Thrive Like a Mother Podcast
I'm Ebony and I'm a mama to 3 beautiful souls. I'm learning how navigate my trauma healing while building the life I never dreamed was possible. I'm a survivor of childhood abuse and for the longest time, I believed that if anyone knew my story, I wouldn't be worthy of love. Many years later and now I know that it far from the truth.
On the Thrive Like a Mother podcast, I'll share the resources and tools I use on the daily to cultivate a healthy mindset break the wheel of survival. Here we're about honesty and transparency. Because at the root of it all, my purpose in creating this podcast is so that you know you are never alone in your journey.
There may be laughter, there may be tears and we'll do it all by linking arms and learning to thrive together.
Thrive Like a Mother Podcast
That bus wasn't yours to catch (and why that's a good thing)
Divine timing is a powerful force guiding us through life's journey, even when—especially when—doors seem to close in our faces. What appears as rejection might actually be protection, steering us away from paths not meant for us and toward opportunities perfectly aligned with our purpose.
Today's episode explores my personal journey of transformation that began with a seemingly small rejection. After not being selected to speak on a panel I desperately wanted to join, I discovered something surprising. That "no" ignited a fire within me that birthed the Thrive Like a Mother podcast. I wasn't ready yet. I hadn't found my authentic voice. I was still hiding parts of my story I thought were too dark to share.
As Kerry Washington wisely noted, "If you miss the bus, it wasn't your bus to catch." This revelation changed everything for me. Through seasons of intense hustle, an intentional slowdown during my 3rd pregnancy, and now returning to purpose with renewed clarity, I've learned to trust the process and the timing. Things really do unfold as they should when we learn to listen for guidance instead of frantically knocking on every door.
Are you currently running without direction, feeling lost in the forest of possibilities? Or perhaps you're locked in, sprinting confidently toward the door you know is yours? Wherever you are in your journey, remember that the opportunities truly meant for you won't leave without you.
Your bus is waiting for you to get crystal clear on your purpose. Take the pauses you need, embrace the rejections as redirections, and trust that you are exactly where you need to be right now. Share your "bus stories" in the DMs or tag me in your stories—I'd love to hear how divine timing has worked in your life.
Thank you so much for listening in! If anything in this episode resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend or on social media.
And don't forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me get the word out.
Follow and chat with me on Instagram:
Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast
Personal account - @thrive.empowered
Sending you light and love always!
Hey, love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a Mother On this podcast. We're scared for our truth, but that fear is what fuels us to truly live in it. You're in the right place if you feel like you're stuck in survivor mode and you're ready to step into who you were truly meant to be. I'll share resources and tools I use daily to help you in your journey towards a healthier mindset and to break the wheel of survival. The journey may not be easy, but you won't have to face it alone. I'm a mama of three, healing day by day from past trauma, and I'm on a mission to build a life I've always dreamed of but never thought was possible. So, love, if you're ready to believe in what's possible, let's link arms and thrive together. Hey, loves, and welcome to another episode of the Thrive Like a Mother podcast. I am so grateful that you're here today, y'all.
Speaker 1:Today's episode, today's episode, is really personal, really personal. First of all, let me give you a quick life update If you've been here for a while. Henry, my youngest, has been at home with us since he's been born and just recently he started daycare. We started him part time and this week, y'all, he has started daycare full time going into daycare. And when I tell you that I felt the instant shift from the focus really being him and really soaking in this first year with him, to, okay, now the focus is me pouring back into Thrive, empowered into Thrive Like a Mother, into my business, into all of my purpose, really jumping in all feet in. And so today's episode it's all about divine timing, it's about your purpose, it's about what happens when you keep showing up, even when the door does not open right away, even when you can't necessarily open that door right away because you want to slow down. And so get cozy, you know, get your favorite drink out, get your blanket out and let's, let's have a chat.
