The SuperMum Podcast

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Mum-of-two and Let's Conquer Motherhood member Stephanie Myerscough has recently packed her bags and her whole life and moved to Italy with her husband and young children. While she's still busy getting used to a new country, culture, and language and settling her family in, Stephanie is also studying for a post-graduate Master Degree in Applied Positive Psychology, attending lessons between the UK and France.

Following the demands of her husband's job, Stephanie and her family have moved home several times over the last few years, and while life has certainly been full on, Stephanie is embracing the opportunities that are coming her way and making the most of what she's learning through her degree and within the Let's Conquer Motherhood membership.

In this episode, Stephanie introduces us to the concepts of thriving and flourishing. If you've ever had times when you felt you were just nodding along and navigating through life with no real intention, you may have found yourself in 'survival mode'. As Stephanie points out, while this is something a lot of mums experience, it's common to lack the knowledge and tools that can help us transition from a negative mental state to a more positive one. One where you're not just surviving, but where you're also thriving.

By the end of this interview, you'll learn an easy, practical technique that you can use at any time to check in with yourself to become more in tune and aware of your emotions and the way you're feeling. If you ever find yourself in burnout or survival mode, you'll see that there are always ways to make changes and turn your day around.

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/133

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Mum-of-4 Rhonda Melogy runs a successful 6-figure business and a busy household. If that wasn't enough, she also homeschools her four children. Having started her first seasonal business as a side-hustle while she still worked in her corporate job, Rhonda quickly realised she had a choice. She could either run herself into the ground trying to do it all, or she could work with her 'team' (the five other people in her family) and find a way to thrive both in her personal and professional life. How does she do it? Systems.

Rhonda's children all share the load at home. Her chore chart system ensures that all the important household jobs get done on a daily basis, but it also teaches her children age-appropriate life skills, instills a strong work ethic and creates the mindset that everyone can and should contribute towards family life. If you've ever fallen into the trap of being unrealistic with your time and running after your children thinking you can do a task better or quicker than they will ever do at their age and stage, Rhonda will remind you that your time is one of the most valuable assets you have. You just can't make more of it.

In this episode, Rhonda shares how to find pockets of time in your day to get really intentional about what you want to do. By the end of the episode, you'll understand why you should focus on one thing at the time, create systems and workflows in your life and business, and delegate or outsource any relevant tasks. If you're ready to learn how you can get everything done, but also find time for yourself and build strong connections with your family, you'll love my conversation with Rhonda..

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/132

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Soon after becoming a mum, Vicki Dawson learnt an important lesson the hard way. Newborn babies don't sleep very well. But in Vicki's case, her son's challenging sleeping patterns continued for a number of years. Needless to say, this left Vicki chronically sleep-deprived and feeling totally exhausted and isolated as a result.

Her experience, and the way it affected both her personal and professional life, led to the creation of The Children's Sleep Charity, which offers information and strategies to parents and professionals in supporting and educating families around sleep.

Through her work, Vicki empowers families who are struggling with sleep to make the changes that are right for them. These can include creating sleep plans, practising breathing and mindfulness exercises, and learning strategies to create a calmer and less tense environment around bedtime.

With a lot of information out there focused on children's sleep, Vicki reminds us that a mother's sleep habits can still be negatively impacted long after her children are sleeping through the night. As busy mums, we have a duty to prioritise our sleep in order to stay well, become more effective, and keep our families safe, which is why in this episode Vicki shares tips to help mums sleep better.

During this interview, you'll learn why what you choose to do in the hour before you go to bed can dramatically improve your sleep quality. By the end of this episode, you'll have a number of practical strategies to get more in synch with your body and relax before bedtime, including a list of foods that you should or shouldn't eat before bed. You'll also learn what causes you to wake in the night and what you can do if you struggle to fall asleep again. Follow Vicki's advice, and you'll be ready to sleep like a baby. But this time, in a good way!

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/131

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Newly married, pregnant, and in her twenties, Emily Hodge received a devastating cancer diagnosis that would change the course of her life in many ways. One of which was losing her baby and being unable (so far) to conceive again.

That was a few years ago and, after 15 years working as a Health Psychologist in the NHS, Emily used her experience to help others. She's now a successful Life Coach and has helped and supported hundreds of people, including other cancer patients, to lead happier, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.

Over the years, working with people on a one-to-one basis and in group settings, Emily started to notice something. No matter who you are, where you're from or what your backstory is, we all want similar things - to feel happier, calmer, more focused and to lead a life that's right for us.

