I'm back! It's been over a year, and I finally have the time, energy and bandwidth to record a podcast episode. How are you? It's been too long. In this episode, I catch you up on the past year of my life. Long story short: I volunteered for too many things, and then my dad had some serious health issues. This led to some epic burnout, so my intentions for the upcoming school year are to (a) volunteer way less and (b) take the time to heal. 

Shownotes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com

p.s. You are awesome! 

On Father's Day, the kids were sassy and rude, and I lost all my shits. It was not my proudest parenting hour. But then, I apologized and explained why I had overreacted to the kids, and we hugged and made up. While I would love to be the "perfect mom," my kids are entitled to my mistakes. If they think I am a superwoman who never makes mistakes, then they will beat themselves up when they invariably make mistakes. Life is messy, and mistakes are part of the journey. So rather than beat myself up for losing all my shits, I'm giving myself a trophy for apologizing to the kids. (Not an actual trophy, but that would be cool if they did give out motherhood trophies for that sort of thing.)

Be sure to get your copy of my first novel, Confessions of an Imposter Room Mom. It's the perfect beach read. Or park read. Or waiting for the kids to finish soccer practice read! 

Shownotes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com.  

It has been a month since my last episode and life has been a lot. My uncle died in mid-January and my grandma died on February 1. I was very close to both of them and have been exhausted from all my grief. But I think I am handling my grief for my uncle and grandma well - or, at least better than I handled grief when I was nineteen and lost my cousin Kym and grandpa. When I was nineteen, I buried my grief and pushed on with my life, and the grief festered. Now that I am forty-three, I am allowing myself to feel my grief and live a little more slowly. Grief sucks. But i'm getting better at embracing it. 

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is Carefree 90s from Tune Tank - https://tunetank.com/t/4k8s/3740-carefree-90s. 

Last week, I told you about my 22 Projects in '22 to keep my momentum strong. To deepen my self-work this year, I am also launching Operation: Reclaim My Life. In this episode, I talk about why I picked "reclaim" to be my word of 2022 and my four areas of focus: Reclaim My House; Reclaim My Body; Reclaim My Inner Child; and Reclaim My Stories. Bonus: I also vent about pandemic life, including Julian's week of distance learning after being a close contact. 

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is Carefree 90s from Tune Tank - https://tunetank.com/t/4k8s/3740-carefree-90s. 

Happy 2022! This week, I share the twenty-two projects I am pursuing in 2022 to keep my momentum strong. The projects range from "publish my first novel" to "get a posh trash can for the kitchen" and everything in between. Not all of these projects will happen, but this is my process and I'm excited to see what sticks and what gets abandoned. 

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is "Carpe Diem" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. 

This week, I talk about all the ways I was inspired by Julie Lythcott-Haims' book How to Raise An Adult: Break Free of The Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid For Success. The book really delivers on its promise. It showed me the ways in which I have fallen into the overparenting trap and then it gave me lots of practical ideas for how I can change my ways. Spoiler alert: chores matter! Also: other parents might be crazy about the college arms race, but that doesn't mean we have to follow their lead.

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is "Carpe Diem" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. 

The calendar year might begin on January 1, but the first day of school is the true beginning of the year. My kids returned to school on August 12, 2021 -- it was Julian's first day of kindergarten, Pippa's first day of third grade, their first day attending the same school ever, and the first day of "normal" school since March 2020. Whew! It seemed like an auspicious time to reflect on the 2021-22 school year. My mission statement for 2021-22 school year is: Kicking Ass and Healing. In this episode, I first talk about Healing, with a close look at the method I used to obtain some closure on the 2020-21 shit show. Then, I looked at ways to kick ass, including what "kicking ass" means for me this school year. 

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is "Carpe Diem" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. 

Holy eff, I don't know about you, but I am burned out from the pandemic. I feel a deep need to heal from this collective -- and personal -- traumatic experience. Now that school is out and my kids are both going to camp, I am thinking about what I want to do this summer to heal. 

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is "Carpe Diem" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. 

It's Maternal Mental Health Week 2021! Maternal mental health is a cause near and dear to my heart. When I talk and write about maternal mental health, I end up focusing on postpartum depression. That's an important subject that needs attention, but maternal mental health does not end with the postpartum period. We deserve excellent mental health our entire lives, not just when we have a little baby at home. 

In other news, between May 5 and May 9, 2021, my memoir Adventures With Postpartum Depression is free on Amazon. Happy downloading! 

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is "Carpe Diem" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. 

This week, I am talking about the mirrors that reflect our inner work: art! dreams! other people! especially annoying people! and signs from the Universe! We all have work to do during this lifetime, and there are so many ways to find that work. I discuss some of the things that act as mirrors to show me the work I am ignoring (or denying). 

Show notes are available at CourtneyHenningNovak.com. The music is "Carpe Diem" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.