You've Got This, Mama - Podcast

Hello March!

With International Women's Day just around the corner, it only made sense for the theme this month on YGTMAMA to be inspirational women! We are diving deep into the triumphant stories of overcoming. These women push past the limits of the societal norms, they have figured out how to design a life that suits them.

Deirdre Slattery is a retired physical education teacher and sports coach turned transformational fitness and health coach, a personal trainer, 5x published and 1st place fitness model, 4x published co-author and lead author of her first book launching this year. Her background is Bachelor of Kinesiology, and Bachelor of Education. She is a motivational speaker and solo mama to a teenage girl.

In this episode, Deirdre and Sabrina start off strong and they dive right into what it means to own your life. Deirdre admits that it didn't come easy for her. She spent many years doing what she thought she should be doing, not what set her soul on fire. She talks about the courage it takes to follow those nudges that our intuition gives us so often.

They speak to the ease and comfort that comes along with "one-day" goals. "One day when I ___, then I will___." This inspiring mama right here can attest to what it means to take the reins back and get back into the driver's seat of your own life. It is normal to have excuses. "I'm too; old, poor, ugly, fat, unworthy . . . " Well, this beautiful FORTY-SIX-year-old woman is here to prove to you that those are all just stories that happen between your ears.

“It's about being stronger than your excuses.” ~ Deirdre Slattery

Deirdre explains that our power really comes from how we manage our excuses and emotions. We all get them; negative thoughts and self-talk, lack of will power, defeat, feelings of unworthiness. This is our egos trying to keep us small and away from our full potential. It is sooo often, especially in motherhood, guilt, and fear that fuel these emotions and anxieties. She encourages our listeners to strive for what truly brings us joy and makes us happy. As mamas, we have a responsibility to our children to model the behaviors we want to see in them. As a mama to a teenage girl, Deirdre shares the immense importance in this.

"I've got beautiful eyes watching my every move. When I step up into my power, she is my biggest cheerleader and is always in my corner." ~ Deirdre Slattery

The girls chat about what it means to be a BOSS MAMA and that really the definition is having control over your life. Being the sole decision maker when it comes to the energy you allow into your circle and having control over how you spend your time. Time is truly the only renewable resource, how are you going to spend it? Deirdre shares that she wasn't unhappy in her small town teaching job, she just knew her soul craved more and that she was destined to be more, for her daughter and herself. Now she inspires women everywhere to step into the best version of themselves, without the guilt and the shame that can accompany such success.

Deirdre will be sharing her website with our community soon and her online programs but for now you can catch up with her on Instagram, and her business Facebook page.

Hello March!

With International Women's Day just around the corner, it only made sense for the theme this month on YGTMAMA to be inspirational women! We are diving deep into the triumphant stories of overcoming. These women push past the limits of the societal norms, they have figured out how to design a life that suits them.

Deirdre Slattery is a retired physical education teacher and sports coach turned transformational fitness and health coach, a personal trainer, 5x published and 1st place fitness model, 4x published co-author and lead author of her first book launching this year. Her background is Bachelor of Kinesiology, and Bachelor of Education. She is a motivational speaker and solo mama to a teenage girl.

In this episode, Deirdre and Sabrina start off strong and they dive right into what it means to own your life. Deirdre admits that it didn't come easy for her. She spent many years doing what she thought she should be doing, not what set her soul on fire. She talks about the courage it takes to follow those nudges that our intuition gives us so often.

They speak to the ease and comfort that comes along with "one-day" goals. "One day when I ___, then I will___." This inspiring mama right here can attest to what it means to take the reins back and get back into the driver's seat of your own life. It is normal to have excuses. "I'm too; old, poor, ugly, fat, unworthy . . . " Well, this beautiful FORTY-SIX-year-old woman is here to prove to you that those are all just stories that happen between your ears.

