Single Mother Survival Guide

Alisa is a single mum and has four boys.

After a wildfire in her neighbouring town in California, Alisa decided to pack up, sell her things, and go travelling with her youngest two boys who are 6 and 8 years old. They booked their flight to the Philippines to start a travelling adventure. And then COVID-19 hit. After booking flights to other international places such as Ireland and France, which were also subsequently cancelled, they decided to travel around the USA.

In this episode, Alisa chats with Julia about:

• adapting plans,
• going after what you want to do,
• homeschooling whilst travelling,
• the benefits of travelling,
• how she is funding her travels,
• what she likes about being a single mum,
• and so much more!

Links mentioned in the episode:

Connect with Alisa on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram @Ourlighttravels.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Six years ago, Lisa moved to Australia from Germany. Last year she found out she was pregnant in the middle of a motorbike trip from Sydney to Byron Bay. She had unexpectedly fallen pregnant with a man she had just started dating.

All her pre-conceived ideas of how life and family "should" look like, especially when having a baby, were challenged and her journey of thinking about what she should do, and how it should look like had begun.

In this episode, Lisa shares her story. She also talks about how the father of the baby reacted when she told him the news, what her decision process with what to do looked like, and what her co-parenting plan is when not knowing the father of the baby that well. Lisa also gives her advice to women who have also unexpectedly fallen pregnant with someone they've just started dating and who intend on becoming single mothers.

Links mentioned in the episode:

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In this episode, I give you my tips on how to start the year off right.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Listen to Episode 88 - Goal setting for single mums HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In this episode, I have Marie, a single mum and member of my Thrive Tribe community joining me.

Marie met her husband when they were both working in the British Royal Navy. They served on the same ship together for over five years at which point they decided she would leave so they could get married and have children.

After they got married and had a child, their marriage started to present cracks, and Marie agreed to immigrate to Australia with her husband in the hope that things would get better for their relationship.

Marie found herself, mostly alone, in a foreign country, with a toddler and a new baby and suffering with Post Natal Depression.

At the same time, her relationship with her husband got worse and the emotional abuse she was receiving increased.

They moved across the country to be closer to her (then) husband's parents and things only got worse. Her husband and his family were incredibly unsupportive of her joining the Police Force Academy to fulfil her dream of joining the Police Force. To make matters worse, Marie then suffered a stroke.

Before long she realised she had completely lost herself.

In this episode, Marie shares her story. She talks about:

• what it was like being a female in the British Royal Navy,
• leaving the navy and the shift in dynamics in the relationship,
• immigrating to Australia and becoming a new mum,
• being diagnosed with PND,
• dealing with emotional abuse from her (now) ex-husband,
• relocating to Western Australia,
• losing herself,
• having a stroke and recovering,
• dealing with her intrusive in-laws,
• the moment she was on the train and realised she wanted to leave her husband,
• discovering that her husband was a narcissist,
• separating from her subsequent partner,
• how Thrive Tribe has helped her and given her the nudge she needed,
• how she has started turning her life around,
• and so much more.

Today, Marie is a single mum, she has a positive go-getter attitude, she is a full-time police officer, she is starting to get back to being her, and is working on improving things every day. I'm incredibly proud of Marie; she is a true inspiration!

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join Thrive Tribe here.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

This week on the show I have Jess, a single mum and member of my Thrive Tribe community, sharing her story.

Jess talks about:

• the moment that she decided to give the relationship with the father of her children another go,
• living in fear due to her husband's excessive drinking and unpredictable outbursts,
• becoming a single mum a second time around,
• raising her daughter with a disability with no support from her husband,
• raising two boys as a single mum,
• her advice for other women going through the same thing,
• and so much more.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist here.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Thinking of moving, or moving soon? Listen to this episode about moving as a single mum. In it, I share my top ten tips for moving as a single mum.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Join the Thrive Tribe waitlist here.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Annabelle Wilson met her husband when she was 19 years old. He had already been diagnosed with brain cancer and had been given 18 months to live. He was 22 years old.

They ended up sharing ten beautiful years together. They got married and then Annabelle fell pregnant.

When she was seven months pregnant, her loving husband, Josh, lost his battle with cancer. Annabelle gave birth to their beautiful daughter, Primrose, a couple of months later on Josh's birthday.

In this episode, Annabelle shares her story.

She also talks about:

• how she keeps Josh's memory alive for her now, almost 3-year-old, daughter,
• how they managed to not let the cancer prognosis affect what they did with their lives,
• the confusing time between Josh's death and the two months leading up to their daughter's birth,
• how she managed grief and becoming a new mum at the same time,
• what dating has been like since then,
• having a new partner and how that has been plus the associated guilt,
• her work with the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation,
• her advice for other women going through the same thing,
• and so much more.

Annabelle is such an inspiration. She has an incredibly positive attitude and mindset and I'm so happy to have her on the show.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Find out more about Cure Brain Cancer Foundation HERE.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Alexandra Collier is an award-winning writer and playwright from Melbourne.

She has spent over a decade in New York working in theatre, TV, print and advertising; her plays have been produced Off-Broadway. In Australia, her plays have been produced and developed at Sydney Theatre Company, La Mama and the Hayes Theatre Co.

She has also written for a range of mediums and people, including Esther Perel, Showtime and the Good Weekend magazine (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald). Her recent article for the Good Weekend described her journey of becoming a single mother by choice, using donor sperm. You can read that article here.

Her TV show Inconceivable, based on her experience of becoming a solo mother by choice, is currently under option by Revlover.

Alexandra now lives in Melbourne with her 14-month-old son, conceived using donor sperm.

In this episode, along with sharing her story, Ally also talks about

• the importance of having the conversation with your partner early on about kids, and finding out if they want them and if your timelines align,
• dating whilst deciding to become a single mother by choice,
• telling her friends, family, and colleagues about her choice,
• lockdown in Melbourne as a single mum, and
• SO MUCH MORE!

Ally also shares her advice for others thinking about becoming single mothers by choice.

Links mentioned in the episode:

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In this week's podcast episode, I chat with my beautiful friend, and Gogglebox star, Isabelle Silbery. We catch up on:

• Life during Covid
• Homeschooling
• Co-parenting during Covid
• Overcoming heartbreak
• Her blossoming relationship with Alex
• Getting engaged
• Necker Island memories, and
• SO MUCH MORE!

Links mentioned in the episode:

You can listen to the previous episodes with Isabelle, 136 and 137 here and here.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In this week's podcast episode, I chat with Zoe about her experience escaping an abusive relationship and how the struggle she had in explaining to her son where his dad was led her to write the book: Where Is My Daddy? This is a beautifully written, and illustrated, book that helps explain to children in similar circumstances why they aren't seeing their dad right now.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Find out more, and purchase the book here: www.whereismydaddybook.com.

Contact Zoe by emailing here at [email protected]

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

Visit us at Single Mother Survival Guide.

Or connect with Single Mother Survival Guide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.