Thrive Like a Mother Podcast
Thrive Like a Mother is a podcast for women who are done with hustle culture and ready to build lives that feel anchored instead of rushed.
Hosted by Ebony Fleming, this show blends motherhood, nervous system awareness, food as nourishment, faith, and intentional living to help women thrive physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Each episode offers grounded conversations and practical tools to help you:
- Regulate your nervous system
- Create sustainable rhythms at home
- Strengthen your relationship with food and rest
- Build real-life connection and community
You’re in the right place if you’re craving slower mornings, deeper conversations, and a life that supports your body instead of draining it.
Thrive Like a Mother Podcast
She Found Peace: Thriving Through Medical Motherhood, Guilt and Uncertainty with Onesa Anozie
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Motherhood can feel especially heavy when life is unpredictable and you’re carrying more than most people can see.
In today’s episode, Ebony sits down with Onesa Anozie (social worker, medical mother coach, author of She Found Peace, and mom of three) for a deeply honest conversation about what it means to keep going through uncertainty, release mom guilt, and redefine thriving in hard seasons.
Onesa shares her lived experience navigating long-term hospitalization and a kidney transplant journey with one of her twin boys. She offers practical, compassionate tools for self-compassion, resilience, and emotional regulation especially when you feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, or alone.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Holding grief and gratitude at the same time
- Redefining thriving beyond perfection or performance
- Self-compassion practices that strengthen resilience
- How community support can help you feel less alone
- Small, gentle steps to care for yourself when you’re depleted
🌿 Stay until the end for your Place to Land; a grounding reflection to help you exhale and carry peace into your week.
Connect with Onesa:
Instagram: @shefoundpeace & @onesaanozie
Websites: onesaanozie.com & shefoundpeace.com
Book: She Found Peace (available on Amazon)
Stay up to date on in-person events in Atlanta, GA:
Thrive Empowered in-person events
Free Resources:
Follow and chat with me on Instagram:
@thrivelikeamother.podcast
@thrive.empowered
Sending you light and love always!
Opening Reflections On Purpose
SPEAKER_03I'll be very honest, I didn't really want to find purpose in that. Sometimes, as we know, things come to us and it's not maybe something we planned. And so for me, there was this deep longing in my heart of, gosh, I've been through so much. This was very challenging. I spent nine months in the hospital with my son. And I'm like, why? This is a long time. Nine months in the hospital, it's a long amount of time. What is the point of it? What is the purpose? Hey, love.
SPEAKER_04I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a Mother. On this podcast, we're scared for our food, but that for you is what feels you're in the right place. If you feel like a stuff is a right, you're right. I feel like we're after my point of that. I never thought if you're ready to believe in what's possible, let's link arms and thrive together.
SPEAKER_05Alright, well, hey,
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_05y'all. Welcome to another episode of the Thrive Like a Mother podcast. And as you see, we have a very special guest on with us today. Her name is Anita Ananzi. And this show today, y'all, this is for the mamas, specifically the ones who keep showing up every single day, even when each day starts to feel heavier and heavier. And when you feel like things just feel like uncertain and things are just not happening as you thought they would be happening, right? Plans go awry. So my guest today, Anisa, I'm so excited. She's a social worker, y'all. Um, she's an author, she's a speaker, she's a medical mother coach. We're gonna get into what that means, and she is a mama of three. Um, and then one of Anita's twin boys, he faced some difficult challenges when he was hospitalized for a long period of time. Had to undergo a kidney transplant. So her journey is one that truly teaches us honestly what it means to keep going in the face of uncertainty, in the face where you don't necessarily have control over what's happening. And it truly her story is gonna teach us like what it means to thrive, not from a place of perfection or performance, but truly, truly thrive. And so my prayer as you listen to today's episode. I hope that it just reminds you that you're not failing if you're in one of those tough seasons that you are enduring. So let's get started. Anita, welcome. Thank you. Yes, I'm so excited to have you here. Um, and I want to jump kind
Season Of Integration And Healing
SPEAKER_05of right in, right? We have a lot to unpack. But when I asked you just about what your current season of life was, you said that it was one of deep integration. Um, where healing and purpose and motherhood, they all just intertwine. And so what what does that look like for you day to day? What does that mean?
