Stay connected with Jen on her Facebook and Instagram  pages, her website, and I highly recommend her Empathic Mastery Book!!! 

Jennifer Moore is a mentor & healer for sensitive intuitive women. Jen holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology & Religion, she’s also an Accredited Master Trainer for EFT International and founder of the Empathic Mastery Academy. Jen is the author of Empathic Mastery, host of Empathic Mastery Radio, and creator of two oracle decks and the photographic Healing Tarot. Bringing over thirty years of personal & professional experience, Jen merges practicality, intuition and wisdom to offer insight, guidance & emotional freedom to those she serves.

To the mom who is getting in her car for the first time solo with a new baby….it will be ok. 

To the mom who is leaving for the first time to go somewhere WITHOUT her baby…it will be ok.

To those experiencing that feeling in your throat, the pounding of your heart, the “can I do this?”; the “should I do this?”; the “will this ever feel normal?” 

Yes. You can. You should. It will.

To the moms who have to go back to work, who have to try to act “normal” around coworkers when ALL THE EMOTIONS are happening at the same time: it will be ok.

To the moms who feel the push pull of the happiness to be doing a thing that’s your own mixed with the deep sadness to be leaving to go do that thing.  Who feel the excitement to have some alone time mixed with the guilt at the excitement about the alone time. 

Who knew it was possible to feel so much and be SO conflicted! And.. IT WILL BE OKAY. 

To the parents experiencing all the firsts: the first bite of food, the first public baby-wearing moment, the first overnight trip with the baby away from home; the first public melt down; the first nursing or feeding or first anything in the back of the car…the first time you forget that one thing that you REALLY needed to make the outing NOT a disaster…It will all be ok.

The first time I drove somewhere with my baby was a ten minute drive to visit with my parents. They were renting a house nearby for a few weeks to be helpful in those early days of first getting home from the hospital. My son shrieked and screamed the whole way until he was red in the face. We pulled over three times to make sure he was ok. My husband assured me “if he’s crying, he’s breathing.” I texted a dear friend and she kindly told me “it’s your baby hazing you,” a phrase which made me smile for a moment, but then I burst into tears anyway.

The first year of motherhood for me was far from perfect. We had a million zillion beautiful moments  and just as many “oh my god I can’t handle this; how will I get through this” moments. 

We had sleepless nights, nights where we took shifts holding the baby and set alarms to make sure we didn’t fall asleep while doing so. Sleep training nights later on where we nearly lost our minds and sat half in tears waiting for our baby to fall asleep. I got on several planes and flew miles away from my baby for a job I adore, and both loved the time away and mourned the time away. I pumped every three hours on planes, on boats, in hotel rooms, and cars. 

We also had moments that stunned me with their magic and shocked me with their power. The first smile. The first babbles. The first (and every time really) falling asleep on my chest. The first time I heard “mama.” 

Things didn’t always go as planned (and rarely will I’m sure.) I had to do things that made me WILDLY uncomfortable. I had to be brand new again at something and this time the stakes were incredibly high (keeping this tiny creature happy and alive.) 

This year I learned there is no perfect and perfect doesn’t matter. Nursing or not, sleeping in a crib or in the bed, baby led weaning or mashing it all up, cloth diapers or not, all these things that seemed so so important to me to be making the RIGHT choice, in hindsight there was no right choice, just the choice that worked for me and my family. 

The idea of “mom guilt” was always something I thought was put on mothers by others. I thought people might point their fingers at me and say, “well how could you possibly, xyz.”  (And I’m sure that happens and did happen to me and I was probably too sleep deprived to notice.) 

What surprised me about mom guilt was that so much of it happens naturally and we generate so much of it on our own: we are constantly weighing our choices, wondering if we are doing enough, doing it right, being good parents, handling it all. We do all this while trying to keep a smile on our faces and without being impatient with our mutually sleep deprived partners and of course keeping it together in front of our little people….and wow that’s a lot for any person to try to do. 