Speaker 1:Um, I was scrolling Instagram a few years back and it was after an event that I had been at, where I was speaking on stage at a panel and the um, the. It was Kerry Washington. I absolutely love her as an actress, by the way, just in general. But she was talking in an analogy and she was talking about how, if you are praying that you catch your bus and you see the bus and you miss it, then that means that it wasn't your bus. And y'all, when I tell you it that hit me straight to the core, because there have been so many points, I think, in my life where I have watched other people show up in different ways or do major things and I would be like, hmm, why not me? Let's talk about this particular instance where it hit me the most, because it happened after, like I said, at an event that I had spoken on stage at. Wow, you know, a 20 year old, 18 year old me would have never imagined in a million years that I would be on that stage. But just last year I had submitted an application to be on that stage and on that panel, but it wasn't my bus to catch yet, it wasn't my turn, and I left the event feeling the very first event, the one where I didn't make it onto the panel. I left that event feeling this fire that I hadn't felt before and that's where Thrive, like a Mother, was born y'all.
Speaker 1:From that moment, I started to share my story in a different way, I started to show up differently, and so I saw myself as, wow, that really, really wasn't my bus, because I wasn't ready, I wasn't there just yet. In fact, I think, when I submitted my application I don't even remember, like what I submitted the topic on. But I can remember knowing and feeling like, yes, that was good, but is it the core of you? Did you just share your heart in the application? And I hadn't. I hadn't because I wasn't ready yet. I was still hiding everything, some very parts of me that I thought were dark and needed to be hidden, needed to not be seen. And so sometimes, sometimes, when you miss the bus, it's not because you're not fast enough or you're not moving fast enough or you're not taking steps fast enough. It's really because it really is not your bus. God is telling you not yet it's coming, it's coming. That one was not the one for you.
Speaker 1:And when I tell y'all like Thrive, like a Mother was born from that very first event where you know, I felt a little bit sad that, you know, I didn't make it on the panel, but it was because I needed to really sit in that audience and soak all of it in. I wasn't yet ready to speak. My message to those women and the way that I needed to speak it, it was a ripple effect. It was a ripple effect. And from there I have now not only been on that stage, I've spoken on another stage now, just this past February, and again, never in a million years what I have thought that I could do this before that catalyst moment, before that ripple started. And so I want to talk about some things that that moment sparked in me, because sometimes you are man. Why did that not go right for me? Why didn't I, why couldn't I make that happen? Why did the door not open for me?
Speaker 1:There might be three things that you are still needing. Before that door opens, y'all, let me tell you I keep talking about it. Leaving that initial event, I had passion, I had clarity and I had finally the drive to start building the community that was within me to build, and I had within me the strength that I needed to actually share my story. And so sometimes a no might just be the word you need to start actually moving in the right direction. Sometimes a no is what you need to start living in authenticity. Sometimes the no is God telling you you are not on the right path for your purpose. Find the alignment. It's there. He always has it there for you. You just have to search. You might not even be at the right door. That could also be a case. The different stages I've been in y'all. And I'm not even talking about the stage of speaking on stage. I mean the stages, the seasons of life that I've been since that pivotal moment of being told no and still pushing forward, knowing that there was still the path out there for me, knowing that the alignment that I needed to be on was there.
Speaker 1:There were me going full hustle mode. Hustle hustle mode, especially when I first released this podcast. It was just me, just like let's go episode every week, let's try new things, let's do it, let's go, let's let's get it going. And then I started to burn out and so I slowed down. I slowed down. I made a very conscious choice to slow down.
Speaker 1:I took the summer off and then I found out that I was pregnant. I found out I was pregnant with my tiniest little baby boy, henry, and I realized in that moment that the hustle had to stop. There was no longer any space for the hustle. There was now time that I needed to focus on rest and creating this little human life that is now on this earth. And so I did that. And in those moments you hear me talk about this in some episodes you know how me being in that season intentionally caused me to have so much reflection in what really is my purpose.
