With kids starting school and kinder, it mentally marks the start of 2022. With this, it is a great opportunity to reflect, reframe and plan the year ahead. To support you with this, in this episode of the Working Mumma podcast, I share with you 5 things to help you kick start 2022.

During this episode, I reference the free Mental Load audit to help you align and review the mental load with your partner/tribe.

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook or join the Working Mumma Village membership.

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

The mental load is one of the top challenges experienced by working mums. There are always too many mental tabs open and it is exhausting.

In this episode, I speak with Mia Northrop and Dinah-Rowe Roberts from Life Admin Life Hacks on how to reduce the mental load and work through your life admin to-do list.

The mental load and life admin can be the cause of stress and anxiety for working parents. Good news, Mia and Dinah have tips, tricks, and advice to share with you on how to reduce your mental load and work through your life admin to-do list. Mia and Dinah give personal examples of how they have been able to reduce their life admin with positive impacts both personally and in their family.

In this episode we chat about:

* the impact of the mental load on working mothers

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook or join the Working Mumma Village membership.

Connect with Mia and Dinah from Life Admin Life Hacks

* Instagram: @lifeadminlifehacks

* Website: www.lifeadminlifehacks.com

* Buy their book Life Admin Hacks

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

Many people are exhausted from 2021, experiencing burnout, exhaustion, and fatigue from almost 2 years of living in a world with Covid-19. But, there seems to be optimism when looking to 2022 (stay away new variant!).

It might seem hard to think about 2022 as I'm sure you are looking forward to a well-earned rest over the Christmas holidays. Although, you may have ideas and wishes for next year in your thoughts.

Today's podcast goes through a simple process to help you clearly define 1 goal across your career, family, and personal life to help you move forward in 2022.

The episode is supported by a free workbook to help you go through the process. Print this out and complete it when you have some quiet time to allow yourself to reflect on 2021, your values, and your why to help you define achievable goals for 2022.

2022 Goal setting workbook https://bit.ly/3IN3SPl

Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thank you so much for listening to the Working Mumma podcast this year. I really hope that you have been able to learn something, gain confidence, and know you aren't alone in this crazy world of motherhood and career. I look forward to bringing you more episodes in 2022.

Share your thoughts on the content & topics you would like to see in 2022 - https://forms.gle/g5Lbbmvn8mJi6MCJ9

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook or join the Working Mumma Village membership.

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

Just like there are 4 seasons in a year, there are 4 seasons in a woman's cycle and you can use this to your advantage. In this episode, I speak with leading kinesiologist Ilana Kosakiewicz on how to live in alignment with your cycle and strategies to manage burnout based on her own experiences. I didn't know much about kinesiology prior to this episode but learned so much from Ilana.

Ilana Kosakiewicz is one of Australia’s leading kinesiologists, energy coaches, and yoga and meditation teachers. She is a wholefood lover, entrepreneur with a past life spent working in the corporate world as a CPA accountant.

During this episode, Ilana shares her health journey with chronic fatigue and auto-immune disease and how this has taught her that slowing down, finding moments of stillness, living in the now, and listening to your body’s inner wisdom and intuition are not just important – they are essential.

We also chat about:

* Tools, tips and strategies on using your inner power from living in alignment with your innate cyclical energy, menstrual cycle, and the moon

* Listening to the intuition of your body

* Managing burnout and what Ilana learned from her experiences

* How to manage stress and anxiety on an ongoing basis

* Importance of creating boundaries to ensure we don't burn ourselves out

* Value of self-care

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook or join the Working Mumma Village membership.

Connect with Ilana Kosakiewicz

* Instagram: @ilanak.kinesiology

* Website: www.ilanak.com.au

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

It has been a long year. You aren't alone if you are feeling burnout and limping to the end of the year.

In this episode, I speak with health coach, Nikki Knieriem, owner of Mum-Me Fit Time, a mother of two young boys, part-time primary school teacher, and lover of all things health. She is passionate about helping women to optimise their health by focusing on four main pillars; exercise, nutrition, sleep and stress reduction. Nikki loves helping women to unlock barriers and practice self-care without adding overwhelm or one more thing on the to-do list.

During this episode, Nikki shares her tools, tips, and strategies on how you can use self-care to manage stress and burnout. She understands that time is limited, the to-do list is always long and often your own self-care practices fall further down the priority list.

We chat about:

* Why we should spend time on self-care

* Value of self-care, especially for working mums

* Why self-care isn't just about the massages and instead find the small pockets of time that you can use to fill your cup

* How to prioritise time for self-care

* How to identify what self-care works for you

* Transitioning out of lockdown live into our "new normal"

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook or join the Working Mumma Village membership.

Connect with Nikki Knieriem

* Instagram: @mummefittime

* Website: www.mummefittime.com.au

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

Managing the juggle of career and motherhood has its challenges and having a nutritious meal that our kids will actually eat is a whole challenge itself. It can be stressful working out what to eat with children each night.