So in 2017, Emily launched her signature group programme - the Gentle Life course, which guides rushed, busy and stressed out women over 6 weeks to map out what living more gently means to them. It provides them with the tools and strategies to kickstart the lifelong work that will help them lead the life they want to live (so that they might shout less at their kids, be happier in their relationships and be so much kinder to themselves).

In this episode, you'll learn how checking in with your feelings, thoughts, and emotions allows you to re-define your behaviours, actions, and habits. By becoming more aware of the way you spend your time, you'll find out how you can start to say no to the things you don't really want, so you can gradually replace them with the things that you do.

If you're ready to find a little bit of space and calm in your life, learn how to be kinder to yourself, and discover some practical tools that will help you develop your emotional resilience, tune in and discover the five steps that Emily shares that will help you live more gently.

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/130

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

When Janine Esbrand became pregnant with her first son, she started questioning her high-flying career as a busy corporate lawyer. Working late into the night with a nanny looking after her son full time no longer seemed like the perfect solution. After a year off on maternity leave, Janine decided to abandon her dream of becoming a partner in a law firm and get a part-time job as an in-house legal counsel instead. A choice that allowed her to spend time with her family but also pursue the legal career she had been working so hard for.

Fast forward a few years, Janine is now the owner of LightBOX Coaching - a company that supports ambitious women who want to continue or kick-start their careers beyond motherhood. Through a signature course, one-to-one sessions, and her membership programme, Janine provides return-to-work coaching, training, and resources for both individuals and organisations. So if you noticed that your priorities and values have shifted now that you're a mum, and you feel you may need to walk away from your career, Janine will show you that you don't have to.

By the end of this episode, you'll understand how you can have a career that you love which is also compatible with raising your family. You'll learn how you can rebuild your confidence, discover and leverage your strengths (both at home and in the workplace), and ensure that your career choices meet your personal and family values. You'll also pick up some very practical tips to help your colleagues and managers recognise you as a valuable member of the team. Because being a mum doesn't mean you can't go for the role or promotion that you really want!

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/129

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Mum-of-two Renee Avis has the life-altering job of helping women who are struggling with body image, post-partum depression and anxiety, and eating disorders. As a Licensed Professional Counsellor she helps clients recognise their condition, and learn how to accept and love their bodies again.

Fulfilling her passion as a therapist, Renee's worked in treatment facilities and private practice for 12 years. She teams up with dieticians to support her patients in their journey from understanding and accepting their struggles to regaining control and achieving a healthier balance with food and nutrition.

Renee explains that an eating disorder massively impacts behaviour and lifestyle on a daily basis, so helps her clients dig deep to explore the internal narrative that may be stopping them from being kinder to themselves. One step at a time, she helps them to reframe their thinking and to start focusing on the self-care activities that they resonate with, which ultimately enables them accept their body more.

In this episode, you'll learn to pick up on the important clues that could indicate that you, or a fellow mum, is struggling with an eating disorder. You'll understand how loneliness and depression can be both a cause and an effect of an eating disorder, and how unrealistic expectations and unhelpful ideals in society may be stopping you from accepting your post-partum body. Whether you have an eating disorder or not, you'll discover how important it is to tune in and listen to your body and the signals it's sending you to. By doing so, you'll learn how to accept and love your body, wobbly bits and all.

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/128

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York. When Zoe Blaskey's daughter was born everything changed. Despite being a trained meditation and yoga teacher and having a strong self-care practice, Zoe abandoned the daily habits that had given her so much inner strength over the years. She found herself overcome by fear and anxiety and, like many mums, started comparing herself to others. With her self-esteem hitting rock bottom, the negative patterns she was once so familiar with made an unwelcome comeback, and her self-critical voice became really loud. Thankfully Zoe, now a coach, podcaster and speaker, knew exactly what to do. Through her training and experience, she gradually started to re-connect with the things she knew worked for her - community, meditation, yoga, and journaling. In a way, Zoe was lucky. Even though she found herself lost in the mayhem of early motherhood, she had the right tools to overcome her fear and anxiety. This is why, on a rainy Thursday afternoon, Zoe decided to start Motherkind. Through her blog, podcast and coaching, she shares her experience and knowledge to help and support other mums through testing times. In this episode, you'll understand why your brain is wired for anxiety and fear and learn how you can look within yourself to overcome the big emotions that come with motherhood. By the end of this episode, you'll have a number of really easy-to-implement tools that will help you find or re-connect with who you are. You'll learn to stop living out of obligation and start living the life that you want to live instead. Because like Zoe says, your children are only young once, and this is the only chance you'll get to enjoy these precious years.

