As busy moms, we all know how overwhelming life can get. Between work, family, and everything else, it's easy to get bogged down and feel like we're constantly playing catch-up.
But what happens when the things that used to feel important to us no longer align with who we are or what we want in life? It may not be easy to let go of the things that no longer serve us, but it's essential for our mental and emotional wellbeing.
In today's episode, we're going to dive into the topic of letting go of things that no longer feel in alignment. Our guest, Karen Brein, shares her experiences, tips, and strategies for moving forward and creating a life that feels authentic and fulfilling.
So, if you're feeling tired, overwhelmed, or just need a little support and guidance, this episode is for you. We promise to keep it honest, authentic, and light-hearted, because we know that as busy moms, sometimes a little laughter is the best medicine. Let's get started!
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Karen is a mom of three and a Certified Nutrition Coach living in Pennsylvania. Her goal is to help as many moms as possible achieve their weight loss goals while gaining energy and feeling great! She received her PN1 certificate through Precision Nutrition and has a B.S. in Psychology from The University of California, Davis.
Karen's signature program, The Happy Mama Method, combines her nutrition and psychology backgrounds to teach women a balanced approach to nutrition. With a strong emphasis on mindful eating practices and holistic wellness, she aims to help moms nourish both their souls and their bodies.
In this episode we talk about:
Resources and Links:
Connect with Lynn on instagram @HappyMamaWellness. Looking for more support with parenting and motherhood? Check out the Happy Mama Wellness Community here!
As busy moms, we all know how overwhelming life can get. Between work, family, and everything else, it's easy to get bogged down and feel like we're constantly playing catch-up.
But what happens when the things that used to feel important to us no longer align with who we are or what we want in life? It may not be easy to let go of the things that no longer serve us, but it's essential for our mental and emotional wellbeing.
In today's episode, we're going to dive into the topic of letting go of things that no longer feel in alignment. Our guest, Karen Brein, shares her experiences, tips, and strategies for moving forward and creating a life that feels authentic and fulfilling.
So, if you're feeling tired, overwhelmed, or just need a little support and guidance, this episode is for you. We promise to keep it honest, authentic, and light-hearted, because we know that as busy moms, sometimes a little laughter is the best medicine. Let's get started!
______________________________________________________________________________
Karen is a mom of three and a Certified Nutrition Coach living in Pennsylvania. Her goal is to help as many moms as possible achieve their weight loss goals while gaining energy and feeling great! She received her PN1 certificate through Precision Nutrition and has a B.S. in Psychology from The University of California, Davis.
Karen's signature program, The Happy Mama Method, combines her nutrition and psychology backgrounds to teach women a balanced approach to nutrition. With a strong emphasis on mindful eating practices and holistic wellness, she aims to help moms nourish both their souls and their bodies.
In this episode we talk about:
Resources and Links:
Connect with Lynn on instagram @HappyMamaWellness. Looking for more support with parenting and motherhood? Check out the Happy Mama Wellness Community here!
