Maybe your mom doesn't seem to want time with your kids, or your in-laws would help but live too far away, or every visit comes with a comment about your family size or how you parent.

Maybe you've watched a friend's mom swoop in after a new baby to cook and clean and hold everything together, and felt the sting of not having that. I've been doing this parenting thing mostly without family help too, so I'm walking you through the two kinds of work that bring me back to peace: sitting with Jesus, and the coaching side of clear requests, quiet boundaries, and catching my mind when it starts to spiral.

WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why someone can disagree with your parenting (or your family size) and still deeply love you, and why it feels so threatening anyway
• Park bench Jesus: telling the Lord how unfair it all is while looking at His wounds, and watching the hurt lose its hold
• How to make a clean request, and why a yes with a little annoyance mixed in still counts as love
• Quiet boundaries you never have to announce, for the "well, you chose this" comments and for family who want more access than you can give
• The deal I made with myself for when I catch myself ruminating (my brain always picks the Wedding at Cana)
• Giving equal airtime to what's wonderful about your parents and in-laws, including the hard parts that made you who you are

EPISODE TIMELINE:

• [00:00] – Why we read family approval as proof of love
• [04:00] – The mom who doesn't want to watch the kids, and the superhero grandma down the street
• [07:00] – Park bench Jesus, His wounds, and hugging your family in heaven
• [11:00] – The theological work, the coaching work, and "let your yes be yes"
• [15:00] – Boundaries for "you chose this" and for family who show up unannounced
• [19:00] – Feeling the grief, accepting your cards, and the rosary deal for rumination
• [22:00] – What's amazing about them, and the love you're really chasing

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Catholic Mom Calm: https://catholicmomcalm.com
• Diary of St. Faustina: https://amzn.to/4iylkLq

You took the bath, went for the walk, said the prayer... and you still feel depleted. Sterling Jaquith explains why: when you trash-talk yourself all day, every bit of self-care pours into a cup full of holes. Plus the day a new friend saw her unfinished basement, and she chose not to poke a single hole.

WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why being mean to yourself all day drains you emotionally and physically
• Needle holes and pencil holes: the small digs vs. the big attacks on your vocation
• Metallica in a Renaissance museum: a beautiful life with a terrible soundtrack
• What Sterling did when a friend saw her concrete-floored basement

EPISODE TIMELINE:

[00:00] Why your self-care isn't working
[02:30] The soundtrack of a mom's morning
[05:00] The red cup and the holes
[08:00] Metallica in the museum
[10:00] The friend who saw the basement
[14:00] The Advent planning workshop

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com

Mother Teresa wore whatever shoes were left until her feet were deformed, and Catholic moms often share that story like it's a calling for all of us. Sterling Jaquith, Rita Johnson (Health and Hormones) and Denise Jelinek (Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit) talk honestly about why caring for yourself isn't vanity, why your kids are watching how you do it, and how it can become a form of worship.

WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why we put off self-care: choosing habits from woundedness instead of praying about them, and believing lies like "I don't have time"
• Authentic self-care: knowing your needs, meeting them, and how you talk to yourself
• Mother Teresa's shoes and a dorm-room mattress: why another woman's calling isn't yours
• Your kids are a mirror, and how caring for yourself honors the God who made you

EPISODE TIMELINE:

[00:00] About the Back on Track workshop
[02:00] Meet Rita, Sterling and Denise (and the one self-care habit each of us struggles with)
[10:00] Why we keep putting it off: discernment and lies
[15:00] Authentic self-care and the "either/or" lie
[20:00] Mother Teresa's shoes, sacrifice vs. self-neglect, and comparison
[28:00] Self-care as worship, and what we hope you take away

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Back on Track workshop with Rita, Sterling and Denise (3 days, $39, recordings available if you join late): https://healthandhormones.org/back-on-track/