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It's All Wellness
Welcome to a thought-provoking world where It's All Wellness.
Here we are redefining wellbeing in a way that puts you back into the driver's seat of your life, health and happiness.
Wellness is not just a conversation of “eat less and move more”, “meditate and go gluten free”. It's understanding the being beneath the behaviour. It is seeking the lessons and learnings that define the human experience and harnessing unique life challenges for growth and contribution. Turning pain into purpose and living an intentional and inspired life, liberated from limiting conditioning.
Every Wednesday I'll deliver a person or a message to inspire you toward personal responsibility for the health of your mind, body and environments within and around you. With collective insights and wisdom from conscious thought leaders and experts in the space of spirituality, emotional intelligence, mind-body medicine, psychology, neuroscience and NLP, relationships and finances, as well as social and political elements that influence how we perceive, create and respond to our personal reality, you'll round out the hour feeling inspired and empowered to take action toward a life that feels aligned.
I'm your joyful host, Jemaine Finlay, Australian naturopath, NLP practitioner, personal trainer, and motivational speaker. Also, an everyday gal navigating this beautiful and messy life just like you. I've been at war with myself, my finances, my relationship and a body that was breaking down. But I traded that old self in, for self awareness, self acceptance, self expression and self empowerment, and I'm here to help you do that to.
It's All Wellness
#10: The Realities of Motherhood: Breaking Through The Myths with Tina Cartwright
As the veil lifts on the untold stories of postpartum life, we're joined by founder of Rebranding Motherhood, Tina Cartwright. In the trenches of the 'fourth trimester' and beyond, Tina's marketing savvy meets maternal grit, unearthing the dissonance between the airbrushed narratives sold to us and the unvarnished truths of parental paths.
This heart-to-heart with Tina doesn't shy away from the visceral realities of childbirth and its aftermath. Tina exposes the emotional labor of motherhood, and the quiet struggle with postpartum depression from her own raw and real experience. It's a rallying cry for support systems that acknowledge the raw resilience and transformative force that is motherhood.
Tina shares her must-haves when building a post-partum support team, and laments the healthcare system's blind spots in mental health care. She is an advocate for empowering women to champion their well-being and redefine what it means to be informed, supported, and utterly human in their parenting journey.
Join us in peeling back the layers to honor the full, unretouched spectrum of motherhood.
Connect with Tina Cartwright
Youtube: @rebrandingmotherhood
Instagram: @rebranding.motherhood
Links
Book Recommendation: Pussy Reclamation by Regena Thomas
Send Jemaine a text to let her know how much you loved the episode!
Your Joyful Host - Jemaine Finlay
Women's health naturopath, personal trainer, NLP & behaviour specialist, Heartmath coach, podcaster, speaker, sun-seaker, and world’s most curious human when it comes to consciousness & human behaviour. A bit of a mixed bag! But hey, at least you'll never be bored!
Connect with Jemaine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its.allwellness_podcast/
Website: https://jemainefinlay.com/
It's this really intense experience, yet society doesn't understand what's going on. You're in this hole because you're like I'm in a diaper, the baby's in a diaper. Like what is this going on with my vaginas? We are gonna educate you because the fact that even me, I just learned what a vulva was not a vulva, okay, a vulva I don't know how you can advocate for yourself if you aren't even able to understand your body. So we have to have a reclamation, a reclamation of your body and reclamation of all those different things.
Speaker 2:The Daily Life of a Human Mind. Welcome back to it's All Wellness. My name is Jermaine Finlay and it is my mission to help you unravel the limiting conditioning that keeps you in this pattern of self-doubt, self-sabotage and self-love. Each week, I'll bring you a person or a message to keep you curious about the power of the human mind and inspired to take action in a life that feels more aligned, ultimately helping you reclaim your life, your health and your happiness. It's all wellness.
Speaker 2:Today, I am joined by this incredibly beautiful and intelligent woman, tina Cartwright. Tina is a powerhouse in bringing voice to this journey of motherhood. Entering the fourth trimester, tina experienced a total disembodiment of what she thought would be the most beautiful season of her life. In this episode, we talk about this capitalization of sanitized imagery of motherhood. We talk about the shortcomings of the medical system, and Tina gave some great advice on how to advocate for yourself medically, professionally and in life in general. There is so much value in this episode, both for men and women, mothers to be mothers in the thick of the shit, and women in general, as well as how men can actually understand the experience that perhaps words don't adequately voice in this journey into motherhood, I can't wait for you to meet Tina. Let's dive in.