In this episode, I speak with Nutritionist Emily Zilic where she shares strategies, tips, and advice on meal planning and preparation.

Emily Zilic is a Nutritionist, wellbeing advisor, financial professional, mama and former competitive athlete. She works with busy families and individuals and corporate organisations who want to transform the way they eat, feel and live with nutrition. Her mission? To simplify nutrition for your wellbeing. Emily believes that when you feel your best, you can give your best. At work, home and play.

We talk about the value of planning your meals ahead of time and how cooking in bulk can save you time on those busy weeknights when everyone is hungry and you need to quickly put a meal on the table. Emily also shares tips on introducing new food to your children and how to lose those covid lockdown kilos. She has recently been trialing food delivery services and shares why she is looking at this for her family and experiences so far.

Emily also reminds us to seek health advice from qualified professionals according to our needs and not follow a trend we might see online relating to our children's eating.

This is a great episode with great tips, tricks and advice on meal planning and preparation to save you time and limit your food wastage.

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook.

Connect with Emily Zilic

* Instagram: @thegoodbiteau

* Website: www.thegoodbiteau.com

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

Have you heard of the term "Matrescence"?

I hadn't until recently.

In today’s episode of the Working Mumma podcast, I am joined by certified Mindset and Life Coach and Matrescence Facilitator, Louise East More to Mum. The focus of our chat is on Matrescence, the journey of becoming a mum.

I wasn’t too familiar with the term, Matrescence prior to speaking with Louise, but I’ve recently seen it referred to many times since. She gives a good overview and understanding of the term, it can give the journey into motherhood and the rollercoaster this can be much more clarity by knowing you aren’t alone and it is normal.

Louise also unpacks what it means to be a mum, the mental models, and societal expectations we place on mothers. We talk about what it's meant to be a “good mom” and with practical tips and advice to help you overcome this. Matrescence is about the journey of becoming a mum and it can last 18+ years, but I don't think we really ever stop being a mum do we?

Have you heard the term Matrescence?

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a rating & review.

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook.

Connect with Louise East

* Instagram: @moretomum

* Website: www.moretomum.com.au

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

We often don't talk about recovery after birth and how to prioritize time for looking after yourself with a new bub enough.

Kath and I talk about:

* How our bodies are impacted by pregnancy in ways we don't expect

* Why it is important to do pelvic floor rehabilitation

* Rehab process after vaginal and caesarian births and building up to exercising again

* Periods when you may experience pelvic floor issues and how to manage this

* Why you should have a postnatal assessment before returning to exercise after pregnancy

* Understand what is a pelvic floor assessment

* Tips to incorporate exercise into your everyday life with your children

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook.

Connect with Kath Baquie

* Instagram: @fitnestmama

* Website: www.fitnestmama.com

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

Returning to work after maternity leave can be quite daunting and challenging after having a period of time away. In this episode, I share with you five tips for returning to work after maternity leave.

I like to think that returning to work after maternity leave is a transition. I don't believe you go to work one day, and you have returned after maternity leave. There are many mental and physical transitions that happen well before you open up the computer and log in again.

Enjoy these 5 tips with a special bonus at the end.

Resources mentioned in this episode

* Enroll today in the "Return with Confidence" 4-week program starting week commencing 8 November

* Download "3 steps to Sharing the Mental Load" including a mental load audit

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook.

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien

Lockdowns and working from home have benefited many working parents to allow more family time and reduce the office commute. As we enter the next phase of discovering our "new normal", in this episode I speak with Fiona Wilhelm, mother, an Innovation Coach for KPMG’s Australia’s Management Consulting Division, and the co-founder of a Future of Work employee support platform - 3two.

We chat about all things flexible work, how parents can navigate flexible work arrangements in the future work best for them and their families.

As Fiona highlighted people don't "go to work for the money, there's obviously, a base-level survival thing for some people. But at the end of the day, people want meaningful relationships in their lives, they want values alignment, they want to feel like they're making a difference. They want to feel like what they do make some impact. That underlines the approach to the future of work that is employee-driven and fostering the current war for talent.

The lines between work and home have been blurred and flexible work is here to stay. There is now the opportunity for the office space to be reimagined on how it is used and for what tasks. This is doesn't happen very often and should be acted upon to re-evaluate how we work and interact going forward.

Fiona had many great hints, tips, and observations during our chat. As she notes, no one has all the answers. But this episode will leave you thinking about how you want to work going forward and what are your non-negotiables.

Happy listening.

Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook.

Connect with Fiona Wilhelm

* Instagram: @fiona.wilhelm

* LinkedIn: Fiona Wilhelm

Connect with Working Mumma and Carina O'Brien

* Instagram: @workingmummacommunity

* Facebook: @workingmummaAU

* Website: www.workingmumma.com.au

* LinkedIn - Working Mumma or Carina O'Brien