“It's about being stronger than your excuses.” ~ Deirdre Slattery

Deirdre explains that our power really comes from how we manage our excuses and emotions. We all get them; negative thoughts and self-talk, lack of will power, defeat, feelings of unworthiness. This is our egos trying to keep us small and away from our full potential. It is sooo often, especially in motherhood, guilt, and fear that fuel these emotions and anxieties. She encourages our listeners to strive for what truly brings us joy and makes us happy. As mamas, we have a responsibility to our children to model the behaviors we want to see in them. As a mama to a teenage girl, Deirdre shares the immense importance in this.

"I've got beautiful eyes watching my every move. When I step up into my power, she is my biggest cheerleader and is always in my corner." ~ Deirdre Slattery

The girls chat about what it means to be a BOSS MAMA and that really the definition is having control over your life. Being the sole decision maker when it comes to the energy you allow into your circle and having control over how you spend your time. Time is truly the only renewable resource, how are you going to spend it? Deirdre shares that she wasn't unhappy in her small town teaching job, she just knew her soul craved more and that she was destined to be more, for her daughter and herself. Now she inspires women everywhere to step into the best version of themselves, without the guilt and the shame that can accompany such success.

Deirdre will be sharing her website with our community soon and her online programs but for now you can catch up with her on Instagram, and her business Facebook page.

Sticking with the theme of LOVE for February we are interviewing a special guest to share her powerful story with us. YGTMAMA is starting a series, every month one episode will be dedicated to #shareyourtruth and rather than focusing on a specific topic, one incredible mama will share her powerful story with us. We couldn't have asked for a better guest to kick it off then Adrian.

Adrian C. Collins is a fellow author, she writes about the real-life complexities of being both a birth mother and an adoptive mother. She has testified before the Colorado Senate committee on behalf of the Colorado Children First Act, been a guest on various podcasts, and featured on Today Show Parents and Today.com. She has been published in various publications including Today Show Parents, Grown and Flown, The Daily Signal, The Hill, CBN News, Christian Post, Her View From Home and BLUNTmoms, and is the adoption blog manager for Hope’s Promise, a faith-based adoption agency. Adrian studied journalism at Point Loma Nazarene at University in San Diego and is married to her high school sweetheart where they currently reside in Castle Rock, Colorado. Adrian completed her first memoir about hope and healing through the journey of adoption. She is a wife, a birth mom, an adoptive mom and mom of five children.

In this episode Adrian shares that her journey has taught her to make peace with difficult decisions, fight off fear, guilt, and shame and she encourages moms to do the same. Her story is powerful and she shares it so vulnerably in hopes to help other mamas on their path to acceptance.

Adrian’s core value arose from her powerful story. She starts in college. She, like so many of us, she tried to paint this version of perfection. She attended a religious school, was very involved in extracurricular activities until one day she found out she was pregnant. She was with her now-husband and high school sweetheart, but they didn’t know how to handle the pressures of this pregnancy. She hid it and felt intense shame. She was forced to make a heart-wrenching decision to put her baby girl up for adoption.

She had to wrestle with the fear, fear of judgment, fear of shame, fear of guilt and loss. She needed to make a decision based on love and give her baby girl the best life she could. Leaving the hospital without her baby girl was the hardest thing she had ever done, the grief and loss are indescribable. She did have hope that when the time was right she would be reunited with her baby girl but she felt unworthy of love and lived with massive shame. Striving for perfection and not allowing room for mistakes stops us from growing.

“I’m not called to be perfect, I’m called to be the best that I can be.”

She continues the story, Adrian marries her high school sweetheart and they go on to have happily have three sons. While her heart mourned her baby girl, she felt a responsibility to be the best mama she could be to her children and also give back where she knew her knowledge could help others. She began volunteering and advocating for mothers dealing with difficult decisions.

She opens up about one meeting she had, with a family friend. She was pregnant and shaky. The conversation was unexpected and the woman asked her to adopt her unexpected child. The transition was challenging from birth parents to adoptive parents and a lot of fears surfaced again pertaining to adequacy and capabilities. Adrian knew this was the right move for their family though and she loved that baby boy as her own.