Speaker 2:Tina, I am so excited to have you on this conversation today. I actually stumbled across you on another podcast and the way you started speaking about your experience of motherhood and this sanitized imagery that you spoke of in relation to capitalism, it just it was the first time I've heard this perspective and I just really felt cool to have you on the show. I want to really speak to the experiential side of motherhood and also from, I guess, your corporate background, understanding what you mean by this sanitized imagery in the branding of motherhood as well. So, very, very honored to sit and have your time today. I would love if we could just start with a little bit about you. Tell me you know about your journey and a little bit so our audience can get to know you before we dive in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, you know I don't want to even say first and foremost, but I mean I think motherhood is always at the top of my identity, at least in my current chapter of life, my current season of life. I'm a mom of two. I have two little gals, little future queens in training Under five. So my life is insane. My oldest, kayla Jo, is five she just turned five and then my youngest, zary Quinn, just turned two, and so that's kind of what keeps me busy at my soul, really like the heartbeat of what makes me like the most happiest, my happiest work.
Speaker 1:But I've had a really long, extensive career prior to that In corporate America. I actually worked for one of the biggest branding, global branding companies in the world P&G for almost 16 years, then had a stint in startup and in startup life and really that led me to what I feel like is my calling. You know, after becoming a mother exiting in the corporate America arena, I really was able to find my voice and so that's what's really led me to this journey of supporting moms and being the founder and launcher, I guess, of rebranding motherhood.
Speaker 2:And it really is such a beautiful community that you've created with rebranding motherhood. And before we do get there in our conversation, let's just start with a little bit of this corporate background, because I do think it'll give a little bit of context as to where we're going to end up when we start talking about rebranding motherhood and, I guess, your perspective of what you've seen in that imagery as well. So you've had quite an extensive corporate experience with huge brands like Kmart and Walmart and Amazon and all the rest. So let's just start there. Tell me about this background that looked before motherhood.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know I went to HBCU so, for those in your global community, I don't know if you have historically black colleges and universities in Australia, but graduated from an HBCU in the US and then, upon that, landed my first job with PNG. I actually started as an intern and the way they do their internship you get a full-time offer at the end of it. So I went into my senior year of college with a full-time job, which is really nice. Please know I was also interviewing. I had many interviews, interviewed for Google, interviewed for a lot of other companies that ended up landing there and really got the experience of building a brand, sustaining a brand, how to launch and grow a retailer's business, a retailer's category and, just as I like to say, classically trained marketer. And that was really for me what was really exciting when launching this brand, because I finally got to take all of these tools and these lessons and these insights that I've had in corporate America and bring them to the table and bring them to the mat and see how they come together. And in that space, I mean one of the most important consumers that we spend so much time building around is mom, and you know I have a really different connection with her in all of my prior years at PNG because I wasn't a mom yet.
Speaker 1:But I think any person before motherhood can tell you they've had a whole myriad of visions and illustrations in their head of what motherhood is supposed to be. Which draws me to the sanitized imagery. Sadly, our world and I feel like it's really a result of a couple of different variables I would say capitalism and the patriarchy which always go hand in hand Like and really have been women for years, maybe we can even say centuries, at least decades all of this imagery around what motherhood is supposed to look like, all of these things are not founded or grounded in reality. And for me, when I became a mom, I thought, like before I became a mom, I really thought that if I had a baby registry and I had a list of items that people were going to bring to my house and then had the baby and maybe got to that successfully, that that was like. That was it. That was like all I needed to prepare for, because that's what all the imagery had shown me. Right, like you have your doctor's visit, you're getting yourself healthy along the way, and then no one shows you anything about leaving the hospital in a diaper, about the hell that becomes really a reality as you're trying to navigate going into what I call the fourth trimester after the baby's out. No one really shares that with you and I believe that's one of the reasons why postpartum depression is so prevalent.
