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EPISODE INTRO
Intro:
Welcome to the "Wellness in Every Season" podcast, where we embark on a transformative journey towards achieving total wellness, even in the midst of overwhelming moments. I'm your host, Autumn Carter, and I'm thrilled to have you here.
This podcast is a sanctuary for all mothers out there, and we extend a warm invitation to anyone seeking guidance and inspiration. We believe in fostering an inclusive community where we learn and grow together, supporting each other during life's challenging transitions.
Join us as we step out of survival mode and discover the path to thriving, embracing wellness in every season of motherhood. From sleepless nights to new beginnings, we'll explore practical strategies, share heartfelt stories, and uncover the transformative power of self-care and self-love.
Together, we'll unlock the wisdom, strength, and resilience within ourselves, reminding one another that we're never alone on this beautiful, yet demanding, journey. It's time to prioritize your well-being and reclaim your joy, one season at a time.
Hello, welcome to Wellness in Every Season. Today I have a special guest with me, Jessica Dalquist. She has taken a break, but her podcast is Extraordinary Moms and I have been a long time fan, so I'm very excited to have her on. This is episode 34 and she is a teacher at heart and mother of four kids.
Four boys! Yep, all boys.
That's right. All boys. I forgot about that. Go ahead and introduce yourself before I start blundering along.
Yeah. Thanks for having me, Autumn. I'm so excited to be here. Like you said, I am the founder of Extraordinary Moms podcast. I'm a mom of four boys. I'm a military wife. And I started my podcast in order to help other mothers feel seen and understood and extraordinary. Just by doing the job, I do mean extraordinary because this is no easy task. And I'm also So a teacher, I taught elementary school years ago and kind of in and out of the education field. And this year is actually my first year back teaching. So this has been a super fun transition for me.
What grade are you teaching?
So I'm actually teaching for a charter school. And so I have a roster of kids from TK through ninth grade that I just help to monitor. And so I'm able to be home. I still have a two year old at home. So I wasn't quite ready to go full blown back into the classroom yet. And so this is a good way to kind of transition and be able to work from home as well.
The last episode, I listened to one yesterday, but before that you were very pregnant and you know when you're super pregnant, you can't fully catch your breath. That was showing up in your podcast. I was pregnant around the same time. And then school got really busy for me. I finished my undergrad last summer. And then I just hit the ground running and haven't had a chance to listen to really anyone's podcast.
Look we all go through phases, right? Podcasts are so great because they're always there. And, you know, there's something for everybody. There's some podcasts that are more timely that I do feel like I keep up on, but I love it when I can take a break from certain podcasts and then come back and then kind of binge those and have those in my ears. And there's just different voices that kind of contribute to where we're at in life at different seasons. And some voices serve you for a while. And then you need to take a break and then you come back and you re-find them and refall love with shows or books or whatever it is. And I love that. And that's the beauty of it. It's always there.
And that's what I like about yours because there's so many, when I'm in different stages of parenthood, where it's like, I need help with this subject and you have covered so many subjects that I can find things. And I was looking back yesterday and how many years have you been podcasting?
I've been doing it for over seven years. It'll be eight years in January. And last year, my seventh year, I was just kind of feeling like when people would say, oh, how's the podcast? How long are you gonna do it for? I would say as long as I'm loving it, and as long as I feel like I've got something to share. And for seven years, I really, really did love it. And it was filling my bucket as much as the listeners as well.
And then I just kind of hit a point where I was kind of less excited and it was a little more stressful getting it out. I just thought it's a job that I created for myself. I can take a break. I can do whatever I want. And so of course, when you have sponsors, you have to notify them and stuff. So I just said, "Okay, bye-bye. I'm taking a little break and I'm taking control back and I'll come back when and if I'm ready." But it's been nice. There's going back to the seasons kind of thing. I feel there's seasons where you're growing a lot and you're putting stuff out there. And then there's seasons where your roots are growing and it doesn't, you don't have a lot to show for necessarily, but you are just hunkering down and doing the work and working on the things that you've been working on growing, but you may not have as much tangible stuff going on or product, you know, coming out like in the form of podcasts or things like that, but I've just been able to kind of sit with what I've learned and let that kind of synthesize and process. And I may come back to it soon.