If I could write a letter to myself a year ago, in those excited but also terrified days waiting for my son’s arrival, I would say this: Be easy and loving to yourself. Be prepared for the unexpected and get ready to be both humbled and ecstaticly joyful. It will all be ok. You will be ok. You will be excellent.

I’m the kind of person who fully believes she can have it all, do it all, and be it all. For my whole life, I’ve been fully entrenched in the Superwoman complex and my internal pendulum widely swung between being completely awash in feeling of successful bliss, and total burnout and sickness.

So having my first child was hard for me. Like, really hard. I had been told that I would feel totally different and really need time to chill out, lower my stress levels, and nest, but I was pretty sure I could just push through the fatigue, like I always had, and persist.

Didn’t work out that way. My kid came two months early and my whole life stopped for a while as I sat in the NICU waiting for him to be able to feed himself, regulate his own temperature, and do other normal baby things…

After we were out of the hospital and over the course of the next year, I slowly was able to work my way back to my business. I am a voice teacher and a life coach for performers, so I work for myself mostly. Which, as anyone with kids knows, basically means you have two full time jobs and three quarters of the time you don’t get directly paid for any of the work you’re doing.

When our second pregnancy came around, I again just kept persisting and working to keep my business up and going while wanting to puke the whole time. I wanted my business to GROW so that when the baby came it would be a machine I didn’t have to take so much care of.

Unfortunately, that pregnancy ended in a chemical termination because it became too dangerous for my life for it to continue.

Which really put things into perspective…

I WANT another child. And we’re exploring avenues like adoption, but recently we were also “cleared” to start trying again. (I use the quotes because the doctors never say that directly, but instead just make sure we know what the risks are like… SUPER clearly…)

In my case, it could all turn out to be a totally normal and healthy pregnancy! Or… it might not.

Something about this coming attempt that made me realize my drive and determination to build my business needs to be put on hold. It’s not like I can’t keep moving in that direction, but my emotional energy needs to go into taking care of my body in the best way possible so that it’s a warm and safe place for a baby to grow.

That doesn’t work well if you end up lying in bed at night with your mind spinning with business ideas or if you feel like you are constantly running from meeting to meeting.

It’s not that the action is wrong. It’s that, for me, it asks me to harden when I need to soften. Intellectualize when I need to listen to my intuition. Survive on coffee instead of water and good food. Stay up to “get shit done” when my body is telling me I need to sleep.

I can’t be in a mental growth space for my business AND my future pregnancy at the same time. They’re two different drives for me.

So while I have big ideas and programs I want to put in place. I try to constantly remind myself that it’s OK for me to rest. To take a break. To give my body space and love.

I try to remind myself that I have TIME. I’m still young. Especially in comparison to many women I know who are getting their own businesses up and going who are 10+ years older than me. (I know… I shouldn’t compare… but it’s helpful for me…)

I’ve got shit to do. But I also know what I want my life to look like. And I can’t control it all. But what I can control is my emotional space and my reactions to stress. 

While hoping for another child, I choose grace. I choose ease. I choose nesting, not building.

What choice do you need to make?

Katie Gall helps people discover the full power of their body’s ability to achieve optimal health, create a habit of self-love, and live in harmony with their body.

Connect with Katie on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

As a toddler mom to a busy little boy, a full time entrepreneur, and full time dog rescue worker the concept of burnout is something I’m highly familiar with. When it comes to putting your own f•cking oxygen mask on I’ve learned that it’s not only something supportive, but necessary to create lasting forward movement. 

I’ll backtrack a little bit…

My journey in online entrepreneurship started simultaneously with my journey of motherhood. I gave birth to my son knowing that I didn’t have a backup plan for creating income to provide for my family. As soon as I started my maternity leave, there was no looking back or returning to work. I simply refused to leave my son with someone else!  

In the midst of navigating growing an online business, I was also learning how to be a mom. We all know there is no handbook to life and I’ll be the first to admit that I failed a lot along the way. 