Speaker 1:This is literally my opinion. It's not medically based that it happens so frequently, because a lot of women, a lot of mothers, are really fed this imagery of really it's this kumbaya mother earth, like you know, ethereal version of, like you know, like butterflies flying Disney, disney movie vibes of what it's going to be like once the baby comes out. And it's absolutely nothing like that at all. And I felt completely unprepared. I felt completely, you know, awesomak and confused by what was happening to me and I didn't understand why, because I live in this world, I'm like an active human in humanity and I thought I was going to have a better understanding of what motherhood was supposed to be like.
Speaker 1:Hollywood showed me all these versions of it, like the world that showed me all these versions of it, all these commercials, all these brands, as they're trying to build their business behind capitalism right, have shown us what motherhood can look like.
Speaker 1:But I really felt like it was grounded around products and driving product growth and revenue behind that, versus really supporting the experiences of what women are going through, what mothers are going through, and I think, as things have amped up and increased the intensity of what sits on a mother's plate, you know the pandemic, just society, and like the expectations that are just on anybody working in the working in the workforce that add on the pandemic. After that, and the childcare desert and the fact that there's not paid leave, paternity leave is like a new thing in the US, like wait, just wait, the dad has to take time off too. Like what's going on. There was all of these different variables and this is why I feel like mothers are screaming out and crying out for support because it is such a juxtaposition to what they are living and breathing and experiencing every single day.
Speaker 2:And you know, I'm not a mother myself, but I think our generation is kind of on this cusp of the chaos, right?
Speaker 2:Because I think perhaps you know, I know my mother was probably the same. She was very work-driven and she was so eager to get back into the workforce after having her first child, but, you think, generations prior to that. I look at my grandparents on both sides and it is that that imagery of you know the mother just stays at home and all the home duties belong to her and there's no, I guess, drive or hunger to be back in the workforce. There's no sense of independence or sense of self outside of the motherhood role. And we really have, I guess, with the rise of, you know, feminine rights and starting to give a voice to the woman.
Speaker 2:I actually had a conversation about this yesterday, how whenever we see a pendulum swing, it has to swing dramatically before it starts to find equilibrium in the middle. And you know, we women have, we've experienced a taste of freedom, a sense of possibility where we can have all of the things. We can hit the corporate world, we can have success, we can delay motherhood if we choose, but in doing so we still haven't come to the fact that that is still gonna be a role within our livelihood and there is gonna be a season where we come back to this sense of identity and how do we juggle this in this new age where it's like we've got all of these different identities and we have to lose all of them as we step into this new season of life as a mother?
Speaker 1:Oh, exactly, and I think that's really the issue, the solution, the issue that I hope to make an impact with rebranding motherhood, because it shouldn't have to be that. I want to experience one of the most natural experiences that humanity has given to me as a female, which is being able to have an opportunity to be a mother, and it shouldn't be that I have to give up my whole existence of how I knew, of operating in this world in the garbage can the minute I decide to expand my family and grow my family. And that's literally what happens. I mean, I think, naturally, when becoming a mother or anytime, we step into these big transformative periods in our life and we're really transitioning. There's always a period of learning pains and growing pains, and I think that's understandable. But I think what happens to mothers uniquely is that experience never ends and there's not a sense of outward understanding.
Speaker 1:And I oftentimes say that so many mothers live a closeted life, and what I mean by that is that we live a life most oftentimes that is completely secretive, and that's secretive in the sense that we're keeping it from people, but society doesn't acknowledge or understand the daily weight, the daily pressures, the daily expectations that are sitting on us as mothers on a daily basis and because of that we live these closeted lives where we are putting everything we have of ourselves into our children, into their rearing, into their experience, like every, like part of your soul I mean even creating and being a founder of a company like it's not the same part I mean literally my child has my DNA in them.
Speaker 1:It's like part of me is in them and it's this really intense experience.
Speaker 1:Yet society doesn't understand what's going on, because I feel, if they did, we wouldn't have to be fighting or explaining why we need paid leave, why we have an issue with maternal health care, why a lot of black women are becoming a statistic and just trying to become mothers, as they're three times more likely to die in childbirth, and why we're having all of these other issues that are facing women and we're just confused and imagine how maddening that must be right, like it is maddening, and I just felt so connected to this trauma. This experience and I feel like being able to navigate on the other side of it has left me with such a great gift motherhood and I really want others to be able to connect to that and to be able to experience that, because if left to the arms and the hands of society, we are just gonna be crying in our cars, crying in our closets by ourselves, just trying to do it all, trying to be the human, the wife, the business person, the mother and all the things, and just struggling because it's not possible.
