When you're taking care of kids, it can feel impossible to do everything that you want to do in a day. There's taking the kids to school, exercise, making meals, working, cleaning, shopping, picking up the kids, taking them to practice, helping them with homework, keeping up with friends, running a side-hustle, and THEN you're also supposed to somehow have your own hobbies and take time for self-care. There's just no way! In this episode of The Council of Moms, Lisa talks with Liz Palmer, Jennifer Johnson, and Suzanne Clark about how they keep all the right plates spinning at once.

If you want the Council of Moms to answer your question, reach out to The Lisa Show on Instagram or Facebook.

Have you ever been surrounded by people, and still felt profoundly alone? Lisa talks with Dr. Julianne Jolt-Lunstad and Dr. Suzanne Degges-White about the impact of loneliness on caregivers with experts, and the root causes of this intense experience. Emilie Campbell shares her experience as a special mom to 16-year old Connor, and how she copes with the long-term emotional marathon of aloneness in caregiving.

It can be hard to tell the difference between just "having a hard time" and a diagnosable mental illness. Research shows that the mental health of kids and teenagers is at an all-time low, and the mental health of parents isn't faring much better. So how can we tell if it's time to take our kids, our ourselves, to see a mental health professional? Lisa talks with the Council, this week consisting of Kimberly Simmons, Emily Spencer, and Marilyn Valentine, about each of their experiences helping their kids improve their mental health, while also learning to navigate their own struggles.

If you want to hear The Council of Moms answer your question, reach out to The Lisa Show on Facebook or Instagram, or email us at [email protected]

When it comes to caregiving, why do we think we have to do everything and do it all perfectly? How can we have more compassion for ourselves? Lisa talks to caregivers and caregiving experts about perfectionism, self-talk, and the importance of loving ourselves even--and especially--when we feel like our best isn’t good enough.

How do you know that you're doing a good enough job as a parent? And on the other hand, how do you avoid beating yourself up when it feels like you're not doing well enough? Host Lisa Valentine Clark talks with the Council of Moms--this week consisting of Marilyn Valentine, Elizabeth Palmer, and Kimberly Simmons--about mom guilt, comparison, self-love, finding a support system, and other listener-submitted topics.

Nearly all of us will eventually become a caregiver or a recipient of care—so how can we prepare now? Lisa Valentine Clark kicks off this season by exploring the need for more conversation about caregiving. Dr. Lance Erickson explains how social expectations, age, and gender influence who ends up in caregiving roles. Dr. Natali Edmonds of Dementia Careblazers shares how talking about caregiving beforehand helped her prepare for her own caregiving experience, and Jeremy Jorgason discusses lesser known ways that caregiving can become more intense than anyone expects. Caregiving is overwhelming, wonderful, painful, beautiful, and poignant—and it’s better when we face it together.

The Lisa Show is hard at work creating our Caregiving season. In the meantime, while we put the last finishing touches on episode 1, if you're looking for something to listen to today, Lisa recommends an episode of our sister podcast, Constant Wonder. In season 4, episode 7 of Constant Wonder there's an episode called "Fear and Wonder in the Natural World", with a naturalist who seeks out experiences like sitting in the dark with a moose, walking barefoot in a prehistoric Celtic tomb, and adopting a starling--all these encounters with nature that are sometimes as scary as they are inspiring. The episode challenges you to think creatively about nature and transform your relationship with fear. You can find it wherever you get podcasts.

In the last episode of the Creativity series, Lisa explores how creativity changes us from the inside out. With the help of researchers Joshua Katz, Jack Goncalo, and Lynne Vincent, Lisa looks at how creativity can change our perception of real life—and why that can be a good thing. She examines the relationship between selflessness and creativity, the way being creative can help us process and heal in profound ways, and the unparalleled power of creativity to restore human agency.

Lisa joins TV host, artist, and arts advocate Emilie Starr to explore how creativity has brought them closer to their communities, their families, and a higher power. They discuss how motherhood is a creative endeavor and how the arts have helped them make intergenerational connections. Featuring a very special guest, baby Evelyn!

Most of us can’t quit our day jobs to be creative full-time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t live creative lives. In fact, in the words of professional artist Andrea Hardeman, any time you’re showing up as your authentic self, you’re being creative. In this episode of The Lisa Show, Lisa joins forces with Andrea, creativity researcher Jack Goncalo and the Council of Moms (Lauren Johnston and Kimberly Beatty) to explore the relationship between authenticity and creativity, the importance of dissent and self-expression, and how to find your creative identity.