“Love isn’t divided into tiny pieces, it is meant to expand and extend out to others.”

Adrian continues with the story. They bring home this sweet baby boy, brother to her three children. A couple of weeks later they received a phone call from her twelve-year-old daughter. Adrian hadn’t shared yet with her boys that she had given a child up for adoption.

Sticking with the theme of LOVE for February we are interviewing a special guest to share her powerful story with us. YGTMAMA is starting a series, every month one episode will be dedicated to #shareyourtruth and rather than focusing on a specific topic, one incredible mama will share her powerful story with us. We couldn't have asked for a better guest to kick it off then Adrian.

Adrian C. Collins is a fellow author, she writes about the real-life complexities of being both a birth mother and an adoptive mother. She has testified before the Colorado Senate committee on behalf of the Colorado Children First Act, been a guest on various podcasts, and featured on Today Show Parents and Today.com. She has been published in various publications including Today Show Parents, Grown and Flown, The Daily Signal, The Hill, CBN News, Christian Post, Her View From Home and BLUNTmoms, and is the adoption blog manager for Hope’s Promise, a faith-based adoption agency. Adrian studied journalism at Point Loma Nazarene at University in San Diego and is married to her high school sweetheart where they currently reside in Castle Rock, Colorado. Adrian completed her first memoir about hope and healing through the journey of adoption. She is a wife, a birth mom, an adoptive mom and mom of five children.

In this episode Adrian shares that her journey has taught her to make peace with difficult decisions, fight off fear, guilt, and shame and she encourages moms to do the same. Her story is powerful and she shares it so vulnerably in hopes to help other mamas on their path to acceptance.

Adrian’s core value arose from her powerful story. She starts in college. She, like so many of us, she tried to paint this version of perfection. She attended a religious school, was very involved in extracurricular activities until one day she found out she was pregnant. She was with her now-husband and high school sweetheart, but they didn’t know how to handle the pressures of this pregnancy. She hid it and felt intense shame. She was forced to make a heart-wrenching decision to put her baby girl up for adoption.

She had to wrestle with the fear, fear of judgment, fear of shame, fear of guilt and loss. She needed to make a decision based on love and give her baby girl the best life she could. Leaving the hospital without her baby girl was the hardest thing she had ever done, the grief and loss are indescribable. She did have hope that when the time was right she would be reunited with her baby girl but she felt unworthy of love and lived with massive shame. Striving for perfection and not allowing room for mistakes stops us from growing.

“I’m not called to be perfect, I’m called to be the best that I can be.”

She continues the story, Adrian marries her high school sweetheart and they go on to have happily have three sons. While her heart mourned her baby girl, she felt a responsibility to be the best mama she could be to her children and also give back where she knew her knowledge could help others. She began volunteering and advocating for mothers dealing with difficult decisions.

She opens up about one meeting she had, with a family friend. She was pregnant and shaky. The conversation was unexpected and the woman asked her to adopt her unexpected child. The transition was challenging from birth parents to adoptive parents and a lot of fears surfaced again pertaining to adequacy and capabilities. Adrian knew this was the right move for their family though and she loved that baby boy as her own.

“Love isn’t divided into tiny pieces, it is meant to expand and extend out to others.”

Adrian continues with the story. They bring home this sweet baby boy, brother to her three children. A couple of weeks later they received a phone call from her twelve-year-old daughter. Adrian hadn’t shared yet with her boys that she had given a child up for adoption.

The theme on YGTMAMA this month is LOVE. Today we are diving into divine love and all things spirituality with the one and only Cassie Jeans.