The early stages of caring for a newborn left me crying in the livingroom at 3am more times than I can count. The same is true for business. Anyone that tells you either of these experiences is always easy…is lying. 

When it came to “self-care” I didn’t make any space intentionally for this. I was driven by my desire to create the freedom I was craving in my life, but the constant hustle came at a huge cost. 

The alarms started to sound when I noticed that I wasn’t making movement in my business, my personal relationship was struggling and I constantly felt like I was in survival mode. Hello stress and anxiety, nice to meet you. 

I recognized that something had to change. This is when I discovered that putting my own f*cking oxygen mask on was non-negotiable. 

Everything started to shift when I began prioritizing my wellbeing. 

Once I got intentional with my time, focused on tasks that produced the highest return on investment, and really focused on the intention behind my goals I was able to find a harmony that felt good. 

I’m going to share the ways that I put my own f*cking oxygen mask on, but I also want to encourage you to get curious. Your life dynamic might look really different from mine. The things that make you feel good get to be unique to you, and that is where this gets to be fun!

 1) Plan ahead. 

I’m a spur of the moment kind of gal, I love to be kept on my toes but that doesn’t always support my wellbeing. I’ve learned that in order to be a wizard with my time, I need to plan my life and business ahead as far as possible. 

Some tools that I use to do this are my Google Calendar and Trello. I create recurring events for anything I can predict in advance and I make a year-ahead board in Trello to mark down things like school vacations, holidays etc. 

2) Leave room for changes. 

Just because you have a plan, doesn’t mean life always goes as planned. Cars break down, kids get sick, life happens unexpectedly sometimes. 

If you want to be able to ride the waves you must get into the mindset that sometimes shit just goes wrong, and that is okay. This isn’t about being perfect, it’s about keeping your shit together for the long-term. 

Start planning for the unexpected. Get AAA, have a babysitter on call, make a list of your support system. Knowing what to do when something goes awry is going to set you up for the unplanned. 

 3) Get your priorities straight.

This goes hand in hand with planning and gets easier with practice. Before I had my son I always went about life a little bit willy-nilly. We moved a lot, I jumped from job to job, meals were never planned…life was a bit scattered. 

What happens if we don’t set an intention? Life just sort of happens and we’re left wondering where the hell time went and how we got here. If you want to feel good in your day to day, and look back feeling a sense of fulfillment? 

Be intentional. 

Sit down and prioritize. Set your budget, consider how much time you are spending on what & where, look at the things you want to accomplish. This will help you reverse engineer your plans. 

When we prioritize what really matters to us (psst, self care should be on that list) we’re able to fulfill all of our needs. 

 

4) Ask for support. 

In everything we do it’s essential to have support. After learning this the hard way in business, and spending the first year of motherhood feeling really freaking lonely I can tell you that support is crucial. 

As you’re setting your priorities and wondering “how the hell am I going to do all of this?!” I want you to start looking at what you can take OFF your plate. 

Getting support doesn’t make you less-than or unworthy. It doesn’t make you a bad mom/wife/sister/friend. 

Trust me when I tell you that everyone will benefit when your cup is full and you have the space to breathe. Asking for support can look really different for all of us, but know that it’s okay to do so. 

 

5) Have fun, damn it! 

Life isn’t meant to be so serious all of the time. We are here to play, to explore, to be lit up and joyful. As you start thinking about putting your own f*cking oxygen mask on, think about what you can do that will feel fun and nourishing for you. 

Go make a list of all of the things you aspire to do and plug these in, bit by bit, into your priorities and schedule. 

Remember, you deserve to be flourishing in all areas of your life. Putting your own f*cking oxygen mask on is setting an example for future generations. I encourage you to share how you are taking action on this! We are stronger together, so let’s cheer each other on! 

Tag @calandra.martin and @mommyrebellion in your IG stories and share with us – what do you do to keep the tiny humans alive and care for yourself FIRST?