As busy moms, we all know how overwhelming life can get between work, family and everything else. It's easy to get bogged down and feel like we're constantly playing catch up. But what happens when the things that used to feel important to us no longer align with who we are or what we want in life, it may not be easy to let go of the things that no longer serve us, but it's essential for our mental and emotional well being. In today's episode, we're going to dive deep into the topic of letting go of things that no longer feel in alignment. Our guest, Karen Bryan shares her experiences, tips and strategies for moving forward and creating a life that feels authentic and fulfilling. So if you're feeling tired or overwhelmed, or just need a little support and guidance, this episode is for you. We promise to keep it honest, authentic and light hearted because we know that as busy moms, sometimes a little laughter is the best medicine. So let's get started. Welcome to redefining motherhood. The podcast is all about embracing the messy, beautiful and challenging journey of being a mama while building a business. I'm your host, Lynn Turcotte-Schuh Do you mind trainer turned to mama mentor and founder of The Happy Mama Wellness community Mamapreneur ship isn't always sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it's more like a never ending game of Whack a Mole constantly putting out fires and juggling a million things at once. But here's the thing, you're not alone. We are normalizing talking about the unique challenges of being a Mamapreneur breaking down the stigma that says we should have it all together and creating a safe space where we can share our experiences without judgment. So grab a cup of coffee or chai and join us for honest conversation helpful tips and lots of laughs as we navigate this crazy wonderful thing called motherhood. All right, our guest today is Karen Bryan. And I actually met Karen through a business coaching program with Alison Henderson, who if you've been listening to the podcast for a while she's been a guest. She's also one of our resident mentors in the Happy Mama Wellness community. So Kara and I have known each other for a couple of years now. And I think when we connected we first connect because we were like oh my gosh, my business is Happy Mama Wellness and Karen's with this is happy mama nutrition. We were like this was in the stars that we were going to meet. So I'm so excited to have her here. Karen is a mom of three and a certified nutrition coach living in Pennsylvania. Her goal is to help as many moms as possible achieve their weight loss goals while gaining energy and feeling great. She puts a strong emphasis on mindful eating practices and holistic wellness. And Karen aims to help moms nourish both their souls and their bodies. Don't we need more of that? Gear? And I'm so excited to have you here today.
Karen Brein:Oh, thanks for having me, Lynn. I'm a huge fan of yours. And like you mentioned, I feel like we were destined to meet. And so happy to be here. Yay. Is there anything you'd like to add to your bio to your intro? Anything that we that we left out? Oh, my I feel like that was pretty all encompassing. Yeah, I mean, I'm a nutrition coach. I'm a mom of three. I'm a huge champion for mothers, all types of mothers really. And, like, I'm sure we'll talk about this in our conversation. But my goal is just to help as many moms as possible, whether that's through my coaching programs, or through networking, or just through my Instagram or whatever it is. I love connecting building community. And that's really my thing.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:I yay, in the world, oh my gosh, you guys, I mean, I'm gonna ask you to go follow Karen, when we're done, and like, just connect with her, but she's awesome. I get so many not even just nutrition tips from you, but like just life tips. Just like tips just like you sharing what you're doing. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, why am I not do it? Like, why am I not stopping and breathing? Why am I holding my breath and running through all of the things? Anyways? Um, so we, when we had our prep meeting, there was like a million different topics that we could go through. And the one that we landed on, I think is probably not what everyone's going to expect knowing that you're like a nutrition coach. But the the topic that we landed on is how you're going to share your journey with us of slowing down and letting go and how that has kind of transformed your life. So I am beyond excited to hear about that journey. I was just sharing with you a moment ago that had we recorded this a month ago. I would have just been like happily listening. But I'm in a place right now where I'm letting go of some really big things in my life. And so now I'm like, Oh, I like I now get what you were referring to. Because there's a sense of peace and relief, even though it's scary, because you're like, I don't know what's gonna happen when I let this go. I don't know what's gonna happen, but like, it just is like a huge weight has lifted off of me. So I can't wait to hear about your journey. So what what parts? Would you like to share? Where what? Where did where did this start? How about how about this? I can edit some of this out if it's all kind of crazy, man. But how about if we start with how you got into your business in the first place? And like, like, kind of that origin story, and then how you've had to let go? Like, what? Just the journey in general? Is that making sense? Or you can start wherever you want? It is yeah, okay. Well, first, I'm going to start with a spoiler alert.
