I don’t personally know Serena Williams.

I know she’s a tennis titan and world-class athlete. She’s a champion and a history maker.

A couple of years ago, Williams became a mother. And I love how brutally honest she’s been when it comes to sharing her journey in motherhood with us — from her post-partum struggles to passing on the traditions of braiding to one of her most recent Instagram posts.

“Working and being a mom is not easy,” she wrote beneath a picture of her holding her young daughter Alexis Ohanian Jr. “I am often exhausted, stressed, and then I go play a professional tennis match.”

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I am not sure who took this picture but Working and being a mom is not easy. I am often exhausted, stressed, and then I go play a professional tennis match. We keep going. I am so proud and inspired by the women who do it day in and day out. I’m proud to be this baby’s mama @olympiaohanian. #nofilter #nomakeup #nohairbursh lol #justme

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Feb 21, 2020 at 5:59am PST

Waymen…Serena Williams, who is basically a God, just said it’s tough to be a working mom.

Her honesty just made me feel a bit more validated in my sentiments of it, in fact, being tough to be a working mom.

We live in a world of mommy blogs and mommy influencers and mommy this and mommy that. It’s so easy to look at awesome, perfectly primped photos and assume that these moms have it all together.

We don’t get to see that other side as much as the aim-for-perfection snapshots on our timelines.

Our jobs may not be as demanding as tennis giant Serena Williams, but being a mom takes a Herculean effort all on its own. That combined with whatever you do for work can be a challenge for anyone — again, including Serena.

When I get off, I have to pick up my daughters from daycare, engage them when I get home, prepare dinner, bath and a bedtime story. Then I get their clothes and food ready for the next day. I have to get myself clean, get my clothes out, tend to whatever mess they’ve made, prep my lunch box and yell up at my toddler two to three times to stop playing and go to bed.

By time I even have a chance to relax, my 5-month-old will need my attention. Once she’s soothed, I’ll have to catch up on whichever tasks I’ve collected outside of work, be it this website or other side projects.

I try to workout (tuh! yeah right), hang out with hubby and maybe yell up to my defiant 3-year-old once more.

There’s no time to rest until we finally wind down for bed, which doesn’t come much later; it’s close to 10 p.m. by time I’m done with all of that.

Maybe I can get caught up on the weekends, right? At least I’m not working, right?

Pu-leeze.

Weekends come and go in a flash. Then it’s back to work, with a list of things I thought I’d have time to do but couldn’t quite make the cut. Because, motherhood.

I took for granted how much free time I had pre-babies.

Williams may quite obviously have professional help around her home, lots of moms do because it’s necessary.

Even with that, if in fact she does, she still said it was difficult.

That means maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves as mothers. We want what’s best. We want perfection, but maybe it’s OK to be human.

The fact that Serena Williams in the middle of her unmatched tennis legacy posted about what can be an every day challenge for moms is wildly validating.

Yeah, it’s hard, but don’t feel bad about it being one of the world’s toughest jobs.