When your own wellbeing is compromised, it’s incredibly difficult to look after your children’s wellbeing. Especially in the longer term. Self care is not a luxury. It’s not selfish and it doesn’t mean you don’t love your children as much as yourself. Self care is something all mums need and deserve. Think “me too” rather than “me first”. I am passionate about making self care manageable and realistic in the midst of the chaos of motherhood. Here you’ll find lots of inspiration, tips and examples to help you look after yourself. You matter too.
Mum Guilt, Self-Compassion, Identity & Purpose | Listener Questions on 89.9 The Light
Every week on 89.9 The Light, I answer questions from mothers navigating the realities of modern motherhood. These conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about making sense of experiences that so many women carry, often believing they're the only...
Matrescence, Self-Care, Friendships and Asking for Help | Listener Questions on 89.9 The Light
Every week on 89.9 The Light, I answer questions from mothers and talk about navigating the realities of modern motherhood. No two families are the same, so these conversations aren't about giving one right answer. They're about helping women better understand what's...
Motherhood Identity Shift: Understanding Matrescence Is Only The Beginning
Why you don’t feel like yourself anymore Many mothers arrive at a point when they realise they don't quite recognise themselves anymore. It's often difficult to explain. From the outside, life might look exactly as they imagined it would. They love their children....
Overwhelmed as a Working Mother? When Everything Starts Feeling Like a “Have To”
One day I noticed how many thoughts in my head started with “I have to…”. I have to reply to that message. I have to organise school forms. I have to keep on top of work. I have to exercise. I have to clean the kitchen. I have to be patient. I have to remember that...
Motherhood Changes Your Brain. That Doesn’t Mean You’re Less Capable
"Baby brain.” “Mum brain.” We’ve all heard these terms and possibly used them after forgetting an appointment, walking into a room and wondering why we are there, or putting the milk in the pantry instead of the fridge. For years, the idea that motherhood makes women...
Identity Shifts in Motherhood: When Old Stories No Longer Fit
When I was little, I was known as “the good girl.” Quiet, easy and well behaved. I hardly spoke in class because I was painfully shy (sometimes I even felt tears welling up if the teacher said my name for something good!). I worried about getting things wrong,...
Matrescence: Why Motherhood Feels So Much Harder Than You Expected (Radio Interview)
You know those moments where someone puts words to something you’ve felt… but never quite known how to explain? That was this conversation. If you’ve never heard the term matrescence before, I share more about it here. I was invited onto radio station 8.99 The Light,...
When You Feel Like Your Needs Are Too Much: How Working Mothers Stop Over-Giving and Reclaim Space
You might recognise this particular kind of fatigue. The kind that comes from being capable for so long. From being the one people rely on. From holding things together quietly, competently, without complaint. Until one day, you notice the question forming underneath...
Why Decision Making Feels So Hard
If you’re feeling stuck in a decision right now, you’re not alone. And you’re not failing. I see this pattern constantly with the women I work with. Smart, capable, thoughtful women who can make complex decisions at work… yet feel completely paralysed when it comes to...
Flexible Working Arrangements for Mothers: How to Manage Workplace Perceptions
If you're reading this as a working mother with flexible working arrangements, chances are you've felt that familiar knot in your stomach. The one that tightens when you need to leave for school pickup, when you decline the 4pm meeting, or when you catch a colleague's...
Why We Don’t Need to Find the Silver Lining When Things Are Hard
Life can be challenging, and those challenges often feel relentless. Juggling paid work, domestic duties, mothering, other responsibilities, our wellbeing and personal aspirations is tough. We’re constantly offered well-meaning advice to "look on the bright side" or...
6 Strategies to manage work and family in the school holidays
Just as I find myself settling into the rhythm of school term, feeling more at ease with managing my paid work, the school run and other activities, other parents start talking about the next school holidays! They really do come around so quickly! School holidays are...
4 strategies to help you worry less
Worry is a chain of negative thoughts about bad things that might happen in the future (Brene Brown, "Altas of the Heart"). It is a coping strategy we tend to employ when we feel anxious because we think (perhaps subconsciously) that it is helpful. Worrying feels...
Releasing unsupportive beliefs with Root Cause Therapy
The beliefs we hold form the lens through which we view and interpret the world around us and all our experiences. They help us make sense of situations and inform our decisions and actions. This happens both consciously and subconsciously. Some of our beliefs support...
4 Steps to help you break free from the perfect mother myth
Perfection is so alluring. We love our children so deeply that it makes sense that we would want to give them the best start to life and the best opportunity to flourish through being the perfect mum. We are parenting in a society that places excessive pressure on...
Why you don’t need to feel happy all the time
Be positive! Look on the bright side! Good vibes only! Do you feel like you should be happy all the time? Happiness is celebrated and heavily promoted in our society (just think about all the happy people you see in marketing campaigns). We adopt it as a goal to work...