Karen Brein:So I'm gonna start at the end, and then I'll go back to the beginning. I love it that everyone can know kind of where I'm coming from. So the whole, I guess, hypothesis behind my, the way I run my business, the way I run, my coaching is about authenticity, and being very aligned with your body and what your body needs in terms of nutrition, movement, rest, recovery, etc. And when you can really be aligned with what you need, you will achieve your ideal weight, you will feel good because you're giving your body what it needs. And so that's something that I believe that helped me with my own weight loss and wellness journey. That's what I teach my clients. But then when it came to my business, I was doing the opposite. I was I was in hustle mode, I was kind of leading with my ego, I guess. And it started to feel very, there was this tension, it was icky, I wasn't aligned with what I truly wanted. And it started feeling very uncomfortable. And when I started to dial back from that, that's when I started feeling more at peace. So now I guess I'll go back to kind of my story. But I wanted to lead with that. So that when the listeners are listening to this, they can kind of keep that in the back of their mind to understand kind of the whole story.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:I love that. I love that you started with that. Because even if it's not business, right, if, if those of you that are listening, if you're like, oh, I don't have a business, or I love my business, my business, we're afraid there's something. And in most people's lives, I would be willing to bet that there's something that you just are holding on to you because you feel like you should like for whatever reason, you're like I should be doing XYZ. And so you just keep doing it. But if you really think about it, like you're saying, Karen, it's not in alignment with your values, or where you're trying to get your life to go. And so if it's not your business, as Karen was sharing her story, think about whatever that thing is that you're doing, only because you think you should be doing it. And like how could How would it feel if you let that go, and then kind of came into into your own. So we'll kind of set that mood. So if people aren't running their own business, or they love their business, there's something that you can relate to here and still
Karen Brein:100% I mean, I feel like this lesson, which again, I'm still learning in real time, I'm not claiming to be an expert, like I figured this all out. But I mean, I've applied this philosophy in parenting decisions in the ways I handle my personal relationships with my husband or my family or friends. You know, I think a lot of this conversation has to do with boundaries, and creating appropriate boundaries for your life and for the life that you want. Whether that is your business or your health or your parenting. So I hope that anyone can take these lessons and apply it to their own lives. Yeah, I know they will be able to get me excited. All right, well, okay, so I'll give a brief. You know, the one two minute explanation of how I started my business and how I grew and then my intentional decision to slow down a bit. So I started my business in the fall of 2020, which was a crazy time in the world as we all know, but I was looking to help people that's really what drove me to start this business because I had undergone the This transformation in my own life with my health, not just weight, but also kind of figuring out, you know, an exercise routine that made my body feel good prioritizing my sleep and relaxation and self care. And I wanted to help other moms do the same thing. So the business was really born out of a place of wanting to help others. And, you know, I will also give the caveat that I was a stay at home mom worked part time, this business was not supporting my family. So again, another kind of putting it out there that when I did choose to slow down, I was in a very fortunate position not to have to worry about money, because obviously, if I was I would have hustled. But in our family, I am the primary caregiver, the one who, you know, takes care of the kids when they're sick, etc. So that I feel like also comes into play with the story. But when I started the business, I, my kids were in school or had childcare and I really dedicated myself, I wanted to build the business, I wanted to grow an empire with the thought of helping, you know, lots and lots of women. And so I did some business coaching, that's when I met Lynn. And I worked really hard. I was on Instagram all the time marketing that way, and marketing through local channels, you know, doing PR and I was really in the zone for a long time. But eventually I burnt out as many do especially with social media. You know, there's obviously lots of studies that show that social media in many ways is toxic. I'm sure a lot of us have a love hate relationship with social media. Yep. And so coming from the content creation side of social media, I really, I really burnt out, especially when Instagram moved from pictures to video. I'm not a creative person, I enjoyed Instagram for writing the captions. And I would take pictures, and I figured out how to do that. But then when it went to reels, the learning curve was steep, and I did it but it became a chore. And that's when I started to feel that not an alignment. Because I wanted to work with my clients. But then if I wasn't marketing, I wasn't getting as many new clients, it was this