SPEAKER_03Oh, you start off with a deep one. So for me, this is a different season. I believe that life is a journey and it's filled with all different types of seasons. And so we have, you know, had my single season where life was all about me. Then I got married, and it was about me and my partner, and you know, now it's season of children, and it's been a very different season. And so I've had to heal from a lot. And through, you know, what you mentioned, everything that I've gone through with my son, he had his own healing journey, and that was very much about his healing and him overcoming these kidney challenges and being in renal failure. But that led to my own healing and me needing to discover what healing looks like for me, and then finding purpose in that. And so I'll be very honest, I didn't really want to find purpose in that. Sometimes, as we know, things come to us and it's not maybe something we planned. And so for me, there was this deep longing in my heart of gosh, I've been through so much. This was very challenging. I spent nine months in the hospital with my son. And I'm like, why? This is a long time. Nine months in the hospital. It's a long amount of time. What is the point of it? What is the purpose?
Finding Purpose In Medical Motherhood
SPEAKER_03And so as we're going along this journey with my son's health, I just had this pull on my heart that I wanted to give back. I'm like, gosh, I know how hard it is. One, to be a mom, and then to be a mom with to be a mom to have a child who has medical challenges. I want to be able to support that mother. I want to be able to give any nuggets of wisdom and knowledge that I have so that they can thrive and be able to overcome as well. And so this season has been diving into that. And so, like I said, it kind of came to me where I didn't necessarily want this to be my purpose to focus on medical motherhood, but it's my story. And the reality is that you can't change your story. Your story and what you've been through is what you've been through. You can't, you can't say, Oh, I want to have a different story, I want to change it. And so I had to settle into that reality of this is the path that I'm on, this is what happened to me. And I felt this longing in my heart from God, like, hey, share the story, tell the story. And so that's where I've kind of rolled in a lot of my motherhood into sort of this purpose of giving back and supporting and coaching other moms who've been through the same thing that I've been through. So right now, when you sit in my day-to-day, my day-to-day is one showing up and saying, How can I one love on myself and allow me to be the mother that I need to be for my children, for my husband, be what I need to be for, you know, as a wife, but then also how can I give to this medical motherhood community and other mothers as well. And so honestly, I'm on a journey that's kind of day day by day. This is a season that looks so different, but I found purpose and really supporting these other mothers and wanting to be a voice. You get one life, you get one story, and why have a closed mouth and not share that story? Although I don't believe everyone has to share their story, but if you feel that deep longing in your heart, share it. And so, in me doing that, it's also healing for me. I remember there's days where I'm writing an Instagram post or preparing for a YouTube video, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm feeling this. This is healing for me. Yeah, I needed this as I'm processing and sharing to other mothers.
SPEAKER_05So powerful and so timely. Um, because I know I shared with you when we met that I was going to be sharing my story in a book. And going into that process, you know, when you're in something like what you went through, or even something that I went through, sometimes it can feel so lonely, right? Like, am I the only one going through this? I think, like you said, not everyone has to share their story, but there are people like like you and me who feel that tug and say, No, this story can change or impact someone's life, or just help them see that they're not alone and what they're going through. Um I'm just yeah, I'm just so grateful that you're on this journey. There's so many mothers out there who who need your support, who need to see that there is hope and also just need the tools to feel like how they can be in it, but still be them, still know that there is beauty on the other side, right? Oh gosh, so ooh this is this is a heavy one, but with your son, right? Finding out his diagnosis, finding out that you guys were needing to stay in the hospital for such a long period of time. How were you
Sharing Your Story As Healing
SPEAKER_05able to hold grief and gratitude at the same time?
