Spring Spruce Up

Spring has sprung - let’s spruce up some self care as we run head on into spring!

Spring is special this year because it dawned early with Easter taking place the last week of March instead of mid-April. The hope of this blog is to spruce up some spring feelings because we all need a change of seasons. Every season has its purpose and is beautiful in its own way. Coming out of winter, with Easter you may be reminded of the newness of life and the renewal that is available to us through a relationship with Jesus. In a less significant way, spring is also a time to enter a renewal for mind, body, and home.

When is it time for therapy?

On episode 184 of The Well Podcast, Kari sits down to chat with mom, pastor’s wife, and mental health therapist, Gianna Reese. Gianna specializes in work with teenagers and adults but provides services across the lifespan. Here is a teaser of the conversation.

Our world today is not without life’s stressors. While we may not be foraging to find our food or worried about a bear attack out in the wilderness, we still have scenarios that put us into fight, flight, or flee responses. Many people assume we are born with the skills needed to deal with life’s stressors, but we are not born with healthy emotional expression, boundary setting, or emotional intelligence tools.

7 Signs You May Have Lost Yourself in Motherhood

Do you feel like you have lost yourself?

Forgot what you used to be like?

Forgot what you used to do all day before you were changing diapers, shuttling kids, making snacks, and overseeing homework?

Motherhood is undoubtedly a gift. While you can enjoy being a mom to your precious children, it’s easy to get so caught up in being a mom that you forget to take care of your needs.

Here are my 7 signs you may have lost yourself in motherhood

Stop Starting Over...Just Keep Going

Start over next month.

Start over Monday.

Start over in the morning.

I want you to know that you’re never truly starting over. You’re continuing tomorrow.

Whether it’s a weight loss goal, parenting a child with a difficult struggle, or pursuing your business dreams.

We get to change our mindset.

Starting over would mean we didn’t learn from what we did the first time.

We’re not starting over, we’re keeping going. But we’re continuing with the knowledge from where we’ve been.

7 Tips to Overcome Overwhelm

October is Mental health awareness month!

We are kicking it off with Kim Harter back on the podcast. Kim is Mental Health Counselor and helps women that are feeling

overwhelmed

exhausted

anxious

depressed

Are you feeling any of those difficult emotions? Maybe you feel like you’re drowning in them. We want you to know you’re not alone.

Home organization will change your life!

Have you been putting off cleaning out the ________ (fill in the blank)?

The pantry.

The closet.

The linen closet.

The garage.

Your messy unorganized house might be the biggest thing keeping you stuck and feeling like the 'hot mess express'!

Motherhood Intentions

How to be a mom in 2023…

“Make sure your children's academic, emotional, psychological, mental, spiritual, physical, nutritional, and social needs are met while being careful not to overstimulate, underestimate, improperly medicate, helicopter, or neglect them in a screen-free, processed food-free, plastic-free, body positive, socially conscious, egalitaritan but also authoritative, nurturing but fostering of independence, gently but not overly permissive, pesticide-free, two-story, multilingual home, preferably in a cul-de-sad with a backyard. Also, don't forget the coconut oil.”

Motherhood is heavy. Even if you’re not normally a “worrier”, motherhood can keep you up at night because there’s just so much weighing on our shoulders.

Maybe we should make our own list for how to be a mom in 2023.

Calm the Chaos in Toxic Relationships

Are toxic relationships wreaking havoc on your hormones and causing anxiety?

Whether it’s summer travel and being around a lot of different people compared to your normal routine, or you have that one relationship in your life that has always been a difficult one and you can’t completely separate yourself from that relationship, I hope to share some helpful insight to work through these toxic relationships. (Notice I said, toxic relationships, not toxic people).

Nothing puts me into a stressful state like managing conflict and tension in relationships. Side note.. this summer, I’m working from home with all our kids home…. did you know that mothers who spend all day with their children produce MORE cortisol (the stress hormone) than 98% of the world's paying professions? Whew.

Beauty In Imperfections

I had no clue about Wabi-sabi until I googled “imperfect nature” in a quest to illustrate to my daughter that things can be beautiful even if they aren’t perfect. In my searching, I discovered Wabi-sabi, a Japanese worldview based on the concept that emphasizes finding beauty in imperfection.

Picture this. My daughter and I were sitting at the table and I had given her a matching letters activity. Her job was to find the matching letter, I would put down some glue, and she would stick on the matching letter. Several times after sticking the matching letter on the page, she started crying and exclaiming, “No, it’s not perfect, I want it to be perfect”.