Today’s co-hosts, Thais Derich and Laura Riordan, are advocates for women as they go through the huge transition into motherhood. Both embrace and celebrate the amazing power woman have to make decisions about their bodies, their babies and their careers as they step into the world of motherhood.
Mama Advantage Moments from this episode:
What is our Mama Advantage?
- Thais looks forward to stopping her work at 3 and diving into mama life: her family life is her meditation. She shifts from being centered on herself to being centered on others, it’s a great advantage to have that break and start fresh the next day.
- Laura’s advantage is her ability to make connections: we have an opportunity to meet new people we never would have met if we weren’t a mama. We also have flexibility to shape shift that we wouldn’t have if we didn’t have children.
- When you have the opportunity to take a break, you have a chance to pause, maybe something that’s been there for you for a long time may get an incubation period so you can bring it out into the world.
- This ability to stop and take a break may be just a moment or much longer, we’re talking about the advantage of taking a pause and how we’ve learned to do this as a mother.
Let’s explore this concept of taking a break
- As Mama CEOs, we tend to feel like we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time: when we’re with our kids we feel like we should be working and vice versa. We talk about how to find the balance between time with our kids and having other things going on; once you strike this balance, time with your kids will feel like a break.
- Thais shares how she’s learned to ‘say yes’ and why.
- Laura discusses the opportunity of maternity leave and why it’s a unique time for us mentally that we don’t tend to get anywhere else.
Who or what is inspiring us right now?
- Thais is inspired by Amanda Palmer’s book, The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help, right now: she’s sharing why her work is so important to Thais and how she’s giving women permission to ask for help.
- Laura is inspired by Designing Your Life by Stanford professors Dave Evans and Bill Burnett and their advocacy of networking, because as women we tend to want to not seem “needy.”
- When we ask for specifically what we need, it tends to come back to us easily.
We’re talking about planning and how “not planning” can surprisingly go hand in hand with it
- Thais shares the story of her book launch and how having a plan didn’t necessarily work out for her as well as just speaking from her heart.
- We talk about the transitions we go through especially as a mom and how having a plan doesn’t always work out the way we thought; we can learn to pivot.
- Laura talks about being inspired by the book Option B, why we can’t always live Plan A, and why this can be beneficial.
What is one thing we want our kids to know?
- Thais wants her children to learn that they can trust themselves over what is perceived as a higher authority, take a pause when someone is telling you what you have to do.
- Laura wants her daughter to know that she can create her own reality: if there’s something she wants to do in the world, she has the resources to actually make it happen little by little.
RATE AND REVIEW THE MAMA ADVANTAGE HERE
SUBSCRIBE TO THE MAMA ADVANTAGE PODCAST HERE
Links:
Thais’ new book: Second Chance: A Mother’s Quest for a Natural Birth After a Cesarean
Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking
Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
Bios:
Thais Derich is an writer and activist and the author of a brand new memoir, Second Chance: A Mother’s Quest for a Natural Birth after a Cesarean. She is the mother of 2 boys.
Laura Riordan is a transitions coach and expert guide to clients who feel stuck, trapped, disillusioned or simply unclear how to get their big ideas out into the world. With a Ph.D. in psychology and 20 years in the mind & body wellness industry, she brings wisdom, clarity and swiftness to her coaching practice.
Laura also spends time working with groups, teams and founders. She co-leads a workshop series entitled, “What’s Next” which helps women deepen their knowledge of self, cultivate new “good fit” possibilities and develop the courage to dip a toe back into the world of work.