SPEAKER_03Another great one. So for me, gratitude is so big. I've been practicing gratitude for years now, even before the challenges with my son and before having my daughter. And so I do believe in the power of showing up every day and finding something to be grateful for, right? And it's not a comparison of this person's life is worse than mine, so I should be grateful. It's it's not really that and diminishing, looking down on someone else and sort of having this superior mindset, but it's looking at your life and saying there's something that I can be grateful for. There's some hope, there's some positivity that I can hold on to because it shifts the way that you think, it shifts your mindset, your emotions. And I think there's that reality, but then at the same time, we have to be authentic. And hey, you know what? I really am, there's grief here. And so for me as a mother, I grieved not having the beautiful twin experience that I wanted, that I was, you know, pinning pictures on Pinterest. And I had this whole vision of what being a mom of three would be like and having twins and beautiful black boys and all those different things. And so there's definitely been grief in that. And so holding it is a matter of acknowledging, hey, you know what, this really hurts. This is not what I wanted my life to be like, and I feel the pain of that, but at the same time, I'm so grateful. And for me, I can go down the list. Many people with the diagnosis that I had, sometimes both of the babies don't make it. Both of my children, both of the boys made it, although they're not in the health that I wanted them to be. And hey, they're alive, you know, they're here. There was a moment where the doctor said he was gonna pass away, and we start talking about advanced directives, and so, but no, he's still alive today. And so, although I wanted him to have a different type of healing, he didn't get that, but he got a kidney transplant. And so I think
Grief And Gratitude Together
SPEAKER_03there's yes, holding that grief and not stuffing it down and being authentic in those emotions, right? I'm grieving, this hurts, this is painful, but you know what? There's still another side of it that I can look at that I can that I can be grateful for for what I have. And so that's kind of holding both. It's not denying one and you know, shutting down feelings and all that, but it's saying, hey, there's so much to be grateful for. And that's even how I live my life. Even the last couple of days, you know, I wake up sometimes and I'm not feeling that spark and that energy and that excitement. And I just sit, I'm like, you know what? I'm sitting in a house that's warm. I have food, you know, my children are here. And maybe some things aren't the way that I want them to be, but gosh, I'm so blessed. I'm so much to be grateful for. And so I kind of shift out of it. I'm like, okay, all right, I got a new day. I'm alive. I'm in my right mind. I got my two legs that I'm walking on, I'm in good health. And so, you know, gratitude, it can be over talked about, but also underutilized. I think everyone's like, Yeah, yeah, be grateful. There's so much to it, there's so much power in it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I agree. And then it's just that it's a part of the human experience, right? I love that you share in that way. I'm just like, not shoving those feelings aside. Like those still matter, you're still allowed to feel those, um, to acknowledge them and be like, yeah, those are there. And oh great, goodness. Okay. So um a lot of what you share, especially just in your book, y'all. She sounded he. We're gonna talk about that in a bit. Um but a lot of what you share is definitely centered, centered around redefining what thriving means for you, especially for you know, each individual person, figuring out what that means for you. How has your definition of thriving changed just throughout your journey?
SPEAKER_03Gosh, it has changed so much for me. Anyone who knows me, I'm like, I'm gonna thrive, I'm gonna be the best, I'm gonna be, you know, I'm gonna overcome whatever challenges. And so I'm all about thriving in every season. And I don't feel like you have to be, you know, oppressed or bogged down, whether, you know, you're in motherhood or working full-time. I believe there's a way to thrive. And so, yes, sort of getting hit in my gut with this change in reality and moving from one child to having three kids and the medical challenges, the definition has really changed. And for me, I believe it's very subjective. Thriving for me can mean something that, you know, and thriving is different for you. And so for me, it's about kind of level setting and saying, hey, what season am I in? And evaluating, I've got three children, you know, whether I'm working full-time or not, or you know, I evaluate what's happening in my life. And then from there, I look at what would it look like to thrive? What does that mean for me? And so there was a time where thriving met me signing up to run a marathon. And you know what? I'm gonna be fit, I'm gonna be active, I'm not gonna let this situation that I'm in stop me from feeling amazing and exercising and getting fit. And so there was that season where to me that felt like thriving. I needed that for my mental and emotional health. So I said, you know, I'm gonna sign up for a marathon and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna thrive. I'm gonna wake up early and I'm gonna feel great and I'm gonna eat well. And that was a period where I felt like, man, I'm I'm thriving, you know, I'm working full time. I got three. So that's what it meant. So for me, now thriving is just having a consistent routine and flow to my life. It's not necessarily running the marathon. It's hey, I want to wake up and I want to focus on taking my vitamins every day and having a consistent routine and focusing on building muscle and, you know, being present, having enough energy to be present with my kids. So to me, a lot of thriving is how am I being present in my marriage for my husband? Do I have enough energy? Am I, you know, in tune for my children? Am I a present mother or am I so disconnected where, you know, they're there, but then I'm not there. And so to me, thriving is do I have enough energy and mental clarity to say, hey, in that moment, hey, I'm I'm with my child. Hey, how are you doing? What's going on? To me, that's thriving. Thriving is yeah, eating things that I know are gonna fuel my body and make me feel well,
Redefining What Thriving Means
SPEAKER_03movement, exercise, all those different things. So for me, it it does change with every season. And and I honor that. I'm like, hey, this is not the season for me to be doing XYZ. This is a season to maintain consistency, get into routines, focus on organizing my home. And so I think it's it's so different. And and the beauty of life is we get to define what that means. We get to set the standard for every season of our lives and decide what it truly means to thrive. And that's I don't have to compare myself to you. I don't have to compare myself to social media influencers, say, hey, for for me, for Anisa, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_05I love that, or even just comparing yourself to yourself. Um there were seasons, especially going from being a mom of one to being a mom of two, then being a mom of three, where sometimes I would catch myself and say, Wow, well, especially that two to three transition. I looked at my routines and I said, Why isn't this working? Why can't I go back to being the 5 a.m. girly? It's just not happening. I had to let it go. But then I also, like you said, you just have to honor like where you're at now and figure out, okay, I can't be the 5 a.m. girly right now. Um, but what things can I implement in my life to bring in some more of that consistency that I do love? Bring in that routine that literally fuels me up so I can pour into my kids, my husband, my job, this community. I had to like really dig deep. You have to kind of get explorative with yourself, ask yourself those questions. And sometimes, you know, you try things and you're just like, you know what? This is not a fit. Let's try something else. So just definitely being making it a time of exploration when you're in between those seasons, trying to figure out, you know, what it means for you to thrive in that season. Um for the moms that think that their definition of thriving means having it all together. How can we help them release that belief?