Calandra is a branding coach, designer and social media strategist helping female entrepreneurs stand out in the online space. She is the founder of Confident Creative Co. and the host of the Magnetic Boss Podcast. 

She is passionate about helping women cultivate unique businesses that infuse fun and personality into everything they do. She teaches entrepreneurs that growing a business doesn’t have to feel hard, cookie cutter, or forced.

Visit calandramartin.com to learn more and get connected. Follow Calandra on Facebook @calandramartin and Instagram @calandra.martin and subscribe to The Magnetic Boss Podcast on iTunes!

When I’m posting on social media, I often call my 15-year-old son “grumpalescent.” And it’s not because he’s horrible. I’ve actually gotten off the adolescent hook. He does his homework without nagging. He can cook food for himself. He is always where he’s supposed to be. He makes sure my spouse and I are on our game with what he needs in school. He gets really good grades. He still plays the piano. He excels at track (yep, the medals and ribbons are all his!). I like his friends. But he rarely speaks. When he’s finished his homework, he plays video games. Loudly. And late. I have to nag him to play the piano. He generally doesn’t want to leave home. To do anything. There’s no more snuggling close to my little. Because he’s not little. He’s about an inch shorter than me (I’m 5’10”). 😱 And then there are these moments where I must savor my time with him . . . he’s off to college in two years, but who’s counting. His school goes on an annual ski trip and this is one of the best things for him. It happens between the two terms. They pack up a couple of buses and head to Stowe, Vermont.  He realized that he needed to pack. He quietly walked up to me and said “Mommy, could you help me pack?” My answer, OF COURSE!!!! You want me to spend time with you? For ANY purpose? ABSOLUTELY!! We sorted out and found all of the things he needed for his trip. And then we got to the toiletries.  He didn’t like the Lush deodorant I gave to him, so I wrote down the deodorant he really likes. He needed toothpaste. He needed a travel toothbrush. And he asked me to go get it for him.  And I got it for him.  The following day, he asked me to bring him to school and drop him off for the trip. I dropped him off in front of the bus. The waterworks were trying to start. This is the fourth year we’ve done this and it’s still really hard to say goodbye to him. I told him I’m grabbing a hug. He reluctantly agreed. I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself when he goes to college. I thought my heart was being ripped in half having him leave for a 3-day skiing trip. AN ENTIRE SEMESTER?!?! This year, we’re going to start looking at colleges. I’m going to show him what different kinds of schools look like. We’re not visiting Harvard (I don’t think . . . that’s up to him). We are going to look at schools that will have solid track programs. Perhaps he’ll look at business or economics programs. That’s up to him. Because given what he’s done, he could probably go anywhere. And I’d be totally fine with him attending a school right here in NYC, so I don’t have to sob when he leaves.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Michelle Dionne Thompson, Ph.D., JD is the Founder and CEO of Michelle Dionne Thompson Coaching and Consulting, a primarily coaching business that works with women in law and academia to set and meet aligned goals sanely in the midst of insane industries. A recovering lawyer and a historian, she also teaches college and is writing her first book, Jamaica’s Accompong Maroons (1838 – 1905): Retooled Resistance for Continued Existence.  

 

  The Connected Chef works with families to use food as a way to connect with one another. Our children’s gardening and cooking classes and individual family programs both allow us to work with clients to problem solve the struggles of parenthood and food. The results: Kids who feel empowered to make independent & healthy food choices and develop a natural respect for their environment and community; Parents who are able to take a breath and connect with their kids instead of engaging in the ever-present struggle of mealtime. Join our community and stay connected by following us on Facebook and Instagram.      

Today as I write this I am 38 weeks pregnant exactly.  And I have already had the midwives to my house twice, thinking this little soul was going to make her appearance earth side.

I am not someone quick to cry wolf.  I have been in labor 4 times before so I do know what it feels like and my body has done it before.  And both of these occasions were organized.

