💬 Send us a text! (Yes really!)

Today’s pep talk is really just a list of reminders. Starting with the reminder that there’s no Stepparent of the Year award, so let's please stop destroying ourselves trying to achieve some gold standard that doesn't even exist.

It’s okay for stepparents to say no sometimes. Or even a lot of the time.

It’s okay to take time for yourself when you need to recharge. Yep, even if you’re a full-time stepparent. And if you’re a part-time stepparent, please remember you don’t need to spend every minute of your stepkid’s time with you planning or participating in Family Bonding Activities just because your time together is limited.

It’s also okay for you to decline to participate in drama and let your partner handle their ex on their own. You’re allowed to let the people around you experience the natural consequences of their actions or inactions. Speaking from my personal experience, you might find that taking yourself out of the middle improves stepfamily life a whole lot faster.

And today’s final reminder? Taking care of yourself IS NOT SELFISH; it's critical. An exhausted, resentful, burned-out version of you can't be any kind of a good stepparent... or a good parent, or a good partner. You deserve to feel like your best self, and being a stepparent does not change that.

If you need help redefining the stepparenting role in a way that works better for real life and isn’t based on completely unrealistic expectations, please watch this workshop. It’s free for our paid subscribers on Substack but you can also sign up for a free trial and watch it that way. I really hope it helps.

One last thing: if you’re enjoying this podcast, I’d really appreciate if you’d leave a review! It’s basically like giving the algorithm a cookie, which in turn will help more struggling stepparents find their way here. And the more people we can help, the better. Thanks so much for listening, I really appreciate you being here. xo

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🧡 Need a bigger pep talk? Start here or join us over on Substack! xo

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