catch 22. And so I kept at it, but I was not. I wasn't as happy. I was happy when I was with my clients. But then I would look at my calendar and say, okay, you know, this is the day I had blocked off to do, you know, plan my social media for the week, or whatever. And I would dread it. And I just wasn't happy. And then that in some ways, I think because my energy was low on those days, I wasn't producing as good of content. And it was kind of this like negative cycle. So about the time when I was happening, I was also planning a cross country move for my family. And the timing kind of worked out that I knew I had a lot to do to prep for this move for our new house, packing up our whole house, etc. And it kind of worked out to take a step back from the marketing side, I still had my clients, I was still doing some marketing, but I said I don't have the time to do both of these things. And my family takes precedence. So I'm going to allow myself the freedom to step back. And that was felt really good. It felt very, it really did feel free. I feel like that that word was is apt here.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:second? Can we just like, just for the listeners? Can we process for a moment because this podcast is all about redefining motherhood as in we are not supermom does not exist. We are not machines, like we have limited energy, limited time limited bandwidth. And we get to decide what the things are that are important to us right in our in our experience. So can we just you just listed off? Not only are you the default parent, like I just want to take stock for a moment when you were making this decision. You are the default parent which almost probably every single person listening to this is like yeah, I get that and I am that which you know that's a 24/7 job at You were running a business now even trying tournaments, like you were actively seeing clients marketing, you know, you were running a business, you were running the household, you're a stay at home mom, you said, you're the CEO of your house, right? You're running your household. And now you're planning a cross country move, not a trip an actual, like, we are moving our home and our health and all of our things and our body, across the country. Like, you could get burned out doing one of those things, and you're doing. That's what I just want to like, I really want to take a moment because I think we don't do this as moms especially but as women as humans, we're like, oh, I can add this, I can I can do it, I can do I can make it work, I can make it work, and then you burn out. So I mean, those I am blown away that you were functional, finding those four things on your plate. But instead of instead of getting burned down and going down this rabbit hole, you were really brave, and you saw what was coming. And you said, No, I'm not going there. I'm gonna let go, I'm gonna slow down and let go of some stuff so that I don't, I don't lose everything, trying to do everything that I just want to acknowledge how brave that decision was and how incredible and inspiring. Okay, continue.
Karen Brein:That's very, very nice. I mean, it's true, we only have 24 hours in a day. And I think all moms can relate to the fact that we just don't have enough time. And it's really hard to prioritize ourselves. And that's, I mean, at the heart of what I do with my clients, is how do you carve out that time? How do you prioritize yourself and fill your own cup? Because if you're pushing, pushing with work, and you know, doing the laundry and getting the kids to school and managing all of the law, it's endless, right? Like, yeah, it's like Whack a Mole.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:As a mom, I don't. I'm such a visual person. I was like, Oh my gosh, that's exactly what it is. It's it's Whack a Mole. I cannot believe I've never heard that before. But that's like, you hit one thing down and it pops up somewhere else like that is that is the perfect analogy. I might steal that it's alright. To pause, because that is brilliant.
Karen Brein:Okay, wow, life as a mom is like whack-a-mole. So if you It's endless, you could just do it forever and never sleep. And there would still be things popping up on your to do list. So it's all about, like, intentionally, and it's uncomfortable. Putting putting things to the side to make time for yourself or doing the things that make you feel good. So when I had, like you said, like, these four big things like parenting move business, being like the household CEO, I was like, something has to give here. What like, okay, there are things like I can't, I can't not be the mom, right? And like, that's a non negotiable. And of course, I like let my house go in terms of cleanliness, like, lowered all of my expectations. But when I really looked at what is giving me joy, I need joy in my life. Oh, marketing on Instagram is not giving me joy. In fact, it's the opposite of joy. And that's gotta go. So the move was a good excuse to dial back on my business marketing, because it wasn't giving me joy. I was actively disliking it. And it was kind of affecting my overall energy. And so I had this great excuse, however, now I've been in my new home for six months. And I still haven't really ramped that back up. And occasionally I'll post on Instagram when I feel like it. But I've given myself and it hasn't been easy. It's something that I'm constantly struggling with, internally of like, should I be doing this because you know, the shoulds are endless. But again, I'm trying to be really authentic and align with what I want. And so if I feel like posting on Instagram, then I will you know, if I want to reach out to a local org to partner with to market my business, I will, but I'm also okay with having a smaller number of clients. And again, I'm not making as much money and I'm okay with that right now. Because I need to focus on myself. And this I'm hoping that any of the listeners even If you don't have a business, you can, again, apply this to whatever it is in your life that isn't feeling authentic or aligned with what you need for your body and for your soul.