I mean, there's certain stories that come out where I'm like, "I've got to have that mom on," or, "Oh, I need to share that story." And when I have that feeling, it gets me right back to why I started Extraordinary Moms in the first place. But until that's that regularly, I'm not going to put out something that's subpar because moms have too little time on their hands to put out something that they're not going to totally be in for like I would be in for, you know?
Oh, you've touched on so many great things. Where do I even start? Miranda Anderson. I'm trying to remember because I saw that she was somebody that you interviewed. I'm like, have I listened to that before? How did I follow her and follow you? And anyway, it's just fun when...
I know. It's this tangled web of podcasters and listeners and people online. And I think it's fun when they intertwine.
Well, she has an episode that just resonated so well for me. And it was when I was in my final year of school where it's about the roots and the branches, there's different times where you don't see a lot of growth on the outside because so much is happening underneath. And I just I was feeling like not everything that I was doing was being shown and all of that. And when I heard that, I was like, I feel seen, you know, and there's so many episodes like that. So it sounds like that's where you're at in the podcasting world, but you're showing your branches and growing them with teaching again and you're finding a way to fill your bucket.
And I think as parents, especially mothers along the way, I shouldn't say especially mothers, I've seen fathers too, where we continue doing something because we've always done it. But if it doesn't fit anymore, why are we doing it? And we get scared. We get scared to change. But when I talk to friends or family or whoever that are just like, "Oh, they're complaining about something not working," whatever it is in their life, something's not working but they're so afraid to change and I just simply remind them like if what you're doing is not working, how much worse could a change be, right? Like the discomfort is there anyway and so sometimes you have to change or pivot or stop something outright and allow yourself some discomfort in that change in order to perhaps have even less discomfort in whatever that new thing is or that the new way something looks is. And if it doesn't work, you can always change again. But if something's not working, what's the risk in trying something new? Could it really be that much worse? And there's growing pains in all things. But if something's not working, there's discomfort anyway. So you might as well change it up.
And I think that really comes back to coaching. A lot of the times we talk about our why, why do you want this? And if you don't remember your why anymore, if it doesn't fit anymore, let it go. Otherwise, if you know your why, then maybe zoom out and and see all the aspects of it instead of trying to make it fit in this box. So maybe it's a rectangle. OK, so going off of that soap box that I jumped us on, tell me a little bit about more about why you started your podcast and everything that kind of goes into that box.
Yeah, so seven years ago, podcasting looked a whole lot different. And at the time, one of my favorite podcasts that I had to listen to, like on my computer, on a website feed was Power of Mom. I don't know if you've ever heard of Power of Moms. It was really popular like 10 years ago and I would clean my house and carry around my laptop and listen to podcast episodes based around parenting and I found it really amazing because my oldest is 13 and it was just a great resource at that time. Then as I was carrying it around and I was hearing these two women mostly, sometimes they do interviews but mainly it's just two women doing it. The beauty of a parenting podcast or motherhood podcast is it doesn't have to be perfect. It's not a highly produced Spotify business podcast. It's just, it can be whoever talking, some lay person who doesn't have all the expertise in the world, but they're doing the job just like I was doing the job.
And I thought, I've got something to say. And I would come across people online and I would wish I had the chance to ask them questions about their story or see moms online and think, wow, they're doing such a great job. They look like they have it all together, but I bet you they don't. I want to get behind my curtain. So it was as simple as Googling how to start a podcast. And really the barrier to entry for podcasting is quite low. Now the longevity and sticking with a podcast, that is hard.
And I give you and every other podcast or the utmost credit for sticking with it, because that is the hardest thing. Anybody can start a podcast, but to keep it going is a lot different. But I'm somebody that keeps things going. Once I go, I go all in. And so I Googled it and I just started with my inner circle. I talked to a friend who had a child diagnosed with autism. I talked to a friend who had lost a child sadly when they were two years old. I talked to another mom who was great at organization and their house was always so well organized and they had systems and I thought, I wanna find out more. And so as I was thinking of all the incredible people in my life, I just started making that list of people that I could interview on the podcast. And extraordinary moms are not perfect moms.