Speaker 2:And you know, tina, this is why I think your community is so powerful and so widespread, because this is the thing. One thing I'm starting to recognize is the power of storytelling, and very often we think we're going through this shit alone, right?
Speaker 2:And it's when we can actually bring a voice like yourself and the vulnerability to our own journey. It gives women permission to put their hand up and go oh my gosh, I'm experiencing the same thing right. And it allows us to create connection and community without having to feel so isolated with what we're going through. So I thank you so much for everything that you've created within your community.
Speaker 2:And I think what you touched on there as well is, you know, having to explain ourselves away, explain how our day looks, explain and justify all of this stuff. And it's like that just doesn't suit or satisfy what's going on underneath. Because what a mother has with her child is primal right. This is a biological shift. There is hormonal chemistry that is creating this bond, unlike what she has with her husband or her own mother or her siblings. It is a primal connection. And so, you know, there is this dialogue sometimes where people could think, oh, you know, she's creating it for herself, she's making something out of nothing. It doesn't have to be these badges.
Speaker 2:You know, she can ask for help if she wants to ask for help. And from an outside perspective, you know that might look like the case. And you know I have a girlfriend who entering motherhood was really challenging for her marriage, for herself, for her anxiety, and you know it was quite interesting as a non-mom sitting and having a conversation with her and I would just go over there to give her some airtime so she could get out of her head what was going on. And you know she would say it's just not fair. You know he will come home because he would work away. He would come home from a week at work and it's like you know, the kids happy and all excited and well-behaved for him, and then I'll go out and have my own personal time and he'll just bring his friends to come and help with the laundry and come and help with the house cleaning and it's like no, I want you to feel how freaking hard it is because I don't get that.
Speaker 2:And from the outside I was like you know, babe, you can also ask for help like get your friends to come around and fold the laundry and, you know, help cook a meal or bring some meals over for you. But that's easy said when you're on the outside. Like these perceived expectations as a mother and you know this again is non-experiential in my opinion for myself, but because it is biological yes, they may be perceived expectations to some degree and some elements of that, but it's innate, like that is your offspring and you know you do feel that burden and so I've never said Mm, I really do appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I mean it's almost like it's almost like you know. Do you mean asking someone to help me breathe, mm? Asking someone to help me blink my eyes? It is to your point. It is such a primal, innate, automatic response.
Speaker 1:Being a mother, you know, taking care of your child, making sure they're okay, and so I think sometimes there's kind of a few things that happen right of do you even have the village around you, do you even have the support around you to even ask anybody? That's one piece, and the other piece is that it's such a part of like your existence, like it's like that breath right, it's like breathing. It almost feels overwhelming sometimes to ask for help because it's like I need help all the time, like I get caught in these you know kind of circles sometimes where it's like you know I need so much help, like I need a lot of help, and then it's like, well, I can't ask everybody for all the help I need all the time, because then it's like how am I, am I not doing what my role is as a mom? Am I not doing what's my requirement? And then it goes to why is it all on the mom, why is it all on her? But I think there's so many different dynamics that go on with even asking for help. That can sometimes make it a little difficult when for men to your point I mean I was just telling this to somebody today that for a man he has nine months before it's real the mom has seconds.
Speaker 1:Okay, once the egg is consumed and you're officially in gestation, like you're in it, you are sacrificing your body, your mind, your hormones, your emotions, your diet, your choices, your activities, all the things that come as a transition as a mother instantly, where he's having to do it instantly, but nine months later, so you've already transitioned. And then now you've transitioned and you're in this whole because you're like I'm in a diaper, the baby's in a diaper, like what is this going on with my vagina? It's split all the way open, I've got to tear and repair and like what's going on? And so there's just all these different dynamics that are kind of happening simultaneously, that are sometimes hard to kind of like wrap your head around.