Cassie Jeans is a #1 best selling author, an inspirational speaker, and a dedicated leader for women who want to fully embrace all aspects of their soul and take full ownership of their life. She is an advocate for the transformational power self-worth has in a woman's life and has a gift of eradicating self-doubt and limiting beliefs using the power of words, practical step-by-step solutions and the wisdom of intuition. She is interested in what lights up a person's soul and guides them to see that by following that path alone all other core desires will naturally fall into place. She is a contributor in You've Got This, Mama, Too and host of In The Bedroom with Cassie Jeans - a podcast that will surely light up your soul.

The ladies dive right in. Sabrina admits that spirituality has not always come easily to her. Growing up with a non-practicing Catholic mother and an atheist father, religion was not something engaged in or talked about in the home. She admits that she has always thought religion and spirituality were synonymous. It actually wasn't until she became a mother that her spiritual practice developed and evolved.

Cassie shares her journey and answers questions around how we can be more soulful in our relationships and bring mindfulness into parenting.

"Motherhood is a divine experience, our children can be our greatest teachers." ~ Cassie Jeans

Spirituality and soulfulness do not require grandiose life changes. What lights you up? What feels good? What has you curious?  You do not need to go on a six-week hunger strike or a vow of silence to practice more mindfulness. Sometimes it is just sitting with your breath and taking in your surroundings. Cassie shares that nature is her temple and she is incredibly connected with Mother Nature and all of its beauty. "I learn so much from flowers, the water, grass."  She also explains that she sees this in her children as they develop and grow, the oneness with the earth and that is a beautiful thing. Cassie mentions some of her favorite reads that will help engage that curiosity in your soul. Light is The New Black and Women Who Run With The Wolves are two of her favorites. You can also pick up a copy of Cassie's first book Her Art of Surrender.

To find Cassie you can hang out with her on Instagram and follow along with her word butter, musings! Also, head over to Cassie's website you can join her 10-day gratitude challenge or access her coaching services.

The theme on YGTMAMA this month is LOVE. Today we are diving into divine love and all things spirituality with the one and only Cassie Jeans.

Cassie Jeans is a #1 best selling author, an inspirational speaker, and a dedicated leader for women who want to fully embrace all aspects of their soul and take full ownership of their life. She is an advocate for the transformational power self-worth has in a woman's life and has a gift of eradicating self-doubt and limiting beliefs using the power of words, practical step-by-step solutions and the wisdom of intuition. She is interested in what lights up a person's soul and guides them to see that by following that path alone all other core desires will naturally fall into place. She is a contributor in You've Got This, Mama, Too and host of In The Bedroom with Cassie Jeans - a podcast that will surely light up your soul.

The ladies dive right in. Sabrina admits that spirituality has not always come easily to her. Growing up with a non-practicing Catholic mother and an atheist father, religion was not something engaged in or talked about in the home. She admits that she has always thought religion and spirituality were synonymous. It actually wasn't until she became a mother that her spiritual practice developed and evolved.

Cassie shares her journey and answers questions around how we can be more soulful in our relationships and bring mindfulness into parenting.

"Motherhood is a divine experience, our children can be our greatest teachers." ~ Cassie Jeans

Spirituality and soulfulness do not require grandiose life changes. What lights you up? What feels good? What has you curious?  You do not need to go on a six-week hunger strike or a vow of silence to practice more mindfulness. Sometimes it is just sitting with your breath and taking in your surroundings. Cassie shares that nature is her temple and she is incredibly connected with Mother Nature and all of its beauty. "I learn so much from flowers, the water, grass."  She also explains that she sees this in her children as they develop and grow, the oneness with the earth and that is a beautiful thing. Cassie mentions some of her favorite reads that will help engage that curiosity in your soul. Light is The New Black and Women Who Run With The Wolves are two of her favorites. You can also pick up a copy of Cassie's first book Her Art of Surrender.

To find Cassie you can hang out with her on Instagram and follow along with her word butter, musings! Also, head over to Cassie's website you can join her 10-day gratitude challenge or access her coaching services.