And I knew that I was not perfect by any means and often had a hard time accepting, like was I an extraordinary mom? Like I'm just a regular mom. Why the word extraordinary? But I think when you selflessly show up for your kids, no matter what phase of life you're in, no matter whether you're thinking you're doing a good job, a great job, or kind of you're failing and drowning, doing your best is all that is required of this job. And at the time as well, I had just had my third son Jackson and it was just a couple months after he was born and I was suffering with postpartum anxiety. And the way that postpartum anxiety manifests for me is I have trouble speaking and my words start spinning and maybe you can identify or people listening. I mean it manifests differently for everybody but I just couldn't find the words. Everything was just kind of spinning and jumbled and you know pulling up the right vocabulary just seemed hard and so I found myself shying away from social activities. I'm a pretty social person naturally and you kind of talk to people and I just found myself retreating because I was afraid of being uncomfortable of not being able to come up with the right words or just getting socially overwhelmed and so I was being treated for anxiety but I thought, "I wish I could work on this.
How do I work on this speech thing because I don't want to just retreat or wait for it to get better?" And so I thought, "Well, if I could have these conversations in kind of a structured way and I could write down my questions and I could kind of read the questions and they, the other person that I'm interviewing, it would be largely their responsibility to talk. But yet, I'm facilitating so it seems like a great conversation, right?" guess what? People love talking about themselves and so it was a great gateway to empower other women and to accomplish this thing that I just had a random idea for and to also practice speaking and I would say within 3 or so months, I noticed a huge difference in my anxiety level and my insecurity and even though it didn't completely go away, my insecurity about it did.
I realized like nobody actually cares if you're stumbling over your words and especially if you say, "Hey, I have postpartum anxiety." People are like, "Whoa, you're talking about this? Like you're not embarrassed? I've had it too. How about that?" and there's a connection point there and so starting the podcast was a way of saving me from that really difficult time and it helped empower others along the way and I love it when I can combine things in my life, combined goals in my life and you know create something out of it. And so over time it just went into you know 300 plus episodes and here we are. But uh and then it went on to people that I didn't know. It started with my inner circle and then people that I didn't know. But it's a really long answer but that's kind of the foundation of the podcast.
Wow I knew bits and pieces of that but to have it all tied together and for me I did not realize I had postpartum depression until I was pregnant with my next kid and looking back.
There you go.
How amazing is it to know when you're in it, that mind blown, that people could actually know while they're in the thick of it. And I know I had some anxiety too.
And I think when you talk about it with other people and you think, and you hear about their symptoms and their experiences, and you can identify very quickly in somebody else, oh, they don't seem right, or something's different, right? You can identify that so easily when you're looking into somebody else's life. And so I really suggest before you have the baby and even before you get pregnant, because you can have prepartum, I don't know if that's maybe I just coined that term, but during pregnancy you can have, you know, mental health struggles as well that are throughout your pregnancy experience. But having somebody trusted and you're saying, "Hey, I'm kind of worried that this might be a thing for me. I've had anxiety a lot of my life. So I knew it might be a thing." And then having somebody that you trust be able to have the permission to say, "Hey, you don't seem quite right. Maybe we should go talk to someone, maybe you should evaluate medication, whatever it is, whatever path might help you. But having somebody else have the permission to speak into that, into your own life, I think is really valuable 'cause it is so hard to see in yourself a lot of times.
I know that it has been called pregnancy and then they called it postpartum even while you were pregnant. I think they're still coming up with the terms. Last time I looked, so that was a couple years ago, but- There's not a lot of discussion around it. But I mean, I know people that were desperately mentally unhealthy during their pregnancy, and they just thought, I'm, I'm weird, like I'm, I'm, I'm not the norm, you know, like most people enjoy their pregnancy. And I just don't know, I think a lot of people struggle through pregnancy for a variety of reasons. So I think normalizing that is really important.
I did a whole, I became really good friends with the two women that I did the project but it was regarding mental health and pregnancy and postpartum and we got an A on the project and it would be amazing to like actually like do something with it maybe eventually but even just talking about it here is doing something about it and apparently a lot of doctor's offices don't give you there's a form that some doctor's offices give out I didn't know about it until I I did the project and then moving here and starting with the new pediatric office, they give the form during your first six weeks of postpartum period where they are asking you how you're feeling and everything. And I never remember the name of the form (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). I will have to put it in the show notes. And there's another form that's also used. And there's the Emily Effect, I think is the name of the foundation.