Speaker 2:And there's two things that I really want to draw that. I love that you use the analogy of it's like breathing and needing to ask for help, because there is also that element that I see is like you know, how inferior would you feel if someone has to show you how to breathe or blink or these innate things that we do in life, and you know, as a mother, it's like if someone is showing you how to mum and you know it may not be that they're showing you, but like you know they're offering their support and help, that can feel conflicting. It's like, well, I should know how to do this.
Speaker 2:There's this perception that you should know how to do it, and so for someone to come and show you how to breathe it's like, well, hang on a sec, why don't I know how to do this myself? Right, I carried this child for nine months. My body has changed. I should be ready for this and it's like that expectation. I should be ready for this. I should know, as a mother, inately, what to do here, and it's like let's get rid of those shoulds, because this is a crazy, a crazy journey that we have no idea what to expect. No baby's the same, no journey's the same, and so I really value you sharing that synergy between breathing and that innate primal nature of motherhood, and I also love that you share, I guess, that journey for the father, in contrast to the journey for yourself, like your body changing instantly.
Speaker 2:I do think that that is also contributory to the self-loathe and the resentment and the, like you said, the anger and the buildup of this unexpressed emotion for a mother.
Speaker 2:Self-loathe and sense of self-worth is huge for women in general and, like you said, popping out the other end, where you're in a diaper, your vagina looks totally different, your skin around everywhere looks totally different, your stomach looks different. Your body has changed entirely, and so imagine feeling incompetent as a mother which is like this primal role that you quote unquote should know how to do, while also feeling like this morphed human and wondering you know, I'm still trying to learn how to love myself Is my husband still going to love me when I look like this, like, and you're starting to recognize maybe I am a little bit hormonal, but, like you know, am I pushing him away? And so all of this in a dialogue in itself, which is already hard for a woman, let alone a woman who has just had her world flipped upside down, I can only imagine how that would be so contributory to, I guess, this new season and the challenge of entering that new season as well, oh, 100%.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you think about the stats of postpartum depression at least I think in the US it might be a global staff, but that it's tripled post pandemic it's like duh. Of course it has like to your point, all of these variables coming together all in one concoction and there's still so many resources that aren't even available to women or made available, or that they're even told about, you know, through their journey of even being pregnant or postpartum, and then they've just left to just really figure all the things out. I mean, I said I kind of I don't want to reel that I posted at one point where I was like motherhood does not equal pregnancy. It doesn't equal pregnancy. It's such a much farther arc, even though capitalism wants to focus you right there on that field. I mean, what's crazy to me is, I think, about re-breeding. Motherhood is like what am I supposed to do when my kid has her first period? Who talks about that? What am I supposed to do when my children start wanting to have like get sexual education, like understand their bodies and like really changing these dynamics with their own relationships, and like what are we supposed to do with all these things? And no one's talking about it and no one's even talking about the early phases, and so I just worry about what is going to happen to one of the most effective, determined, delivering the best results individuals in this world, which is moms. In case anybody didn't know, they're like the strongest, most powerful superheroes of the world If we don't continue to educate them and create this virtual village around them and support around them, because I can't agree with you more that there's so many different dynamics changing and you know, it's almost like, when you're breathing right, like it's like regular breath the demon.
Speaker 1:You become a mother. It's like how do you breathe when I'm climbing Mount Kilimanjaro? Okay. Going on a big, all mountain climb, okay. And you do have to learn new skills. You do have to learn new breath. And I think for moms, if we can have more places for them, where that's the conversation of like you're not doing anything wrong, this is just a different race, okay. Like this isn't like, oh, I'm going to go take a walk around my neighborhood or walk around the mall, no, I'm not doing that. Of course, you know how to do that. Right, you've been being a human for however many years you've been on this earth before becoming a mother. So you have it under wraps. But now we're going to be doing like a huge hike all the way up to the summit, thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of kilometers up, and you are going to have to learn some different tactics and some different skills. There's nothing to do with you. There's everything to just do with entering in this new phase of life.