The theme on YGTMAMA this month is LOVE. We are talking all about love. Self-love, romantic love, love for a child, divine love. With Valentines Day in a couple of days we wanted to chat about the languages of love, so today #onthepodcast we are diving into, and analyzing Gary Chapman's Languages of Love with my friend and original Mama Tribe contributor, Habiba Jessica Zaman.

Habiba Jessica Zaman has a master’s degree in professional counseling specializing in trauma, she is also the therapist and is owner of North Star of Georgia Counseling. With fifteen years of work experience in the counseling field including advocacy, guidance, and education, she believes that as awareness of one’s fears, perception, desires, and strengths increase, one can make successful life changes. She has nine publications that started with a children’s book published in 2012, But I’m Just Playing, and her latest Dear Time due to be released this year. She is also part of the original Mama Tribe and in three of the four, You've Got This, Mama books.

The 5 Languages of Love are:

expressing regret.

accepting responsibility.

making restitution.

genuinely repenting.

requesting forgiveness.

Sabrina shares her language and Habiba explains what it means and describes the details of each one. It can be confusing at times because, for most of us, we receive love differently than we give love.

Habiba explains that these languages are used in every relationship, not just romantic ones. Co-workers, family, friends and our children. Everyone has a love language and a way to give and receive love. She shares some tools for teaching your partner how to speak your language even if they are a little apprehensive about taking a test.

The ladies dive deep into the true meaning of the different languages. Words of affirmation - these are not compliments, more acknowledgments; that you are doing a good job or being appreciated for example. Acts of service - taking things off your plate, making your life easier. Receiving gifts - a physical manifestation of love, not necessarily big expensive fancy gifts. Physical touch - this does not need to be intimate but pats on the back, hugs, cuddles.

Habiba talks about how powerful curiosity can be. Using phrases like "I wonder" and "what if?" Can be very helpful in discovering the love language of others. It is important to ask questions so we are not imposing our own values and ways of receiving love on to others. They also discuss the importance of removing the ego from the equation. When we feel judged, the ego shows up. These languages are not simple but can really strengthen your bond.

It is very unusual for couples to have the same love language. She explains why and simple ways of sharing yours with your partner.

Children give love the way they receive it because that is the only way they know ow, then they turn into teenagers and do the same and then adults that do the same. This is why it is important to be open and clear about your way of receiving love as an adult, it is not always obvious to the partner.

Next, they dive into The 5 Languages of Apology.

expressing regret.

accepting responsibility.

making restitution.

genuinely repenting.

requesting forgiveness.

Habiba explains how these can actually be more important than love languages, especially in non-romantic relationships.

To connect with Habiba, on Instagram. Also, check out her website for updates and her books.

The theme on YGTMAMA this month is LOVE. We are talking all about love. Self-love, romantic love, love for a child, divine love. With Valentines Day in a couple of days we wanted to chat about the languages of love, so today #onthepodcast we are diving into, and analyzing Gary Chapman's Languages of Love with my friend and original Mama Tribe contributor, Habiba Jessica Zaman.

Habiba Jessica Zaman has a master’s degree in professional counseling specializing in trauma, she is also the therapist and is owner of North Star of Georgia Counseling. With fifteen years of work experience in the counseling field including advocacy, guidance, and education, she believes that as awareness of one’s fears, perception, desires, and strengths increase, one can make successful life changes. She has nine publications that started with a children’s book published in 2012, But I’m Just Playing, and her latest Dear Time due to be released this year. She is also part of the original Mama Tribe and in three of the four, You've Got This, Mama books.

The 5 Languages of Love are:

expressing regret.

accepting responsibility.

making restitution.

genuinely repenting.

requesting forgiveness.

Sabrina shares her language and Habiba explains what it means and describes the details of each one. It can be confusing at times because, for most of us, we receive love differently than we give love.