Yes, I had her husband on. So get this. So here I started the podcast in January. In May, it's Mental Health Awareness Month. And I thought I've been hearing from a lot of my friends who were struggling that they felt like they needed more support and more stories about mental health. And so I thought, do I do a whole month of mental health stories? Because some of these get pretty dark, right? Like it's very heavy. You don't want to overburden people with other people's issues or trigger people or things like that. But I just felt compelled like, no, for the month of May, I'm going to do exclusively mental health challenges episodes, focused episodes. And so we had a variety of people come on to share, including Emily's husband. And it was only three months or four months after she had passed away of postpartum psychosis and losing her life to that. And it was so brave and I never thought I was going to have men on to share, but to be able to share her story via her husband and he did it with such strength and honor. It changed me and it really influenced what I believe the podcast could be and the impact it could have as we shared stories of that.
Life and parenting and it's not all light and rosy and we don't just need to input all just positive stuff in our brain. Sometimes it's knowing the hard dark stuff that can bring our awareness to things of like, "Oh yeah, I see that in myself, but it doesn't have to stay stuck there. I can evolve with it. There's hope and there's help." And that's the Emily Project's mission and a lot of my podcast episodes about that topic as well. We gained a lot of information from that.
And I remember I listened to I think only two that month because I was very in the thick of it and I knew it was going to trigger me. So his, I did not listen on purpose. I didn't realize, if I would have realized when I was in the project years later, I would have gotten back to it. Oh well.
Well, and good on you for monitoring that for yourself, just because something is out there doesn't mean you need to consume it. And maybe now it would be interesting to you or beneficial for you. But like in that time, monitoring yourself and saying like, "Hey, I am too much in the thick of things to overload myself with other people's stories unless it's actual resources. I can't take on other people's issues right now." And that is 100% fine. And I really respect that. It's very important to know your bandwidth.
I do the episodes that you listed before I listened to each one of those. I remember exactly where I was. I was folding laundry while listening to the one with infant loss. I remember putting away my husband. That's when it like really something emotional happens. So I remember exactly, I think it was his shirt in his drawer and my toddler was right there and just thinking it was my oldest when he was a toddler and just thinking like he's the same age as when she lost hers just yeah it's still okay. So let's move on because I'm getting all kinds of feelings and goosebumps and everything going on with my body right now. Oh, so tell me about moving a lot in military life. I can see why podcasting would be really good for that.
Yeah, it is a great portable job.
It really is.
So starting seven years ago, that means we lived in Virginia. And so my husband and I are from Southern California. Originally, we moved for his undergrad and then law school to Michigan. And then he joined the military after he'd been an attorney for a few years and so it moved us to Virginia. So I'm away from family. I'm having my third child. I feel pretty alone. And so this was a great way to kind of build connection with other people and to have a project, you know, that was really filling my own tank that way. Moving to Virginia, we previously lived back in San Diego for my husband's first job at a law school and I thought just like, "Ah, we've arrived!" Like it's just so nice to live near family. I don't know if you live near family, but it's just if you have a good relationship with your family, it's a wonderful thing to have the support, to have the memory making, like to not have to pay for flights, like all the things. It's just great.
12So I thought we had arrived in our life and then he said, "Oh, I want to join the military." And I'm like, "Do ya, do ya though?" Like that's pretty big departure And sure enough, he did. He wasn't just watching JAG all those years on TV. It was like he actually wanted to do it. So he joined the Navy. And I'll never forget the military called. And usually, they just assign you to go somewhere. And they called and they said, OK, you have a choice. And we're like, oh, well, we live in San Diego. Could it be San Diego? Like, why would they move us if we're already here? They can move to Virginia or Japan. And so that's basically like opposite sides. like we're moving just as far on either side. So I got done crying. We picked Virginia just for simplicity of language and being able to drive stuff instead of float stuff over.
And I did not wanna be there. And when I moved to Virginia for the first few weeks, I would say especially, I was just surly and I'm a pretty positive person, but my husband noticed a change in me and was just like, how are you doing? And I'm like, I don't wanna be here. I want my old life back. I miss my friends. I miss my stability. I miss my family." And he's like, "Well, we're here." I mean, he's really nice but he's like, "We're here. We're here for two years and there's nothing we can do to change it. So how is this working for you? Like how is this attitude of like, "I wish things were different working for you." It's not really working but you deserve to pay for removing me." And he gave me my space to be mad but I did figure out within a month or so like I have got to choose this life for myself. I have got to choose my outlook. I have got to choose that wherever I am, I'm going to be all in."