Speaker 2:And it's hard and you want to quit, and sometimes it sucks, yes, but how rewarding is it when you get to the summit? And every little new peak.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, and it's so rewarding. And then imagine how much interest to your point, how much inner strength you gain at the end of it and through it and during it and all these different pieces, and so I really feel like if we can shift the mindset and that's kind of, I think, one of the reasons why people have really found my, found my voice, my narrative, very disruptive versus a lot of the content and the conversations that are happening out there in the world, because we're really talking about real shit, like we are really trying to support you. Have you feel, seen and have you not be in this judgment field? Like I love that you said let's get rid of the should, because my therapist has always said to me, if you tell yourself should, tell yourself should not in the same breath and then reevaluate and try to have a different connection back with your thought instead of letting your thoughts really like go in this judgment viral.
Speaker 2:And you know, another thing that you touched on that just came up for me while you were sharing that is, yes, we've got this sanitized imagery from capitalism and, you know, from all of these external sources, and I think what you're doing is a testament to us, as women, taking responsibility for that change and being that powerful voice, because the sad reality is, with the nature of social media, we all like to put on the highlights real right the joys of motherhood and the little dates down the beach with our little ones, the baby chinos and all the things.
Speaker 2:And it's like. No wonder we feel like we are fumbling through motherhood and it's our mistakes and we should know better. It's like because all of our friends in the environment around. Look like they've got it all easy, but in reality, you know behind the scenes. They're probably laying there at 3am at night looking at their message and wondering why are no other women online at this time? Their babies must be sleeping.
Speaker 2:I must be doing this all wrong and so it takes someone to be vulnerable in front of an audience to say, hey, this is the reality. So who's with me on?
Speaker 1:this Right, exactly, like with fans together in, just because no one else is giving it to us, like there's no other place where we can really say what it is. So if mothers, I mean gosh, they're like the greatest support. When I tell you some of the messages that come in, slide into my DM from around the world, you know every country just saying like we are going through the same thing and I mean gosh, god bless my single mothers out there, like we want to talk about motherhood on 10. Like it's single, the single mothers out there, because y'all are. She rose.
Speaker 1:Ok, it is difficult, it is absolutely difficult and I think when you're able to just share, like the reality, like it just gives somebody that one second of eliminating that judgment and eliminating that that shame and eliminating that, that, that additional emotional weight that just leaves you feeling like you're not doing your best work.
Speaker 1:And what I want every mom, like I like to say there's a lot on my community is. Somebody asked me once and we're like who would you tell a new mom, like, if you could give them any advice, what would your advice be? I would say first thing is you're doing a great job, you're killing it, you're winning. You're showing up to your ship, you're showing up on the field and you are doing amazing. And if I had an Oscar for every mom out there, look, I would give them to them because they've earned it. And I think that's the mentality we have to start sharing back with our mothers, sharing back with our caregivers, people who are taking care of children right full time that they are doing a great job and I think that's just going to help them through just the daily challenges and the daily waves and ups and downs that you know parenthood and motherhood provides.
Speaker 2:And this is why it's important to build that community of women as well, I suppose, because, like what we said, there is this primal element that I guess, no matter how supportive your husband is on this journey, if you do have a partner sharing this journey with you, there are elements that they're not going to quite understand, and so to be able to find and build a network of women where you can be vulnerable and be like hey, do you get this?
Speaker 2:Like, I get this all, like this is happening to my nipple or my vagina looks like this, Like, yeah, like what's going on Exactly. And I think that's really really powerful and important. Now Tina, you also mentioned that your journey started, like your journey into the fourth trimester, started with a period of postpartum depression. So yes, if you feel comfortable with it. I'd love to hear what that experience was like for you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I would be more than happy to share that. Well, it was so interesting. So I had a unique experience where I had an OBGYN who, as they call it I guess I've heard this term the hairy midwife, where, like, he is an OBGYN and he's a male, but he has that midwife you know, it's really about you know, connecting with me, checking in.