SPEAKER_03Thriving meaning it's all together. So I think we have to embrace that this journey of motherhood is gonna have a lot of imperfections. And so sometimes we want to have every box checked for the week, and we wanna, okay, I did my all my routines and I got everything together. And I think releasing that and understanding that as mothers, we have to almost build in a certain percentage of grace to give ourselves because holding that rigid thought of, oh, I have to have it all together to be considered driving is gonna be very stressful. And so for me, I'm gonna drop some balls. I dropped a ball this week and I was, well, it almost got dropped, and it was reminded of something I didn't add to the calendar for the kids. I'm like, oh my gosh, their awards ceremony. So I called another mom and I'm like, hey, can you send me the picture? I want to make sure it's not happening right now. And so I didn't have it all together, you know, and I'm thinking, and I just thought I settled in, oh my gosh, I'm adding everything to the calendar, everything's together, I'm thriving. I got the, you know, phone calendar, you know, refrigerator calendar, I'm good. And then I'm like, oh my God, you know, and so I didn't have it all together, but I still in my mind I'm thriving because I'm I'm hitting that 80%, I'm hitting that 75%. Yeah. And so I think it's having grace on ourselves to say, hey, mistakes are gonna happen. Yeah, we're gonna drop balls, we're not always gonna have it together. And just releasing a little bit, just to know, hey, it's you know, I I think thriving can also be a mindset. If you're perpetually in your mind, you're like, I'm not thriving, and you feel like thriving is something externally that you're constantly running towards. We're like, no, it's it's within me. I have it. Every day I show up and you know what? I give 100%, I give my best. And maybe I wasn't able to get 100% of the things done. Maybe I got 40, maybe I got 50 or 60, whatever that percentage is. I think if you can settle at the end of the day and say, you know what, I did my best. I was a little tired. Maybe, you know, physical things are going on certain times of the month, and you know, you're just like, hey, I did my best, you know, or one of your kids got sick or the school got shut down. And so all those things are gonna come. But to me, it it it's a lot of it is mindset, you know, is your mindset that I'm thriving? Like, what is your standard? And so I think we don't realize how much of a high standard we put on ourselves, which causes a lot of stress, anxiety, and worry. Sometimes you need that other mom in your life to be like, hey girl, it's okay. Yeah, I dropped the ball too. I feel like a failure. We're good. Like you're human and you're normal. Like, and I think that's the thing is embracing our humanity. And that's what I have to do. Hey, listen, we are not robots, we are not superheroes, we're not superheroes. We are literally in this fleshly body. We are human and things are gonna happen, and all the mamas are making mistakes. We may not post them on social media or online, but listen, we're making mistakes. We're dropping balls, and that's life. I love that. I love that.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so moving on. I love that this is going this way because when we're talking about like dropping the ball, and you put it so beautifully,
Letting Go Of Having It All Together
SPEAKER_05right? That grace, we have to include that just in our daily lives. Things are just gonna happen. And I feel like you answered this question, but let's go deeper on like what that self-compassion looks like. Because what I hear you saying is is the grace, right? Our words that we say to ourselves are so powerful. Um, can you share with our listeners just some way they can start to integrate that self-compassion within themselves? Start to make sure they have that set level of grace daily.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So I love talking about self-compassion. I would have said it, but I didn't want to jump ahead. So, really self-compassion, what is it? It's when you look at some of the root words, it's suffering. How do you suffer well with yourself, right? You may be going through a difficult situation, but how are you with yourself in that suffering and in that hard time? And so, self compassion is really treating yourself like you would a good Friend. So if you have a friend who's going through a hard time, maybe she missed a couple deadlines. Maybe she feels like she yelled at her kids. What would you say to that friend? You would say, Hey, you know what? We all make mistakes. You know, you would encourage that friend. And so self-compassion is really extending yourself that same compassion that you would a friend. And for some reason, it's so hard for us to do that. It's so easy for me to jump in and be like, hey, girl, it's okay. You showed up late. It's all good. But when it comes to ourselves, we have such, we don't know what's happening, but we have this internal voice that is so negative and that is constantly just spewing negativity at us. And so self-compassion is really, hey, I'm going