And so one of the things that's hardest when you move someplace new is that nobody knows you're there. And so nobody's going to come just knock on your door and invite you someplace or whatever and you have to kind of put yourself out there. So we go to church and so at church, I just started trying to reach out and smile at people at the very least or introduce myself at the most and you know one kind of invitation turned into another and then I have this motto of ‘create the invitation that you want to receive’ and so I had a Valentine's party at my house and I had somebody that I just met who seemed like a nice normal person. I said, "Okay, you have a bunch of friends, right? How about you create the invite list for me and I'll host it but this is how I'm going to make friends. I'm going to use your friends." So she created the invite list and invited all of her friends and gave them the address and they're just like, "Who's this person?" But they showed up and I've done it every place I've ever lived and you can do your own version because sometimes, you know, you like big gatherings or that's not a big deal for you. Sometimes it's a one-on-one lunch, but you've got to create the invitation you want to receive.
And I also found that as I was having a negative attitude about moving, my kids couldn't fully feel allowed to like where they live. Because if they saw a mom being all grumpy about it, it's like, okay, well, maybe this place really is the worst and we shouldn't be happy here. And so I realized I gotta behave better than I want my kids to behave. And so if I'm gonna want them to have a positive adaptable attitude, I need to do that. And so between creating those invitations, choosing to change my attitude and be like, hey, we're here, whether we like it or not for two years. So we're gonna plant our roots and make friends and make memories and we did. And I would say to anybody moving, it does take about six months, any new place, whether you like where you're moving or not, it takes about six months to feel settled. And so if you just give yourself that runway, you put a lot less pressure on yourself to like feel absolutely 100% fan-con about it. But it's hard, moving can be really hard. Have you moved very much?
My in-laws just moved here, brother-in-law and sister-in-law two months ago. So now I know how long they need.
Okay, six months.
We've been here in Maryland for 10 years. We moved from Utah and then before that we're in Arizona and that was before kids and they moved with kids. And I'm like, I'm glad that we started having kids after we moved because, wow.
They start to care.
It was hard, we switched counties because we had our surprise number three. We thought we were done because postpartum depression and fertility issues and my body's like, no, we're fertile now for the last two. I always wanted four. So I'm glad that I got there. I didn't think I ever would. Too small, we moved counties and that was hard enough. I can't imagine moving as often as you have had to. Were you in Norfolk or were you in, you must have been?
Yes.
Okay. Beautiful area, but you don't know anybody. Mine as well be anywhere else. -
Yeah.
Very military and this is your first time really being in the military. And I love your idea. I think this is the best advice is to find somebody who's already fairly popular and hey, let's co-host together or I'm going to host. That is such a great idea. What specific aspects of motherhood or related topics are you passionate about?
I am so passionate about helping mothers, my friends to believe in themselves. It is an epidemic that people are taught to belittle how they're doing and the job that they're doing and to not give themselves credit. I read a really great book a few years ago called The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. And it's a pretty easy listen. It's like two hours and a little thin book and I give it for gifts a lot. There's four agreements or four tenants of belief that if you can kind of adhere to these things, he says something like you'll be more successful in life or something. But basically one of the tenants is always do your best.
And when I first started as a mom 13 years ago, I thought doing my best looked like doing everything right. Like I would read the parenting books. I would do my part. He's supposed to do his part. And then when suddenly he wasn't doing his part, like I'm doing the shushing. I'm doing the, you know, checking for his on his diaper, check is he fed? Is he? And he still won't stop crying. Like, is it my fault? Like I felt like it was my fault. And I'm not doing a great job. But what I figured out was just because you're doing your part doesn't mean you can control anybody else. That can be your kids. It can be your spouse. It can be anybody in the neighborhood. You can't control anybody else, but you can control yourself, what you do, and your perspective and your outlook on things and how you respond. And so by baby number two, I was much less high strung.