I wasn’t just having random contractions.  They were coming less than 5 minutes apart and were increasing in intensity.  My main midwife is an hour and 15 minutes away from my house. Back up midwives are just under a half-hour away and my friend the RN who caught my last baby with my husband is about 20 minutes away.  So some of this is trying to predict and have midwives here in time to actually catch the baby because my hubby really doesn’t want to be the one who catches her.

My first session of early labor (I hate the concept of false labor because even if it doesn’t result in the baby yet, it is still hard work and changes are still happening down there) was on New Year’s Day when this small one was just a day shy of 37 weeks.

We didn’t even have any clean newborn clothes because we had been having washer issues and I was waiting until we could have a hot water wash for her clothes.  Needless to say, we started a load of baby clothes washing that morning when the contractions picked up. I ended up puking a lot and that eventually stopped the contractions after like six hours or something.  The midwives decided I had probably picked up a short tummy flu going around and that all the puking had triggered the contractions in the first place.  

I was so miserable though.  I had pulled a muscle in my side from all the puking and had to use a heating pad for hours to get it to feel better.  I had felt like I had been sitting on my baby’s head all the day before and could not find a comfortable position. So while everyone else was making New Year’s plans and how 2020 was going to be different, I was contracting, puking or stuck in bed in pain trying to sleep.  Which wasn’t exactly how I was hoping to start the New Year, but honestly it’s just another day.

5 days later on a Sunday, the small one started having more than Braxton Hicks contractions again.  Especially if I was moving around. They started around 11:30 but we had friends coming over so I pretty much ignored them (because if you can ignore the contractions than the baby isn’t imminent in my experience).  However, after our friends left and I was walking around the contractions picked up and got as close to 2-3 minutes apart. Sitting down and holding still wasn’t comfortable and I did a lot of walking and then later having wide leg standing in my bedroom because the contractions had gotten intense enough that I could no longer walk and sometimes talk through them.  The midwife came again but after a couple of hours, the contractions backed off again and went to bed.

This is hubby’s first full week back at work since the holidays and it is weird having him 40 minutes away.  Baby continues to often give me Braxton Hicks when I am walking around the house, and it took about three days for my calves not to hurt every time I used them thanks to my activities Sunday night.

My almost 8-year-old is having trouble waiting for her sister to come.  She really wants to meet her and I tried to have a conversation with her yesterday about not asking me every two hours if the baby is on her way yet.  I know how hard it is to wait, I am waiting too. It’s like Christmas when you don’t know when that date will be and each day gets you closer but you don’t know where the finish line is either.

I didn’t expect to be here this soon.  My last three girls have come after their calendar due date, my third was 12 days after and my 4th was five.  So I am not expecting this one to be early. Having all these practice sessions are annoying. And exhausting, and silly me, I thought I would still have a little more energy while I am waiting for her to make up her mind.  

Just about everything is ready.  My girlfriends came over yesterday and helped me tidy up the baby stuff and get it all organized and ready for her.  Most of the laundry has happened and it’s just diapers that need to get washed and the cover over her car seat. I am so very tired though.  Some nights I get decent sleep and then I go for days with so much broken sleep that each day feels like a year because it is so broken up. Hubby has a colleague at work that asks him every day “What no baby yet?” even though I am not even at my due date yet.  I try to post something on Instagram every day so people know she’s not here yet, but some days I am too tired even for that.

I don’t choose the day my baby comes.  She gets to decide. It will be sometime in the next month.  It might be today, this week, next weekend. Who knows. I really hope the next time she gives me organized contractions she is ready to come out and meet the world.  We are certainly ready to meet her and her sisters are so excited to see who she is. I am excited to get past labor and move on to recovery. Right now so much of life seems to be on hold with bated breath.  Not that the world situation is helping with that feeling either. Hopefully, we will be welcoming her earthside soon. In the meantime, I am reading, crafting when I can, hanging with my girls and just trying to get through each day the best I can.  

I always feel at this stage like I am waiting until the end of the story.  I just want to know the ending because it will be a great story. But in the meantime, I just get to turn each boring page as I wait.

