Being a mom of three is a lot harder than it seems! Every day, Reese Witherspoon‘s kids — Ava, 20, Deacon, 15, and Tennessee, 6 — teach her something new about being a parent and she’s always willing to learn a lot more.

“I’ve been a mom since 1999. I got pregnant [with Ava] when I was 22 and delivered when I was 23,” she explained on her Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine YouTube page. “To be totally honest, it was scary. I was scared. I didn’t know what it was going to do to my job or my career. Your entire life will change. Everything you believe, every piece of food you eat, every piece of independence you have. You can’t go out without thinking of another person.”

Reese Witherspoon & Husband Jim Toth Enjoy a Stroll Together in Malibu with her son Deacon and daughter Ava!
FIA Pictures / MEGA

“These are all the things that happen in the beginning, and then it just evolves from there,” the Walk the Line star continued. “I find that having little kids is more physical and it’s just really hard on your body, so I am glad that I had kids kind of young. I had one at 23, one at 27 and then again at 37. And oh my god, having a baby at 37 was so much harder. This is just me being real.”

Reese, 43, shares Ava and Deacon with her ex-husband, Ryan Phillippe, and she welcomed her youngest son, Tennessee, with husband Jim Toth. Just like in her HBO series, Big Little Lies, Reese believes that every mother should have a “support system” of “#momfriends” to help them get through the day.

Reese Witherspoon and son deacon
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“I think beyond money, beyond being ready in your career and your life, it’s really about, is your support system good? Is your family structure good?” she explained in the video. “Have you talked about it with your partner? Have you thought about it logistically? Like, how am I going to make this work?”

“These are the things that a lot of people ask me about,” Reese added. “And I also say, if you want to be a mom and that’s important to you, you should have every right to do that. And don’t put it off because of all the things that seem like a barrier. You’re going to figure it out.”

Great advice, Reese!