We live in a culture that celebrates and almost idolises mothers who appear to do it all and have it all together. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle - we do more and more and are praised for doing so, so we continue to do more and more because that praise and recognition feels good.

But this is often an appearance and frequently masks burnout and exhaustion.

In episode 7, Layla O’Mara shares her experience of being Supermum and the effect it had on her.

Listen as Layla shares

• The starkly contrasting experiences of the postpartum periods of her first two children in Germany with her third in Ireland
• How searching for answers about postpartum care led her to training as a doula and the healing that came from that
• How diving deeper into learning and understanding about motherhood concepts and matrescence was a game changer for her to understanding her own mothering experiences and how the societal expectations contributed to her own burnout and overwhelm.

We end the conversation with Layla describing how she is letting go of all of the baggage that she picked up along the way on the expectations of motherhood and how she is now softening and slowing down.

I hope this episode highlights the damaging conditioning around modern motherhood which makes us strive to do more and be more at the expense of our well-being. Being aware of it is the first step in healing from it and rejecting those parts that do not serve you.

Find Layla online:

Layla is a Motherhood and Matrescence guide and also works as a 5 Element acupuncturist from her home in Wicklow, Ireland. Find her below:

Instagram: @nuanuaonline
Facebook: @nuanua

Website: www.nuanuaonline.com

Resources

The Heroin's Journey by Maureen Murdoch

GET GROUNDED

Learning to connect to myself was one of the most important parts of discovering who I was and what I really wanted when I became a mother - and it still is. We grew up giving away our power - looking for answers externally when we had them inside all along. Realising this was profound for me. But it took practice - over and over.

Getting still.

Listening.

Connecting.

Acting on the whispers and nudges, building trust with ourselves. I’ve created a free 5 minute audio for you, called Get Grounded, to download so you can start today.

It’s available to download here:

https://www.mothershood.co.uk/get-grounded

Come and find me here:

Instagram: @mothers.hood
Facebook: @mothershoodtribe

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-murrell-03966132/