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:I love it. It's really, truly, it's inspirational, because I think when we go through that journey, and you step back, it's almost a, it can be, it can be a source of guilt and shame. And you're stepping into it, and you're like, No, I'm in my power. Like, I am doing this, and I'm in my power. And that's why I love your story so much. And that's why I wanted you to share it, because it's, it's just so encouraging. And we need to speak out about it more. And I would love to ask you, because to get as a business owner as a Mamapreneur, you you kind of are in a network of other mom or printers who as and as business owners, we're all told the same thing, right? You need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to be selling, you need to be sharing, you know, educational content anyway. So what I'm curious what the reaction has been, from the people in your maybe your business friend circle, and like how, how have you handled that? Like how have you set boundaries, to protect yourself and not let that any negativity? come through? I don't even know if I'm asking that. Right. But hopefully, you know what I'm trying to say?
Karen Brein:Oh, yeah, well, so I've only been met with positive feedback from other Mamapreneur tours. It's they're like, oh, wow, like that. I can totally real everyone can relate. They're like, I hate marketing. I mean, I'm sure there's maybe some people who like social media marketing, but it's kind of like a necessary part of business, but it's not they want to be doing what the business, not the Yes, other parts. So they're like, Wow, you're, you know, I can I've heard like your brain or like, I wish I could do that. And then, you know, it was interesting to me how you mentioned, feelings of guilt and shame, because I definitely feel that, especially when I talk because I'm in a new community now. So I'm meeting lots of people. And obviously, a question is, what do you do for work? And I've had to get over this knee jerk reaction of saying, Oh, I'm a nutrition coach. But you know, my business is a little slower right now. That's like what I want. That's what my mind wants to say. And I've had to work really hard to just, well, I am a Nutrition coach, who cares if my business is slow? Like, yes, no one asks that no one cares. And when I say I'm a nutrition coach, I'm only met with positive feedback. So, I mean, this whole journey of being a business owner has been an incredible area of growth for me personally. And I mean, I'm a spiritual person, I feel like anyone listening has probably picked up on that. Those are the phrases I use. But I really do feel like being a business owner may not be the end all be all. For me, I may not be doing this nutrition coaching for the rest of my working life. However, I feel like it's been an incredible learning experience for me. And so, you know, now, I want to keep doing this, I consider myself mostly referral based in terms of how I get new clients, because I'm not doing as much active marketing. And which is great, because again, the people who are coming to me really want to work with me, because they've seen their friends or family get great results. They really believe in my philosophy. And so that feels really good. And just bringing in people to my life that are aligned with what I feel and continuing my path towards, you know, alignment and fulfillment. I love that. I feel like that might be the missing piece for a lot of moms is I hear moms say all the time, I feel like I lost myself. I feel like I became a mom and I feel like I lost myself. And I always challenge them to really think about that phrase, because I don't I think in some ways we lose ourselves in that we go from the like the proverbial maiden to now the mother like there's a transformation in there that you can never go back similar. You know, it's called mattresses. It's similar to when we went through adolescence, like we can never go back to my pre adolescent belt which is not bottle Well, but the core of who we are our values, our dreams, like all those things, those are still there. And I think it's not about I lost myself, I need to find myself again, I think it's what you're saying, I think it's, I am not living in alignment right now with what those things are. So how do I how do I get back? Like how do i realign my experience with with my values. And so that all comes together? I love that you are doing that you're like paving, paving the way. Definitely, I definitely had that I lost myself experience. When I first became a mom, and for probably the first four, four or five years of motherhood, I had lost myself. But then through my own experience of going through my own wellness journey, and then starting this business, I didn't find my old self again, I found my new more evolved self. Yeah, and that's what I want for everyone. Because