 

Mommy Rebellion is going on a holiday break.  We won’t have any new posts on the blog until January and at that point, I will mainly be on maternity leave.  I will have a few posts as I feel called to write them as well as each month’s themed post but otherwise, you can look forward to my lovely contributors who I have lined up for February, March, and April. 

 

In the meantime, check out one of my previous blogs, Elving,  and I hope you have a wonderful Merry Season. 

 

If you haven’t followed me on Instagram yet, you should if you want more day to day updates and the first glimpses of our new one.

 

 

 

As I write this I am almost 34 weeks pregnant with my fifth child.  So yes I look huge. And yes, my belly is already cantilevered over my feet which I haven’t seen while standing up in months.  I don’t expect anyone outside of my midwife and husband to keep track of how far along I am. So I don’t mind people asking. What I mind is when they don’t believe me that I am ONLY 3x weeks along.  As though I would lie about this. I also don’t appreciate being told that the end of the pregnancy will fly and she will be here before I know it.

My last 3 pregnancies have ended after their “due date”.  My third daughter coming a full 12 days after her due date and my 4th about 5 days.  So I am not expecting to have her by January 23rd. Which is still over a month away.  And as I get bigger and currently am dealing with the lovely cold my children gave me, telling me she will be here before I know it isn’t helpful.  It actually makes me think of violence. And this isn’t coming from women who have never had children. I am pretty sure I never say this to pregnant women because I know how unhelpful it is.  Especially if you have a history of late children.

There is a 5 week window for safe delivery, which is more than a month. 5 weeks of knowing that labor can start at any time but at the same time you have to live your life (especially if you have other children to look after in your life).  I still need things to keep me occupied, craft projects, audiobooks and books in general. I still have to get through each day until she comes. I am still the parent at home most of the time. And while I don’t want to travel too far from home once I am in that window (because I have had two very fast labors including the last one being under 2 hours) I will still have to get out of the house from time to time and see friends.  

But while I will breathe a sigh of relief when I hit the safe zone I know that it could still be many weeks before I get to greet this little one earth side.  I don’t want her to come before she is ready. I want her to have good lungs, be a good size and be ready to join us. Healthy, that is always what I am working toward with my small ones.

So the next time you see a pregnant lady, no matter how far along she is, please don’t tell her it will be over soon.  Not unless she asks you too. Because time slows when you are pregnant and babies come when they come. And due dates are just estimates.  We are all individuals and we are growing individuals and they come at their own times.

 

Read more of my parenting rants in my Mommy Rebellion Book; Brutal Honesty About Motherhood and Other Sh*it We Pretend to Love. 

August is always a hard month for me and it wasn’t until recently that I put together the pieces of the puzzle.

August brought us the start of school, the last vestiges of summer fun and a change in our carefree summer routines. Some of us look forward to the routine and structure of school and activities and a modicum of space and time to reconnect with ourselves. Change is never easy and transitions tend to touch the emotion around past experiences, good and unpleasant that may have impacted us in different ways.

Some transitions are harder than others, as with death, divorce and trauma, but all life changes, happy or sad, create some level of upheaval, excitement, sadness, grief or joy. And what we do with these emotions and the many and varied ways in which we cope, matter more than ever. So take a deep breath and think about this notion as we race into fall and the rapidly approaching holiday season.

Coming back to August though…… August was the month I left my home in India and travelled to US to study at an American university many moons ago. And interestingly I also gave birth to my first born in August almost two decades ago, and discovered very recently that her birth date coincided with the very first day I stepped foot onto American soil 33 years ago.  

I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to figure that out but something clicked today, and I went back to my old passport to check the immigration stamp, and sure enough, there it was, a bold pink stamp on the second page of my passport, August 10, 1986. Coincidence??

That stamp signified a radical life change for me, and one that has taken decades to sort through. Its impact has been deep, lasting and has affected my identity, sense of belonging and at my very core, my roots.  It continues to affect decisions I make on a daily basis, though its effect has softened through the many years of soul searching and healing.