Habiba explains that these languages are used in every relationship, not just romantic ones. Co-workers, family, friends and our children. Everyone has a love language and a way to give and receive love. She shares some tools for teaching your partner how to speak your language even if they are a little apprehensive about taking a test.

The ladies dive deep into the true meaning of the different languages. Words of affirmation - these are not compliments, more acknowledgments; that you are doing a good job or being appreciated for example. Acts of service - taking things off your plate, making your life easier. Receiving gifts - a physical manifestation of love, not necessarily big expensive fancy gifts. Physical touch - this does not need to be intimate but pats on the back, hugs, cuddles.

Habiba talks about how powerful curiosity can be. Using phrases like "I wonder" and "what if?" Can be very helpful in discovering the love language of others. It is important to ask questions so we are not imposing our own values and ways of receiving love on to others. They also discuss the importance of removing the ego from the equation. When we feel judged, the ego shows up. These languages are not simple but can really strengthen your bond.

It is very unusual for couples to have the same love language. She explains why and simple ways of sharing yours with your partner.

Children give love the way they receive it because that is the only way they know ow, then they turn into teenagers and do the same and then adults that do the same. This is why it is important to be open and clear about your way of receiving love as an adult, it is not always obvious to the partner.

Next, they dive into The 5 Languages of Apology.

expressing regret.

accepting responsibility.

making restitution.

genuinely repenting.

requesting forgiveness.

Habiba explains how these can actually be more important than love languages, especially in non-romantic relationships.

To connect with Habiba, on Instagram. Also, check out her website for updates and her books.

*TRIGGER WARNING*

Today #onthepodcast we are talking about a topic that often gets overlooked or passed into the shadows. It is never easy to experience but as an onlooker or a friend sometimes we have no idea what to say or do. What is an appropriate response? How should I react? In today's episode, we dive deep into the grey areas of grief with Danielle Williams. For Bell Let's Talk day we were going to do an episode on mental health awareness but, Bell has already done such a great job. We wanted to bring awareness to another topic that often gets ignored due to discomfort and fear.

After the loss of their firstborn son Roark, Danielle Williams put pen to paper, and waded through the mountain of heartache by becoming a self-proclaimed “grief student.” It was during grief group therapy that she professed how she would die if she lost another child. Just a year later, Danielle would birth a still baby girl, named Ellie. Danielle is an entrepreneur at heart, and an avid early riser, coffee drinker, and spirit junkie. She is the grateful mother of two earth-side girls, and, two angel babes --- and is lucky to have married the love of her life. Danielle firmly believes that there are gifts in all trauma - our goal is to find them and then share them with the world.

Danielle shares the heart wrenching and tragic story of the loss of their first-born son, Roark. How she and her husband adopted the mantra Hakunah Matata (no worries) and how Roark got his name. The story is tough but Danielle has such a beautiful way of sharing her pain. She also explains what words of comfort in this sort of tragedy really look like and what got her through. She intimately shares that it does not upset her when people talk about Roark, she thinks about him every day anyway, it makes her feel supported to speak openly about her loss. She labels herself the guardian of his memory.

Danielle shares her techniques in moving through grief. Nature became their church.

Get your body moving.

Get outside, connect with nature.

Learn to slow down.

She shares what it means to her to be a "grief student" and how she discovered the lessons in loss and grace and gratitude in grief. Gratitude keeps coming up on the show. Danielle and Sabrina dive deeper into what it means to have a conscience gratitude practice.

Sabrina reads a beautiful piece from Danielle's chapter in You've Got This, Mama, Too.

"At first, grief is like a huge boulder — unmanageable and too heavy to carry. It keeps you paralyzed and is exhausting. But it doesn’t stay that way. It transforms with you, becoming lighter and easier to carry. Until one day, you realize it’s much more like a marble in your pocket. Always with you, never gone. Though much lighter. This marble will be oh so shiny, absolutely adored, immensely loved, and always needed." ~ Danielle Williams

Danielle says a major thing that helped her, was finding other stories that were similar and in turn sharing hers. Human connection is what we crave, what we need in our grief. Danielle didn't talk about her miscarriage at eight weeks. After Roark she didn't care, she talked about what she wanted and how. Then after Ellie was born, still,  everyone wanted to see her healthy baby and not talk about the grief. Danielle is very raw in her social media and shares her truth and musings to help other people.