Speaker 1:We had a very, very close relationship throughout all of my pregnancy. I know we'll talk a little bit later about my kind of you know, experience within the medical system. He also did my surgery for a life threatening situation I had, so I'll talk about later. So we had a very close bond and so he had so many conversations about postpartum depression with my husband and just letting him know, kind of like this is what it is, this is what it can look like. And for me our conversations were less about what postpartum depression was, more about like we're just going to go in and have a positive plan, and it's not about if it happens or not, but we're just going to like, go in with positivity, we're going to try to do our best to make sure your birth plan comes to life, and that was kind of how it went down and then, after I remember it, like yesterday, because my oldest Kayla Jo, she was my miracle baby, so, like I had mentioned earlier getting emotional I had a horrible medical scare and almost died and they found essentially I was going through. I'll just kind of talk through this. There's no way to tell the story about it but I was becoming very, very unwell you kind of see my stature now for those of you who kind of see, imagine me 20 pounds lighter than I am now. I was basically just like rattling skin and bones and my mother-in-law was just finally a set of me, like Tina, like something's not right, like something's wrong, and I knew I hadn't been feeling well and essentially took my healthcare my own hand and had to make a plan at that point and ended up finding my OBGYN who did my surgery. When they found the tumors I had a 15 centimeter tumor and one ovary and a five centimeter tumor and the other ovary and the other ovary to the point where my OBG said I was as if I was 16 weeks pregnant. There's really no way this should have been medically missed. We can touch back on that later. But so after coming through all of that and having a full recovery and really finally getting back to myself.
Speaker 1:When I got pregnant with my first child, kayla, it was truly a miracle. I was so excited. I had one of those you know sanitized imagery pregnancy I was the hip girl, okay. I was like, oh, I love being pregnant. This is amazing. Like every part was just great. I was living it up. I was like wanting sick piss, took care and just like just enjoying it because I felt so much gratitude After what I had experienced that I was in this place after literally thinking I was not even able to have any children to now being in this space.
Speaker 1:And then, when my baby came out, I had a great birth experience. I remember feeling this sensation of complete disconnect, Like it was like a hard line. It was just like like someone had like left my body, like that version of myself, pregnant, like you know, living on a cloud. Tina left and then I was just left with this like confused sensation.
Speaker 1:I thought yet again more sanitized imagery when you had the baby right, like then it's like you're just smiling and people are visiting you in your room and you're just having fun with the nurses and all of these things. And I was telling none of that and I didn't even know at the time that like something was even wrong or off. I just I didn't even know Like, why, like because that was even probably a red flag right Like a like a boarding site, a ding button. And then after that I had a. I mean, I had a pretty sizable tear. I think I had like a second degree on the PZ, either the Pveotomy or I don't know what the technical term but tear and repairs, and I called it.
Speaker 1:So I had a lot of scar tissue down there. I mean it was probably six or seven months before my vagina was in any shape or form of what it used to look like for all the other 36 years in my life, and so I was in a lot of pain and I was just really, really struggling, Like I was just struggling with how tired I was. I was struggling with my first child is really needed so much soothing and hugging and all of these things. And she was just a little, I wouldn't say like bossy, but she just really loved, like being close, Like, and so when she wasn't, she would just be not having it. We're my second one. Oh my gosh. Like they made us wake her up after she slept for two hours after we delivered her. They were like, who is this baby? Like she just slept through, I mean, like it was so it was just such different children and it just started becoming where I didn't even recognize who I was. I felt like I was in a dark room and there was literally no light. I was supposed to be in my head so happy and so grateful and so celebratory for this moment, this, this, this, this milestone I like overcome, and I was just more than depressed, Like I was so sad, it hurt, I was so hopeless, you know, I didn't know what to do and it just got to the point where others around me were like some things really off. And it was actually my husband high five to him who came to me and said Chris, I really think you're struggling and I think you might have postpartum and, I think, depression, and I think it's time for you to, you know, have a conversation with Dr Witt and see what's going on. And I'm so glad I did because after that, after I had a plan and I met with my OBG, started getting on my medication and getting into a regimented routine of top therapy with a new therapist, Everything changed.
Speaker 1:It started changing very quickly. It was the change that actually made me realize how dark of a place I was actually in. I was disconnected from myself than I actually was, and it was super hard because I really felt like I was doing so many things wrong and that I was supposed to be feeling a completely different way and that I don't know that like something. They almost felt like my body had been sent for me from like the body. I didn't know what happened. It was like I landed to the finish line of having this baby and someone was like, like took me out and then I was just left there wondering, like where did that other version of me go? And then she finally started to come back. It finally started to get the light back in me. I finally started to be able to connect back, and it is hard because there is a natural isolation.