to treat myself with the same compassion and kindness that I would a friend. And so how to begin to implement that is really having those moments where you pause and you're like, okay, this is really difficult. How am I being with myself in this moment? How am I treating myself? I what are the words that are coming to my mind? Is it your failure? You always do this. This is the same thing you do every time. You're a terrible mother, you're a terrible partner. It's being saying, hey, you know what? That's not true. The reality is maybe this happened, but the truth is that, hey, I am a good mom. I do show up most of the time. And then you start to counter that negativity with the truth in the reality. Practicing self-compassion is really starting with those moments of pause. And the research says when it comes to resiliency, resiliency is how quickly can I bounce back? How quickly can I, if I have a, you know, a terrible or tough situation, how quickly can I bounce back from it and be mentally and emotionally okay? And so the research says the more we can use self-compassion and be kind and compassionate to ourselves, the more likely we are to be resilient and to really overcome that fear, that anxiety, all of those different emotions. And so that's
Practicing Daily Self-Compassion
SPEAKER_03research back. You can look it up. And so self-compassion is so powerful. And for me, I had to lock into that very quickly, having a child who has some different medical needs. And I'm sure your listeners, they may have a kid who's autistic or maybe has ADHD or maybe something that's not physically externally visible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But there may be, you know, a little bit of difference. That child may not be normal. And so when you have that, you have to be very compassionate with yourself because listen, you're doing your best, but this is not your quote unquote normal child. They're dealing with some different things that causes extra emotional and mental strain on you. And so going through that, you have to offer yourself a lot of self-compassion and say, hey, you know what? This is difficult, but I'm gonna be compassionate with myself. I'm gonna take a pause. I'm gonna hold myself. I'm gonna ground myself for a second. Just another quick example of what can be done. You know, maybe we're having a difficult moment with the kids, maybe we're overwhelmed, we're stressed, they're just running around. You're just like, dude, I'm gonna lose stimulated. And sometimes it's just going to the restroom, it's going to your room, literally putting your hand on your heart and saying, You're okay. You're doing a great job. You're doing the best that you can. Take a moment. You need this moment, and then enter back in into whatever you're doing with the kids or at home. And that rather than beating yourself up the whole day, oh, this is going bad. I, you know, I'm yelling or everything's disorganized. Hey, you know what? Take that moment, you know, give yourself that compassion and you're gonna have a much better day moving forward. I can guarantee if you take that moment to give yourself a little bit of self-compassion. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05That shift, right? Of first two points. I always love the one, would I say this to my best friend? If the answer is no, you should not be saying it to yourself. But then also just that those moments of shift, because those those voices, they're gonna be loud, they're gonna be in your ear. You have to start being aware of okay, I wouldn't say this to my best friend. How would I speak to her? And like you said, just really just taking that moment. Like my favorite spot sometimes is the closet. Sometimes it's like, no, my kids will come find me in the bathroom. So we can't go there. But the closet, they're like, Oh, she's not in there. Totally in there taking a second. So wherever that place is for you, even if it's just if you can't physically go somewhere, even if it's just sometimes I'll tell my kids, hey, I need a second, and I will just sit stand there and close my eyes. And sometimes I'll tell them too, I'll invite them, I say, Let's take a deep breath together. Because we both need some regulation right now. So I feel like there's your permission to just breathe, right? That yes, you have to be a mother, but shift that to no, I don't have to be, I get to be, and how do you want to show up? Right. And it's not, you know, pushing past your emotions of I'm feeling overstimulated or I'm feeling overwhelmed. It's being aware and just then moving forward accordingly, taking, like Anita said, taking that second to go take a break, come back with that shifted mindset. Okay, so let's see. I want to talk about community because I feel like in being a medical mom and being a mother in general, sometimes there are those moments where we feel like we are alone or we are handling so much by ourselves, right? Taking care of the kids or dealing with a medical challenge, you know, having to show up differently in different different situations. What role does community or has it even played in your life um to help you just feel like less alone?