you can't go back to how things were, I love what you said, I had never really thought of that before. But who are you now, and this is also what I tell women who are afraid of getting older. Because, you know, my I family members who are, you know, turning 30 soon. And they're, you know, talking about how they're, they're scared of being old. And I said, your 30s are like the best. Like, there's so much better 20s. And I'm in my late 30s now, and I just hear like, it just gets better and better, like people in their 40s are like I love being in my 40s. So, you know, I just hope that everyone can kind of look forward, be present and forward thinking in terms of who are you? Who do you want to be? And how do you? How do you get there? I love that. Oh my gosh, okay, so I have two things. The first one I don't want to forget. I there was a quote that I had written down from our prep session. And that you had said, and your quote was that sometimes we have to write out the storms and just keep focusing on the horizon. And I feel like that's exactly what you were just talking about. Like, you just got to keep your eye on where you want to go. And just kind of keep through trial and error. They're navigating until you find the path to get there. So that is awesome. That might be one of the one of the quotes that we pull out of that episode. But I will attest I'm 44 I turned 44 This July. And I used to be like, I'm 44. And now like I'm 44 I feel like I get I love myself more and more and more the older I'm getting. And I think it's because the the desire not even the need or like the desire for me to fit into a box and just fit in, in general. Just keep wasting away. And I just keep growing into this. This is who I am. If you don't like it, you don't need to be around me. And that's like, I'm not gonna apologize, I'm not gonna feel guilty like, this is I, I'm proud of this person. I love this person, this is who I am, I'd love for you to be in my circle. But if you don't want to be here, I am sending you off with love. And if you had, if I had said that 10 years ago, I would have been like, oh my gosh, like, What are you talking about? You can't say that, like, you're gonna be all by yourself. No one's gonna be around me like. So I think, for me, at least getting older is becoming more in alignment with who I am and not caring what everyone else thinks. I guess that's what it comes down to. It's all coming back to that being in alignment with with your inner self. So I will hope for that same journey for you. Do you enter the next decade of your of your life? Yeah. I love it. Um, there was one other thing that came up that I just wanted to, I don't even know if I have an answer for it. But when you were saying that you go places and people ask you what you do. And I remember before I really started my business, so I was I was doing childbirth education. My daughter was six months old when I got certified. And I was doing little like classes in my house for like two or three families at a time. But I didn't actually start my business until probably three years ago. And in that gap, people would say oh, what do you do? And the first thing that popped into my head was oh, have a mom. But that felt so like, I don't know, embarrassing or like, I felt like I was like, I do nothing. Like what do you do? Oh, I do nothing. I'm just a mom like I do nothing. And I just wanted to bring that up. And maybe talk about that for a moment. Because I know there's some listeners that are like, well, I don't have a business. I'm just a mom. And I really want to take away any shame or embarrassment or stigma or anything. Because from my perspective, being a mom, is the most important, influential job you could ever do. Because we're shaping the future generations. But I would love to just just sit here for a moment and hear your thoughts and like, how, like, if you've ever been in that place where your answer was like, Oh, I'm just a mom, like cat like, how did you answer? Oh, I've said the J word. Just just a mom, many times. I'm not proud of it. It's something that I worked on. I will share one story. So when I was pregnant with my first child, this was eight years ago, I was at my husband's work holiday party, so like, exactly eight years ago, and I was 20 years old. And one of the partners at his firms, this like guy in his 50s You know, very successful, powerful man, talking about how I'm pregnant. He's like, so are you retiring? And, I mean, I remember this, this is like a core memory. That will never leave my brain because I was so taken aback by his question, one being so bold to ask, like, you know, this is none of your business, if I'm going to, you know, go back to work after I have my child or not, like, why are you asking me this, but also all the ridiculous gender assumptions? Yeah. That like, No, I'm even hiring like, Oh, God, I can't even Yes, please. Right. I mean, this I know, not that I'm excusing this. But you know, older, yes, man. Traditional, whatever. I mean, we have so much work to do right in our society. But the word retire, really stuck with me. Because I mean, there's no harder job than being a mom, especially of young children. Well, the physical aspect of being a mom for young children, and then the emotional aspect of being a mom for older children is, it's so much work. So the audacity to imply that you're not working or when you hear people, you know, who are on maternity leave, and then you hear other people say, oh, did you enjoy your vacation?