No doubt each and every one of us faces multiple transitions in life from the moment we are birthed into this world, until we transition out. Life brings us these changes big and small, every step of the way, and the manner in which we respond to them affects our ability to survive, thrive and succeed.

I know I tend to shut down, get irritable, quick to anger, and get a little clogged up when in the midst of these, and of course, I tend to procrastinate a whole lot. Some years, I don’t even really have any big change or transition facing me, and yet, these old emotions, patterns and experiences are so imbedded in my psyche, my emotional brain and in my body that I still experience a grief and sadness that I don’t often understand while in its midst.

August is that month for me, every single year!!

And how interesting that the very month I chose (unconsciously thought it may have been) to launch my long awaited, integrated website for my varied businesses, was none other than August! Are you sensing a theme here?

I can tell you that bringing a long held vision into reality is both exciting and terrifying and while I’ve worked hard to bring it to fruition, I worked equally hard at delaying the inevitable for as long as possible! I’m a little scared, a little worried that it will be a major flop, and perhaps equally worried that it will be a big success.

Normal, natural emotions I know, but sometimes hard to identify and articulate.   Big life changes can often strip us of a sense of the familiar and of what keeps us in emotional equilibrium and control of our lives. It can leave us feeling raw, vulnerable and sometimes confused. Making sense of these emotions and all the practicalities of the change can be difficult without support, guidance and context.

As I grapple with the smaller transition of  Mood Indigo Living from the kernel of an idea to her birthing, the fact that my youngest child is now a senior in high school and will be flying the coop soon is looming large and I find myself trying not to think about it. This will be my last Halloween with my son and every holiday that approaches will feel different. I will be an empty nester soon! There, I said it!! I think I was invited to write about the season of change as it applies to the holidays but that may need to wait until we explore this notion of patterns of change and its influence on us. I’d really love to hear about YOUR life transitions big and small. Whether your simply starting a new job, moving to a new city, ending relationships, starting new ones or dealing with the loss of someone near and dear to you, or dealing with some very real trauma, I’d love to hear from you.

•  What has it been like for you?
• How are you coping?
• Are you even aware of what a big impact this life transition has had on you?
• How has it affected you?
• In what aspect of your life have you experienced some level of stress or anxiety as a result of this transition?
• How has change affected your holidays and your kids?

I really want to keep talking about this, so please reach out and email me or join our MIL Community and share. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Réa Wright, LPC, is a psychotherapist, personal coach, mother, and founder of Mood Indigo Soaps, an all natural, eco-friendly skin and body-care micro-business that began in her kitchen in 2005.

 Réa has been described as a “Soul Healer, Empowerment Coach,” and “Soap Witch” and brings a tremendous depth, creativity, and momentum to her work that is both unique, and transformational. She believes that we are on the cusp of a healing change in the world, led by everyday women, as we face our deepest fears and reclaim our innate feminine wisdom and power.

As a global citizen and psychotherapist (for over 25 years) Réa brings a unique perspective to the struggles women face around identity, belonging, displacement, potential, and a sense of Self.  She masterfully supports women to tap into their creativity, their brilliance, and the resources to create the lives they truly desire.

She is also a Soap-Nut, who loves staying up into the wee hours of the morning stirring a cauldron of hot soap, while blasting bad eighties pop. Réa says, “Making soap allows me to connect with my creativity and provides a wonderful outlet for my limited artistic abilities! It gives me the opportunity to engage with an incredible community of people who support my vision of healing from the inside, out! ” 

Réa offers powerful groups and Retreat programs, both online and in-person. As of 2019, she has begun offering stand alone Retreats in addition to those she offers via her group programs, and is in the process of a developing a small international retreat to India in 2021. 

Joyful, Vibrant, Healthy and Conscious Living from the inside out, is a theme that anchors all Réa’s work. 

Connect with her by checking out her website – https://www.moodindigoliving.com – and on Facebook and Instagram