out over these foods, and I finally regained true food freedom.

That’s what actually led me to what was wrong. When I was researching why my body was so reactive to so many foods and why I was sick all the time when I ate so healthy…

The Big Reveal: What Was Really Going On

Here’s the truth: none of those purchases could fix me because the real problem wasn’t in my pantry, my planner, or lack of nutrients. It was in my brain.

I was living with something called limbic system dysfunction.

What Is Limbic System Dysfunction?

For those who don’t know, the limbic system is a network deep in the brain that controls emotions, memory, motivation, and the fight/flight/freeze response. It’s also tied to digestion, hormones, and the body’s ability to regulate itself.

When it’s healthy, you can handle stress, bounce back, and think clearly. But when it’s overloaded—through repeated trauma, stress, or sin—it gets stuck in overdrive. And once that happens, the brain begins to perceive everyday life as a threat.

That was me.

How Trauma and Motherhood Pushed Me Deeper

I had significant trauma growing up that shaped the way my brain responded to stress. It carved deep pathways of fear and hypervigilance into my nervous system. Then, pregnancy, labor, and postpartum—the hormonal storms, the sleepless nights, the physical depletion—pushed me even deeper into dysfunction. My brain was constantly firing “danger” signals, even in the safety of my own home.

And the symptoms were everywhere.

• Overwhelming sensory sensitivities: I became hypersensitive to noise, touch, smells, even certain foods and supplements. Ordinary things like my children’s joyful shouts felt unbearable.
• Cognitive and emotional issues: brain fog so thick I couldn’t think, constant anxiety, uncontrollable mood swings, and chronic fatigue that made small tasks feel like climbing a mountain.
• Physical symptoms: POTS syndrome, major digestive issues, wild heart rate fluctuations, chronic pain, infections, and illnesses that no doctor could pin down.

Why the Chasing Didn’t Work

This is why so many of us chase one single cause—we think, it must be mold, or Lyme, or hormones, or gluten, or some essential nutrient we are lacking.

But the truth is, it wasn’t any of those things. It was my limbic system in overdrive, misfiring, amplifying everything, and making my brain think it needed to send pain and stress signals constantly.

And here’s the hard part: all of those protocols, diets, supplements, and gadgets I spent good money on just kept me distracted. They gave me false hope. They kept me chasing solutions that could never touch the root.

The Hope of Neuroplasticity

The reality is this: when the limbic system is dysregulated, it interprets normal things as life-threatening. A certain food, sound, smell—even your own thoughts. And the more you avoid, restrict, and fear, the deeper the dysfunction goes.

But here’s the hope: the brain can be retrained.

God created our brains to be plastic—meaning they’re moldable. It’s called neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to form new pathways—and this means dysfunction is not permanent. You are not stuck. You can literally teach your brain to stop perceiving threats where there are none.

And for me, that was the turning point.

When I learned how to calm my limbic system, to interrupt those trauma-driven responses, to rebuild new patterns rooted in faith instead of fear—everything changed.

And because I built my rewiring around Christ, it wasn’t just physical healing—it was spiritual freedom. The Lord used this to heal my nervous system but also rewire my brain so I could stop spiraling in fear and symptoms and live out joy and peace again.

That was the answer all along. Not another supplement. Not another protocol. But retraining my brain, with Jesus at the center.

And once I learned to retrain my limbic system, everything changed. I didn’t need to keep buying supplements. I didn’t need another detox. I had food freedom again and could eat whatever I wanted without my body revolting against me. I could finally rest, heal, and enjoy my family again.

The Freedom You’ve Been Longing For

So yes—I regret wasting money on these things. Not because they’re bad in themselves, but because they distracted me from the real solution.

If you feel stuck in survival mode, please know—it’s not too late. You can feel calm, present, and in control again.

I walk through the exact process inside my free workshop.