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:I've heard that too. Many people asked me that. Oh, you're because I decided, while I was on maternity leave, I decided not to go back to work. I was a marine mammal trainer before I had my daughter for over 10 years. And yeah, a couple people were like, Oh, you're gonna stay on permanent vacation. And I just stared at them. I was in no mood at that point. It won't be you know, weird. You're still in like the fourth trimester bogging you're like I am. I'm sending laser beams out of my eyes right now. Good. That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Yeah. So I mean, I think a lot of this.
Karen Brein:We have these societal influences to do certain things. And that includes like, as a business owner, or a mom or whatever, I should be doing this. And, you know, like, as visionary take these classes, or coaching programs and how to market oh, you should be posting this many times a day, you should be blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. There's all these things. And it's like, well, who said who made the rules? Like, you don't make the rules for me? You don't you there are a million different ways to parent? Why is this the right thing to do? You know, everyone has. It's not. I'm not blaming anyone, like everyone has their own ways of thinking because of how they were raised, or how they were taught or whatever. And what I'm just trying to do for myself is to put on my blinders, like kind of thinking to like the quote about you know, you're in a storm and looking at the horizon. Like, no matter where you are in your life, whatever season you are, put on your blinders and just focus on what feels right. I mean, given your circumstances and obviously if you need money to feed your family, then like, get a job, even if it's like, even if you don't like the job sometimes you just got to do what you gotta do. Yeah. Um, like, I am a huge peloton, fan, anyone who follows me on Instagram will probably see that and I just took a class with one instructor then she said, You know, sometimes life be life in. And I just loved that. And I'm gonna steal that from her because yeah, sometimes like life just throws you things, and you got to deal with it. But how do you deal with it in a way that you come out on top at the end? Yeah. I love that you said that because the message here is me in alignment, not put yourself in harm's way.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:So, like, I will just share really briefly, not too in detail. But I, when my wife got laid off from COVID, I had to pick up another job, because I was working remotely for a company doing office kind of stuff. And I started out as just five to 10 hours a week. And she got a full time job again with you know, to help support our family or to support our family, I should say. And I still continue that job because I like I couldn't think of not I couldn't think of a reason to stop. But I was like, well, we could always use more money like there's a recession coming, we can put in the savings account, we can pay off debt, like, I don't want to just leave this job. And then it started to take over like I got more hours. And then I was on call. And I had this epiphany about a month ago. And the epiphany was that this is not in alignment with where the trajectory that our family set, when we started our family, right, we had this these goals, we wanted to homeschool, we wanted to keep me at home, I wanted my business so that I could still support other moms. And so I could have an identity outside of motherhood, those were kind of like two driving forces. And, and this one job, had kind of cast a shadow over all of that. But that was through it completely off course. And so I recently put in my resignation. And I literally feel like, like, I've heard the spirit saying to me, like you're getting your life back, like things are aligning again. But what I want people to understand is that if if I need money, I will go get a another job. It's that this particular job was dreaming my life force. So it's not even like how am I trying to say it if I had this to quote unquote, suck it up and go get a job because we needed the money. I'm happy to do that. But it's going to be a job where I can clock in, do my work, come home and be done. Right, like so. Yes, I totally agree with you that sometimes you just have to do it, even if you don't want to, like I would not want to be leaving my house to go waitress at night because I go to bed at eight o'clock. But I would do that, because that's a go to work, do your job come home kind of job. Whereas this other job that I'm letting go was like taking over things. So I think just understanding like you're saying where you're heading, and are the things that you're doing, gonna get you there. And if not, let's replace them with other things that will do the job in the moment, they're going to make you money if you need money, but they're not going to drag you off course at the same time. I feel like I just went off on a tangent, but I just wanted to make that clarification. I love that. I love that explanation.