My standards were much lower for myself. And guess what? When your standards are just a hair lower than perfection, chances are you're gonna exceed those and you're gonna be so proud of yourself. 'Cause when you set the bar, do high, you're just always gonna feel like a failure. And so always doing your best as defined in this book is whatever circumstances are contributing to what your best looks like, take that into account. If you have a newborn and you're up all night, your best the next day is going to look a lot different than your best on a full night of sleep. Your best when you're parenting, you know, teenagers for the third time, it's going to look different than parenting a teenager for the first time. Whether you are working full time, whether you're at home, whether you are going through a divorce, whether you're a single parent, whatever it is, like all these different factors contribute to what you are capable of, how much energy you have, what your capabilities are.
And when you're able to kind of realign what is possible and what your best reasonably looks like given a set of circumstances, it is really freeing. And so I love cheering other women on, especially when they feel like, "Oh gosh, like my kids just they're just running me ragged and I'm not doing a good job. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing this." But what are you doing? Like, are you doing your best based on what you have in your tank and what you're working with? Do you have a child with special needs? And are you doing everything you possibly can that's within your personal control? If you are able to give yourself that grace, you're going to show up so much more peaceful for your kids, for your family, if you're able to readjust what that best looks like. And it can be day to day, it can be week to week, month to month, but it really does fluctuate. And I just think most of the time we're all doing a much better job than we think we are.
First child is kind of your trial child. You try all the things on him or her first, in our case it's him. It's like, well, I'm sorry, you were the tester for this. There's times where I've told that to my, my oldest is eight. So I found you later on than when you started, basically. You wrote in one of your unique insights or expertise that you provide is helping kids adapt to new things. Do you want to talk about that really quick?
Moving when you don't have children is a lot different than moving when you do. And so for us in the military, we moved every two years. And so my oldest son has been at five different schools, well, like elementary schools. Now he's a middle school, but he was at five different elementary schools during his growing up years, and that stinks. I went to one elementary school my whole growing up years. So I felt super sad for him. However, it has been super, super amazing to see him grow skills that are not necessarily required if you're growing up in an environment that is stable and just common and something you're familiar with. And so we would always talk about actually role play when we would, you know, be starting a new school and helping him to identify how to how to make friends himself. But also, and I think more importantly, and this is works for new kids, or it works for if your child has been at a school for a long time. Look for the child that maybe is not new, but that doesn't have the skills to make friends. So look for the child that's sitting alone. Look for the kid that's not being picked, guaranteed they're going to be absolutely thrilled if you reach out to them. And so while you are, you know, filling your own thing by wanting to make a friend as well, you are making their day by reaching out to them. So look for the person that needs a friend.
That's a great, that's a great one.
Another one is utilizing the school counselor. This last move, even though it's a move we were excited about and wanted, my, let's see how old was he at the time. He was a first grader. He really struggled and was insecure. And so I just alerted the teacher. I said, are you noticing these things? She's like, yeah, a little bit. And she's like, we have a great school counselor. And so she would pull him out once a week and just talk to him and give him a little snack and a stress ball and teach him breathing techniques because he's more my anxious kid. And it was so wonderful. He felt this deep connection with the counselor and this camaraderie with her. And it was so great. and he just did it for a few months and then he was good to go. And so I think by helping kids to realize there's a big wide world out there and every new move we got to experience new things, see new places, meet people we wouldn't normally have met and that's a great opportunity. Yes, it's great to be in the familiar but to be able to stretch yourself and experience those things and grow your ability to adapt, it's going to be worth it. My kids are going to be stronger adults because of it, even if it was hard as kids.
What I am hearing, it's okay to start young with mental health with the whole stigma about going to therapy, PS. I see a therapist because I grew up with trauma. You can even start this with seeing a school counselor and I love that you are teaching your kids young the importance of that. And moms that are listening, mental health, it's important.
Oh yeah. It's just one of the tools in your toolkit. Yeah. And how, I wish I had those tools as a kid. How do people follow you? I know that we can listen to your archive and that's extraordinary moms and wherever you listen to podcasts, you also have a website for it. Is there any other way that we can follow you?
And you can follow me on Instagram at JessicaDalquist3. I document my life there, not as well as lately, but you know, we all go through waves and that's okay. I don't feel like I need to tell anybody like, Oh, I'm off. Oh, I'm on. It doesn't matter. But you can see my cute kiddos there. Yeah, I just am so grateful to podcasters like you who are just taking the message that is on their heart to spread awareness, spread knowledge, spread resources. And I just think that is really incredible what you're doing. So keep it up. This is so great.