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/127

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Fiona Murden is a psychologist, bestselling author, speaker and mum of two girls. She's passionate about helping others fulfil their own potential and works tirelessly with her clients to encourage them to uncover their strengths and discover what really makes them tick. This is particularly important for you as a mum because you know how easy it is to let motherhood consume you and lose sight of who you are.

That's exactly what Fiona experienced eleven years ago, when her first daughter was born, She was overjoyed to be a mum, but at the same time ached for more. It's only when she went back to an old passion - snowboarding - that she realised her true self had changed and evolved since becoming a mum.

Fiona is the author of 'Defining You: How to Profile Yourself and Unlock your Full Potential', where she helps people find a way to fit their existing and new passions into their current lives. The book helps you discover your strengths, gives you an understand what really drives you, and teaches you which environments will help you to excel.

In this episode, you'll learn why fact-based, non-judgemental self-awareness can be the key to curbing your mummy-guilt. You'll also learn an easy-to-implement technique that you can start using right now to ask for constructive feedback from others, including your own children!

If you feel like you've 'lost your spark', by the end of this episode, you'll understand why it's worth making time and space to ask yourself what you really need in this phase of your life, and how you can use your connections and networks to redefine yourself and unlock your full potential.

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/126

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Dr Pragya Argawal is an academic, designer, writer, business owner, and the busy mum of three girls. Born and raised in India, she moved to the UK as a young single mum to complete her Master's Degree and PhD. Pragya is no-doubt a very accomplished woman, but things haven't always been easy for her.

During her academic career, she suffered from stress and burnout, and more recently, after the premature birth of her twins, fought anxiety and depression. Severely sleep-deprived and under pressure with not one but two babies suffering from colic and reflux, Pragya fell back on to her safety net. Creativity.

During a break from her career, Pragya had turned her hobby of print-making into a business by setting up her own art studio Hedge and Hog Prints. And in 2017, inspired by her twins' multiple allergies, she founded The Art Tiffin, a vegan and eco-friendly box of art material.

A family-run and ethical business, The Art Tiffin is the first social enterprise to actively campaign for cruelty-free art materials. Pragya is passionate about helping families find the most natural, toxic-free products, and fostering creativity in children from a young age, but she also knows how important it is to raise awareness about mental health and make a positive social impact by giving back to charities.

In this episode, Pragya walks you through the research and neuroscience behind creativity, something that she believes we can all find inside of ourselves. She explains how taking only a few minutes out of your busy days to do something creative can do wonders for your mental health and wellbeing. And if you think you're not the creative type, hold on. Because you'll find out exactly what being creative means and what you can do to express your own creativity.

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/125

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.

This episode is sponsored by Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums, with Lisa York.

Soon after Melissa Brujin had her first child, she realised that things weren't quite right. Struggling to bond with her baby, wracked with anxiety about her abilities as a mum, and experiencing a general loss of confidence, she wondered what was wrong with her. Although she sought help, she couldn't find anything appropriate in her hometown. Thankfully, there was one person she could turn to: her sister-in-law and midwife Debby Gould.

With Debby's help, plus the wonderful online support she eventually found from mothers on the other side of the world and alongside her own research, Melissa was able to connect the dots and recognise that her emotions and experience of early motherhood had been strongly impacted by the traumatic birth of her first child. Fast forward 19 years, Melissa (now a happy and healed mother of three) and mum-of-two Debby (now a birth consultant), have helped thousands of women and families to heal from traumatic birth experiences through their work at Birthtalk.org.

Melissa and Debby co-authored the book How to Heal a Bad Birth where they emphasise that a traumatic birth where the mother doesn't feel heard or supported, or where she feels frightened or out of control, isn't just something to just 'get over'. Through the book, their in-person workshops and individual consultations, Melissa and Debby have been supporting mothers all over the world to recover from their birthing experiences, so that they can go on to have positive and empowering subsequent births, or if they are not having more babies, they can go back to their families feeling more at peace and able to move on.

In this episode, you'll understand what defines a 'bad' birth and how a challenging experience can negatively impact your mental health. You'll find out how a traumatic experience can affect women for years to come, if not unpicked and addressed in the right way. You'll also learn how to create your own personalised healing journey by looking at the way you feel now and reflecting back on the life-changing experience of childbirth.

You can find the full write up from this episode including the Show Notes at www.Lisa-York.com/124

Your iTunes Rating and Review helps spread the SuperMum message. Thanks so much!

Let's Conquer Motherhood!

Lisa York x

Become a patron of the show and show your support by sponsoring just $2 a month.

Let's Conquer Motherhood, the online membership program for mums is now open. Find out all you need to know HERE.