SPEAKER_03So for me, entering onto this journey, it well, so let me back up. So people in my community that hadn't really experienced what I experienced. And so it was kind of what you mentioned at the beginning um of our conversation is you know, I started looking for other moms who were on a similar journey. And it was honestly very hard to find. Granted, I was trying to get really granular with, okay, let me find a twin mom who's had this specific diagram, you know, you know, diagnosis and situation. So I wanted to have hope. That's what I was looking for. I'm like, okay, let me see, is there another mom who, you know, has had this? What does her life look like? What are they doing? You know, what do the kids look like? And so, you know, in my low moments, I would just search the internet looking for that. And I didn't always find it, unfortunately. And that was one of my passions behind wanting to put my information out there on the internet because I wanted people to know, hey, you're not alone. And if you have a situation that's like mine, hey, there's hope. And so, yeah, so what I did, I went online and I looked, and I honestly didn't really find a lot. I found some Facebook groups here and there, and everything that I went through in the beginning was during COVID-19. And so there
Simple Regulation And Reset Tools
SPEAKER_03really wasn't, you're not gathering with people, but I found community with the other mothers in the hospital, and some of them to this day I'm still connected with, but we sort of had that connection of wow, you know, we're in the same situation. There's different nuances and things with our children, but we had this bond. And so I can't say that in close proximity, I found community, but I found community in people who had similar situations. And so we connected, whether it was over the internet, whether it was, you know, on Facebook or Instagram, making those connections was big for me. And then just continuing to plug into my friend community. And I'm at the place where everyone in my physical community does not live where I live. We're all sort of spread out. But to me, and it's all, and I think it's personality-wise, and you also have to know yourself. For me, I don't have to physically be with someone to feel connected and close. If we're talking on the phone or FaceTime, I feel so filled and connected. But I understand for some, you need that actual physical connection. I need to find a local group. I need to literally be with another human and touch them and see them. That wasn't me. And so I think we're all different. And that's the beauty of life is like, hey, some of us have different needs. And so for me, it was just a need to know that I wasn't alone, whether, you know, it didn't need to be in person. I was satisfied by just, you know, having that connection online and oh via phone and FaceTime and things like that. And so it was definitely nice to know, hey, I'm not alone. And then I would find some podcasts to listen to. I'm like, okay, these are my besties. You know, they got a new show on. And I would listen in and feel like, hey, there's someone else out there that also doesn't have a perfect life or a perfect story.
SPEAKER_05Love that. I love that. But for the mama who is listening, we've talked a lot about overwhelm, overstimulation, feeling alone or just feeling like there's not enough of me, right? To go around. What is like one gentle step she can take today just to take care of herself
The Power Of Community And Belonging
SPEAKER_05this week?