Thank you. My list keeps growing. At first I was thinking, I'm gonna run out of stuff to talk about. No, I've learned plenty along the way and whatever I haven't. I know for subjects that I'm a little weaker in or I may know a little bit about, but I want like somebody who's specialized. There's this whole, we are so interconnected and realizing that my spider web is growing of people so that I can ask other people on like you. So thank you. Is there anything else that you wanna talk about before we wrap up?
So I just hope that anybody listening today will just take a minute to like think of yourself five years ago and just kind of evaluate how far you've come. You know, like your life may be harder than it was five years ago. It may be easier. It may look different or it may look similar. But when you give yourself the space, and I found this in doing the podcast and giving women space to kind of recall their motherhood journey and the lessons that they've learned along the way, women don't give themselves that space. If they're not in therapy, they don't give themselves that space to reflect and to tell their own story. And so you don't have to be on somebody else's podcast to do that. But just think today back like, where was I five years ago? What lessons have I learned through motherhood or through my life in the last five, 10 years and just acknowledge how far you've come. And that can just show you what's possible in the next five, 10 years and how much more you can grow and learn. And your story is not done yet. But if you're doing the best you can, which most of us are, that is absolutely good enough.
I feel like life is a book and we have chapters and sometimes it's really good to go back and look at past chapters just like you're saying, especially during that awkward phase where like the page is about to turn but it's not quite churned yet for that new chapter. It's like, okay, I'm gonna spend some time just like looking back. Yeah, when the other foot is like about to drop but it can't quite hear.
That's the worst. Oh, that's so tedious. But it always does, it always turn.
As we draw the curtains on today's soul stirring episode, a wave of heartfelt thanks flows towards Jessica. She graced us with her presence from the sizzling interior of a car under the Southern California sun, turning those heated moments into a crucible of genuine connection and insight. Her dedication was so radiant that not even her phone could keep up. It overheated, sending her in search of cooler pastures indoors.
Jessica, your willingness to share even in less than ideal conditions adds a note of authentic warmth to our conversation, One that we couldn't manufacture even with the sun's help. And she went out to her car to have it be a quiet experience for us while her kids were playing inside. So thank you, Jessica. Thank you for enriching us with your experiences on how to make friends in different locations. Insights honed from your journey as a military spouse, consistently on the move and yet finding community wherever you go.
Jessica's reflection serves as a beautiful prelude to what we'll delve into next week. how to make friends as a mom. Her words were like the first brush strokes on a canvas, sketching the outline of a landscape that will paint with vivid colors in our upcoming episode. We'll fill in the hues and textures, bringing to life the framework of creating lasting friendships and a supportive village. In the same vein, we'll explore the depth of emotions and how to channel them towards achieving your goals. And let's not forget, our life hack segment promises to convert your phone into your personal guideposts, leading you towards your dreams one reminder at a time.
Until next week, may Jessica's story resonate within you, her perseverance echoing like a melody that lingers after the music has stopped. Hold onto that tune, let it inspire you as we gear up to dive into the sea of friendships and emotional landscapes. Keep nurturing, keep thriving, and take some time to let your own phone and yourself cool off if you need to. See you next week.
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Outro:
Thank you for joining us on this week's refreshing wellness discussion. I'm Autumn Carter, your guide through the seasons of motherhood, and I hope you found inspiration and valuable insights during our time together.
If you resonate with the topics we explored today and want to continue your wellness journey, I invite you to follow me on Instagram at Moms Wellness in Every Season. There, you'll discover a wealth of ongoing wellness tips specifically curated for moms like you.
Sharing our podcast with others is an act of caring, and I invite you to spread the word by sharing, subscribing, and leaving a review wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Your support is deeply valuable to us and enables us to reach more mothers who are seeking transformation and empowerment.
If you have a specific topic you'd like us to cover in more detail or if you're interested in a free coaching consultation, don't hesitate to reach out. You can send me a direct message on Instagram or visit my website, wellnessineveryseason.com, to send an email. I'm here to support you on your wellness journey.
Thank you again for being a part of our vibrant community. I'm genuinely excited to connect with you, hear your stories, and continue this important discussion in the weeks to come.
Until next time, remember to prioritize your well-being, embrace every season with grace, and always strive for wellness in every aspect of your motherhood journey. Take care, and I can't wait to catch up with you soon.
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