The Honest Mom Podcast

When Rachel Hollis shouted on stage, "YOU ARE MADE FOR MORE!", mothers everywhere were questioning what that actually meant. Is being a mother... NOT enough? If I'm working full time, am I NOT being enough on the mom-side of the coin? Should I be more domestic? Creative? Do I need to start a business? Get certified in something? Clean more? Cook more? Make more money? I am forcing myself to stop t...

It's OK to say this out loud. There will be days where you are shooting daggers out to your partner because you feel they aren't helping enough, doing what you need, supporting you the way you want to be supported now that you're BOTH parents. They get to go back to work. You have to go back to work and they get to be home with the baby. You're doing all the housework while they get home at 7pm an...

Today we are talking about a vulnerable topic that we've either gone through, or are afraid to go through.  Grief. Grief doesn't always have to be about losing a loved one though. As a mother, I grieved for YEARS the loss of my previous life and the woman I was. Trying so hard to stay present, grateful and look forward to the woman I was becoming. But I missed my past world and I couldn't mov...

I've always had guilt in some capacity throughout my life. Then came motherhood and BAM! My guilt amplified & took on an entirely new form. I tried to hide it. Push it away. Ignore it. Nothing worked. It ate at me. Was I spending enough time with Brooklyn? Was I entertaining her enough (even as a blob of a newborn)? Was I doing things to enrich her and make her brain grow (What was I? Her mom...

This "Mom is Made for More" culture can be a bit confusing for us. Do I want more than being a mom? Should I want more? What if I don't? What if I DO and I don't know where to start? Perhaps there are fears that you'll fail, it will be overwhelming, or that you're just not cut out for that dream right now.  Maybe you're back and forth on this and find yourself comparing to others and what the...

So you sit there on your maternity leave wondering if you want to stay at home or go back to your career. You always THOUGHT you'd want to be a SAHM. YOUR mom did it and (you think!) she loved it. Your best friend says she never questioned it. But here you are, wondering if you want to put all your eggs in the motherhood basket. You then think about your career you worked so hard for. So many year...

We've started talking about the good, the bad and the ugly of social media where today Chrissy Somers of Stay + Play Local sits down to talk about how she's found her road to social media and how to make social media work for YOU and your motherhood journey. Whether you have a business and are screaming how frustrating social media can be, or if you're using it personally and find yourself being s...

What you look for in a friendship- what you NEED- may be different than when you were in high school or college. Now as a mom, your friendship quality check list is even MORE different. Are the friends in your life checking off the boxes that you need right now? Are you in tune with what you actually want in a friendship? Aware of the red flags that could be draining you? Today's episode is for yo...

Is it just me or does making new mom friends feel like you're back to the painful world of online dating?! I didn't think it would be THAT hard to make new friends. The mom groups, mommy-and-me classes, local mom events, and even Facebook groups had me wondering if I was ever going to make a new friend again. I questioned myself, what was wrong with me? What was wrong with them? Why was this so we...

So maybe there's not this massive blow out or deep-hearted conversation about why your friendship is ending. Maybe it's this slow burn, the flame gradually shrinks to where it eventually burns out? Perhaps there's no concrete reason other than the fact that people are busy, priorities change, and you're just not one of theirs? The slow fizzle still burns, stings, and has you wondering what you did...

So sometimes friendships fizzle and gradually fade. Sometimes there's a HUGE blowout and you give each other the middle finger and never speak again. But what happens when POOF! Suddenly your best friend, or even just a friend in general, just stops communicating with you?  Is she mad? Did I do something? Have I been doing something and she is just now had it up to her eyeballs? Did I sleep w...

"But you CHOSE to be a mother", "I don't miss a THING! Being a mother is the BEST thing that's happened to me", "You had 9 months to prepare for this", and a slew of other feedback I had when I asked the simple question on a mommy Facebook group,  "DOES ANYONE MISS THEIR LIFE BEFORE BECOMING A MOM?" On the other side of this, I received a TON of responses shouting "YES!" and sharing what aspe...

I don't know if this comes with time and confidence, but if I could put my 45-year-old self and voice in my 25-year-old self, things would have been a lot different for me. I didn't even say the word "boundaries" nor did I truly know what my own unique ones were. I thought "boundaries" was a  pretty aggressive word. Plus I grew up in a house where speaking up wasn't the norm.  There's fa...

Back in the 80's and 90's we'd flip through the pages of Vogue, Elle, and Cosmo and find a "reality" that we felt we needed to attain, but was impossible to achieve. Mostly because it wasn't reality. Is social media the NEW supermodel of motherhood? Do we endlessly scroll through the pages of Instagram and Facebook (if you still use it!) and find ourselves comparing our motherhood with the photos...

Listen to a powerful and shocking piece from a May 2021 high school valedictorian speech and you may ask yourself, "Is this how young women feel about motherhood?! Is this how I feel about motherhood?!!"  Sure, we have to give up some things, pause on others, we may miss what we aren't doing anymore or we may be thankful it's in our past (ahem, many college and early 20's stories on my end!)....

Why are we so afraid to admit there are some things (not all!) that we hate doing as moms? We can complain about our jobs, our marriage, relationships, pets, but for some reason it's TABOO to talk about the annoying things we can't stand doing. We can opt out of annoying emails, so why can't we opt out of certain activities of motherhood? Like bath time? Did I mention I hate bath time? Listen as I...

Why do we sit on the couch with our girlfriends, perfectly comfortable talking about our bleeding nipples but afraid to talk about the real feelings adjusting to motherhood? Join Michelle as she dives deep into why she was afraid & even ashamed of telling others she really wasn't loving being a mom. What she didn't realize is she was normal, and a good mom. Learn how YOU can acknowledge your f...

Why do our motherhood stories need to be on the opposite sides of the drama? Where you're either a hot mess or in motherhood bliss. Why aren't we talking about the UNmarketable feelings of motherhood- and normalizing them? Join Michelle in this solo episode as she talks about this sector of mom culture and how you're not alone with your feelings.  Compendium Pop-Open Cards: https://www.compen...

OK, yes, another mom pod is out there BUT this is one you definitely don't want to miss. Today is the FIRST episode of The Honest Mom Podcast where you'll get to know the host, Michelle Mansfield. What she loves, hates, her goals for this podcast, funny stories... oh and she has 5 cats. That alone is an interesting story! Find some connection with Michelle before you get hooked on this refreshing...