Speaker 1:What do I want? Looking for the clarity, looking for the alignment and asking God like, where do you need me to be? Where exactly do I need to go? Because right now I'm paused and I'm a little bit, you know, confused, especially coming out of a season where I was burnt out and trying to understand where am I taking this podcast? What message do I need to share with my community? What resources do I need to generate for them? If you know a little bit about human design, I am in the category of generator, and so that means that I create based off of the need, and so what I really needed to do y'all was stop and listen, and God did that for me. God was like, hey, this is the perfect time for you to pause and listen within, listen to him, listen to the steps that I need to take, steps that I need to take and the order that I need to take them in.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, in the very early seasons of creating this community, it felt like I was like running at top speed, top, top speed, and I needed that slowdown. I needed it, and when I got that slowdown. When I got that slowdown, when I got that clarity, I got the passion again. I got the time to actually sit just with myself. Guess what happened? Guess what happened? I applied to be on another stage and again I thought, hmm, I'm gonna this, I'm coming to it from a different place this time, and if it happens, then that means it was meant for me, that means this door, this moment, was for me. If it doesn't, that means I need to do some more, just listening within, listening within.
Speaker 1:And so I share this with y'all, because sometimes it takes breaks. It takes breaks to truly understand your purpose, and once you, once you do that, once you take the pause, sometimes after you know maybe something in your life and you know a season that says you need to slow down, or getting that rejection, that no, once you actually take the breaks and you really take time to tune in and understand your purpose, it becomes easier to crush that self doubt that's saying is this for me? Is this door for me? You start showing up to doors, y'all, and you're like this is my door, knock, knock, knock, let's go Right. You start showing up, going up differently, and so I want to share a little bit about how it felt being on that stage. I've shared on my social media. I have not yet shared on the podcast.
Speaker 1:So this this feels a little bit more intimate because I'm talking to you on the other. So this this feels a little bit more intimate because I'm talking to you on the other end, whether you're wearing headphones or listening to me through a speaker. I'm talking to you how it feels to be living in a moment that you once prayed for but didn't really understand that it could happen. Being on this stage this past February, y'all speaking to the women in the audience and building the community, gaining a sisterhood. God, as I was on that stage, spoke to me and said you are exactly where you need to be right now. This, this, right here, is the bus you were supposed to get on, this is the one. And it was just like this quiet confirmation of like yes, this is it, keep going. Like, yes, this is it, keep going. The alignment, the clarity, all of it, just like clicked into place, clicked into place. And so I'm talking to you If you're running and you are clear that you need to be running right now, like I am in that season, right now, right now, like.
Speaker 1:I am in that season right now. Now that Henry um is in daycare most of the week, I am in that running season right now. But we're not running just without any type of direction anymore. We're not running looking for the door. I'm running for the door, I know is there. And if you're in that season right now, love, keep running. If you are locked in, keep going.
Speaker 1:But if you need to pause and you feel like you're running in, like those movies where you know there's this person and they're running in the forest and they don't know the way out, if you feel like that is you right now and you need to take a pause and a moment and take a breath, do that, because guess what? Your bus, the one that you're trying to find and get on, it's not going to leave without you being on it, because what's meant for yours? I really, truly believe that it is yours already. You do not need to worry that it's going to leave, that you're going to miss it, because your bus is yours. So trust in the divine timing. Crush the self-doubt with purpose. Run towards your door, your bus, knowing that you are running in complete alignment with God's purpose for you on this earth. So trust your pace, trust the process. You will catch that bus when it is your bus. It's waiting for you to get crystal clear. So do what you need to do to get there, and I want to in today's episode, but inviting you guys really to share your own bus stories with me.
Speaker 1:Either DM me, tag me in a story or reel anything that you wish. I just I want to hear your bus stories of either not catching the bus and getting clear on wow, that wasn't meant for me. Or knowing that you were in a season where you are running towards the bus and you know that it's your bus. I want to hear all of those amazing stories. I love you, you all Sending you always light and love, and I can't wait to see you on the next episode. Thank you so much for listening. Love. If anything in today's episode resonated with you, share it with your bestie, or share it on social media and tag me so we can chat about it. As always, sending you light and love, and remember you are worthy, you are enough and you deserve to thrive.