Karen Brein:I'll give one other example that that's to do with business or money or whatever that I think makes this point also. So when we so we moved across the country this summer, and I was super overwhelmed, like setting up the house and a life for the five of us, basically, because my husband was working his a pretty intense job. And so I'm the one at home. And I was kind of looking at activities after school for my kids for the fall. And I was so overwhelmed. But I had this like voice in my head of like, well, your kids need to be doing XYZ activities. And oh, look around you, you know, oh look so and so is in soccer and so and so is doing this and why why can I do that for my kids, but I had to really like sit with myself and say, Okay, I can't manage all of these afterschool activities for the fall. Because I don't have enough energy. And I know that if I'm dragging my kids around, because you know, I don't have any help. So it's like if my son has karate, then like The girls have to come with and hang out and I just didn't have the bandwidth at the time. And so I, it took me a while to be okay with it, but I was like, they cannot have activities for a few months and they'll be okay. You know, I like put the shoulds Yeah, in like a cupboard for a few months. And then when I was feeling a little more acclimated to our new city, I said, Okay, now I can get my son into karate. Okay, I can sign. I can sign her up for gymnastics starting in January. So like, we have more going on when I can handle it. Yeah. But it's not like he's not, you know, like, oh, my gosh, they're not going to get into college because they're not going to become concert pianist. Oh, well, okay. That's not true. Yes, yes.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:No, I totally, I totally get it. i Okay. I could talk to you for hours and hours and hours. But I think we've, I think we've got over our normal time. Moral of the story here is, we need to do things that bring us joy, and are gonna get us to our goal, and not let stuff that we think we should be doing drag us off course. And I am so grateful that you came and shared your story about how you really, were super brave and slow down and figured out what things needed to drop off and just let them go. I think it's so wonderful. So thank you so much for taking some of your time today to be with us.
Karen Brein:Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me. And, you know, I still am on Instagram. So if anyone wants to follow me, I don't post as often but I am there. And I also will have the link to my website is on my Instagram. So you can always find me anyone who has questions about health, wellness, weight loss, etc. Or just momming. In general. I'm here for this community as well as my own. Yes, well, you've read my mind because I was going to ask you to share all this with you. So my Instagram is at happy mom and nutrition. Happy mama nutrition.com. It's brilliant. And even if you're not actively posting right now, there's so much great content on your account and on your feed. Like it might be from last year or two years ago. But it's not irrelevant. And yet still, it's everything. Yeah, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. So I love that. Thank you miscarrying. So, if you could leave our listeners that are maybe either mompreneurs, or just moms in general, that are in that place of like, oh, my gosh, I need to let something go. What would be your one piece of advice? Like, where would you Where would you tell them to start a process, I would take five minutes, a day, scheduled five minutes to do something just for you. Whether that's going on a walk in between meetings, outside getting some vitamin D, meditating before you go to bed. I know that people say this isn't self care. But if you need to just go into the shower, and listen to music, and cry, or just think or whatever in silence for five minutes, that counts. Take five minutes for you. And after you do that for a few weeks, maybe you figure out how to bump it up to 10 minutes, and then maybe 20. And then maybe eventually get an hour to yourself a day. And that will do wonders for your self esteem, and for your energy. And it will trickle down to the rest of your life, to your kids, to your partner to your work, etc.
Lynn Turcotte-Schuh:I love this. We all have five minutes, and we think five minute we all can find five minutes. That's brilliant. Thank you so much, Karen.
Karen Brein:You're welcome Lynn.