SPEAKER_03Step, I would say one thing you could do to take care of yourself is mindset shift. I mean, I didn't expect that one. Bring it back. But I think sometimes caring for ourselves is saying, hey, sometimes we can have different goals or things that we've been trying to set out to do, but we haven't been able to do. And we're just bogged down. We're like, gosh, I just I don't even know if I can start. And, you know, I know this thing would make me feel better, but you just feel like you're so many days behind, or you started it and you stopped. And I would say one great thing you can do today is hey, is to look at your list or look at, you know, whatever you have going on and say, hey, you know what? What is one step within the step, or what is one thing within the goal or that I can do, even if it's small, that I know is gonna move the needle and bring me joy and happiness. And that might be, hey, you know what? I can't be the 5 a.m. girly, but you know what I can be is I can wake up maybe 10 minutes before that time or 15 minutes before, just to have me time because I know it may be hard, but I know that time, whether it's to meditate, whether it's to pray, whether it's to read, that is gonna be a game changer for me. Or maybe it's at the end of the night, maybe that's your time. Because some people are not early risers, some people are like, you know what, my time is in the evening, my brain comes alive, that's not me. But that's you know, we're all different. So some people it's like, you know what, take that small moment for you. And I would say, just do it. This is your reminder because I know you know it's on your, I know it's something that you want to do, but you're so you're thinking so big picture, and you're like, oh, well, if I don't do the two-hour blog, or if I don't do my whole journal meditation, all these different things, and it's not worth anything, just take that one little step. So if it's that quiet time that you really been wanting to have, but you haven't been able to do, or if it's a reminder to take those vitamins or take the walk, even if it's not a 20-minute one, maybe it's just a five-minute walk, just to think or to have a conversation with a friend. I would say just what you can do for yourself is think of the smallest step. If you're struggling with something and you're like, oh, it's too big, just think of the tiniest thing. And that will be such a gift to yourself, and you'll feel so good, you'll feel accomplished, and then be proud of yourself, even if it's just a little 10% that you did, be like, you know what? I'm so proud of myself. I'm gonna celebrate this win, you know, and just gas yourself up, tell your friend, like, listen, you know what was great today is I took a five-minute walk and I got fresh air and I did a little stretch up or I did whatever, you know. And so just do that one small thing and then celebrate it.
SPEAKER_05Yes. I feel like the celebration piece is so important because sometimes we can get in that flow of just like, okay, we're checking the things off, we're doing the thing. I said, wait, pause. Like you did a thing today that brought you joy. Let's celebrate that. Or you made a step in a larger goal that maybe feels like really large, and you're like, How am I gonna how am I gonna get through this? But you took that one step. Like, celebrate that.
SPEAKER_03Celebrate it. I know it's hard. That's one of my biggest struggles is celebration piece. I'm not that great with it, but I'm working on it this year. Okay.
SPEAKER_05So Anisa, thank you for bringing us just so much honesty, wisdom, vulnerability. I want like every single mom listening to this to like let this be your reminder that being a mother
One Gentle Step To Care For Yourself
SPEAKER_05is not measured by like the things that we do, but it's measured by like how deep we how deep the people in our lives, our families, but also ourselves. Right? Don't forget about you. Um, and just how gently you can take care of yourself because that is what into everybody else. Um, so I want to I want you to share more about your book and then just how our listeners can stay connected with you, um, continue to follow your journey, support maybe there's moms out there who are needing to get plugged into your community.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So in terms of how you can find me, is I'm on primarily Instagram um and Facebook and on YouTube. So Instagram, you can find me, Anisa Anazi. Um, and then also on Instagram, I have She Found Peace, and then on Facebook, you can find me under Anisa Anazi, and then YouTube, I have a She Found Peace page with tons of videos and just support and encouragement. So feel free if you are a medical mother or if you know someone who is, or you hear that they have their baby that's in the NICU, the neonatal intensive care unit, and you know they have a long road ahead, feel free to plug them into me or plug them into my different sites. So, yes, I have my book, She Found Peace. And I can't even believe I'm almost coming up on my two-year anniversary of writing this book. This book was geared towards moms who are in the hospital with their baby. And most of the time, when you're in the hospital, the focus is on the baby because we want to get that baby home. We want them to thrive, we want them to be healthy. And so a lot of times the mom can be forgotten and no one's really thinking about her mental and emotional health. And so this book is great, whether you have a baby who's in the hospital or not, I think it's still a really great resource. I tried to make it very practical and give you tools on really navigating this journey and how do you come those overcome those mental and emotional challenges where you're, you know, dealing with the mom guilt and the shame and you're just figuring out how am I going to really thrive? How am I going to get how will I get through this? And so it's a practical guide. Like I said, whether you were in the NICU and you're still managing some of the trauma or some of the difficulties with that, or if you know someone, feel free to um find the book. You can find it on shefoundpeace.com or it's also on Amazon. If you want to get it immediately, you can do that. So yeah, it's an incredible resource, and I'm grateful that I was able to put that out there in the world for any mom who ends up in that situation.
SPEAKER_05We so needed it. So needed it. So I'm grateful. And just thank you for coming onto the pod. I know there are a lot of listeners out there who are gonna find connection in your story, whether they're a medical mom or not. That's that's what I love just about Anisa. So thank you. And we will see you on the next episode.
SPEAKER_04Thank 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,
Book, Resources, And Staying Connected
SPEAKER_04sending you light and love. And remember, you are worthy, you are enough, and you deserve to thrive.
