There is a quote 'don't just survive in motherhood, thrive in it'

When I first heard this quote I really hated it.  I was home with three kids under four and very aware of how I was NOT thriving and felt like I wasn't even surviving. 

I resented this notion I had to be thriving. 

 
What I thought thriving in motherhood had to look like

* cute home, always clean
* healthy home-cooked meals, everyone likes them 
* well dressed, kids are happy, I'm training for a marathon
* I also have a successful side hustle

It felt very far away from where I was

 

Over the years I have learned that there are some very important hurdles to 'thriving in motherhood'

I will be sharing the four reasons we aren't thriving in motherhood in the upcoming Mom on Purpose Bootcamp. If you want to do the work with me and set a great foundation for going from surviving to thriving then save your spot right here. 

One big reason we aren't thriving in motherhood
You cannot thrive when you feel like you are not surviving. That is to say, when you are in a stress response you cannot thrive and live mindfully and into your higher values

This is a reason I really had to learn the science of and pay attention to its truth in my own life. 

 
What causes us to stress?
A stress response occurs when your brain when you 1. perceive a threat and 2. feel incapable of dealing with it. 

You don't have to consciously and actively view something as a threat - as long as your brain subconsciously registers it, it will activate a stress response. 

 
The reason why we experience overwhelm
In this episode, I'm sharing a recent week I had in parenting that became very overwhelming. Overwhelm happens when we don't deal with the little things and they pile up to something that feels too big. 

Often when we are doing this, we also start to see a lot of overwhelm in all the areas of our life. It spirals. 

 
The stress response highjacks our intentional living
Science tells us that when we are in a stress state we are flooded with stress hormones and using a different part of our brain (the amygdala) that makes decisions to deal with the stress at the moment. We are not using our more logical, long-term planning part of the brain (pre-frontal cortex). 

 
We get stressed about being stressed
A problem a lot of us face, especially moms is that we stigmatize stress. We think it means we are wrong and so we get stressed about experiencing stress. 

It is important to pay attention to what we really perceive as a threat and what makes us feel incapable of dealing with the problem. 

 
If you want to work on SURVIVING, so you can move towards THRIVING. Here are some steps you can take. 

* Challenge what it looks like to 'THRIVE' in motherhood 
* Pay attention to your relationship to stress right now
* Sit and ask yourself these questions



* What feels a threat to you, what triggers your stress?
* What feels like your needs aren't being met?
* What feels like you are capable?
* What feels like your needs are being met?

 

If you want support on addressing the stress in your life, check out my