 "Grief comes in ebbs and flows, it never goes away; it's not a linear thing."

Sometimes it is important to share things that are awkward, challenging, difficult and scary. Here on this podcast, we vow to dive into the grey areas, the unspoken because we feel deep healing and the ultimate connection comes from that. Danielle shares that we are not immune to trauma, we are not immune to suffering and it's really naive to think we only get one thing in life that h...

*TRIGGER WARNING*

Today #onthepodcast we are talking about a topic that often gets overlooked or passed into the shadows. It is never easy to experience but as an onlooker or a friend sometimes we have no idea what to say or do. What is an appropriate response? How should I react? In today's episode, we dive deep into the grey areas of grief with Danielle Williams. For Bell Let's Talk day we were going to do an episode on mental health awareness but, Bell has already done such a great job. We wanted to bring awareness to another topic that often gets ignored due to discomfort and fear.

After the loss of their firstborn son Roark, Danielle Williams put pen to paper, and waded through the mountain of heartache by becoming a self-proclaimed “grief student.” It was during grief group therapy that she professed how she would die if she lost another child. Just a year later, Danielle would birth a still baby girl, named Ellie. Danielle is an entrepreneur at heart, and an avid early riser, coffee drinker, and spirit junkie. She is the grateful mother of two earth-side girls, and, two angel babes --- and is lucky to have married the love of her life. Danielle firmly believes that there are gifts in all trauma - our goal is to find them and then share them with the world.

Danielle shares the heart wrenching and tragic story of the loss of their first-born son, Roark. How she and her husband adopted the mantra Hakunah Matata (no worries) and how Roark got his name. The story is tough but Danielle has such a beautiful way of sharing her pain. She also explains what words of comfort in this sort of tragedy really look like and what got her through. She intimately shares that it does not upset her when people talk about Roark, she thinks about him every day anyway, it makes her feel supported to speak openly about her loss. She labels herself the guardian of his memory.

Danielle shares her techniques in moving through grief. Nature became their church.

Get your body moving.

Get outside, connect with nature.

Learn to slow down.

She shares what it means to her to be a "grief student" and how she discovered the lessons in loss and grace and gratitude in grief. Gratitude keeps coming up on the show. Danielle and Sabrina dive deeper into what it means to have a conscience gratitude practice.

Sabrina reads a beautiful piece from Danielle's chapter in You've Got This, Mama, Too.

"At first, grief is like a huge boulder — unmanageable and too heavy to carry. It keeps you paralyzed and is exhausting. But it doesn’t stay that way. It transforms with you, becoming lighter and easier to carry. Until one day, you realize it’s much more like a marble in your pocket. Always with you, never gone. Though much lighter. This marble will be oh so shiny, absolutely adored, immensely loved, and always needed." ~ Danielle Williams

Danielle says a major thing that helped her, was finding other stories that were similar and in turn sharing hers. Human connection is what we crave, what we need in our grief. Danielle didn't talk about her miscarriage at eight weeks. After Roark she didn't care, she talked about what she wanted and how. Then after Ellie was born, still,  everyone wanted to see her healthy baby and not talk about the grief. Danielle is very raw in her social media and shares her truth and musings to help other people.

 "Grief comes in ebbs and flows, it never goes away; it's not a linear thing."

Sometimes it is important to share things that are awkward, challenging, difficult and scary. Here on this podcast, we vow to dive into the grey areas, the unspoken because we feel deep healing and the ultimate connection comes from that. Danielle shares that we are not immune to trauma, we are not immune to suffering and it's really naive to think we only get one thing in life that h...