Speaker 1:I think the world kind of calls it nesting. How cute is that? You know, like, oh, we're just blood birds and our little mess. Like you know, we're like blocked away, we're holed off, especially through nursing, which I was feeding the baby Gosh every 90 minutes, I mean. I mean not even. It was like I felt like every hour.
Speaker 1:It was time to start cofeeding this baby again and, like you said before this, I was a career driven individual, so I already didn't have great habit of like taking breaks and making sure I like meal prepped and had food available for myself or snacks available for myself, or had a good understanding of really like dietary and caloric, like formulas and understanding, like how much energy you're actually burning through nursing and how much of a core intake I need to be focusing on. These are just all things like I didn't know, just living in the world, and then I had to know if I was going to be surviving, you know, through motherhood with somebody living off of me still, even though they're out of the womb, but like living off of my life force, and so it was just a very it was a very difficult time.
Speaker 1:I experienced postpartum with actually both of my girls and was just something that you know you have to come through what you can and you do and as long as you kind of get support. But that was kind of like what my experience was, at least with my first postpartum.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for sharing all of that, tina, I mean even your experience with the Trimmers. I mean I could, I could, I could feel that that is still a very hard place for you and so thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that part of your journey. And you know, I think this is this is why I just I really felt called to have you on the show because, like I say, I mean I've worked with mothers for the last seven years in what I do in my profession and from these conversations it's exactly as you say, you know, there's this isolation, there's this, you know, not even recognizing how dark of a hole that they're actually in. And I think I can understand this in a cognitive level and I just think it's so powerful to have somebody you know give airtime to the actual experience, because it is like an out of body experience from from what I'm hearing from you.
Speaker 2:But I'm so grateful that you touched on the nutrition element, because that's the first thing that I see women struggle in, and especially, like you say, like we, we live in this world now where it's this big hustle culture and it's like go, go, go, go and drive for success and and so when you're stepping aside from that personality into this new role, where we already are conditioned not to have breaks, we don't have time, we've got to get every minute of every day like, tick all of these boxes and get it done.
Speaker 2:We're already probably, you know, in some elements, suffering in nutrition and self care and downtime, and then to, to, to, to, to, to add a child into that mix where, like you said, like it's literally feeding off you and not have the understanding or the awareness on how to prepare ourselves physically, like you know, in the external environment for this. I see a lot with moms where you know the priority is getting the baby fed and, as a result, it gets to three o'clock in the afternoon and they're not even eating themselves or they might, you know, picket some things while they're cooking the baby's meal, but and it's you know it to an outside perspective it might sound simple enough to be like just meal prep, have a meal ready or eat while your baby's eating and all of this. But when you're in survival and you are kind of just doing what you can to get through the moment and that baby is your priority, it's not as easy as just thinking oh yeah, cool, I could have just prepped my fridge and been ready for that.
Speaker 1:It's, it's, it's not that easy, right Totally. And I mean I always tell, I always tell people to like you know, there's nothing a parent can say to any future parent that's going to ruin being a parent for you, okay, because it's going to hit us, it's going to hit you, it's going to hit everybody, like there's no avoiding it. But I think the hardest part is you go from living on like 12 hour cycles as a human, like before children, right, like kind of a 12 hour day, roughly right, like eight to eight, you're up, do the thing and then when you have a baby, you're on a 24 hour life. Now, like now it's 24 hours and so trying to like just I think that helps people to dimensionalize like you really have to change everything, like how you think I mean it's, it's insane, like tell me a time in someone's life outside of motherhood. I mean there are actually probably a lot of different examples, but I think that's what's so challenging about motherhood is you enter into the space and you have to literally figure out how to live completely all over again as a human, and it's super confusing.
Speaker 1:And then there's also frustration because we're adults. It's like, like you said, I've been living and you know I thought like, oh, pretty okay, you know, like to the point where I got to this point, I have family. I'm like spending a family, like I've been, like doing a pretty decent job, like what is this, like this is this is hard. And then you're figuring out how to be a human while you're trying to raise a human, and then you're also trying to like support everybody else through this, like your partner, like helping them understand all the different things that you're going through, what's the babies going through. And then you're trying to help your friends around you like understand, like what you're, what you're going through and how it's affecting you or your family, or your family. And then you're dealing with new relationship dynamics, like, like everybody you've ever known, you have a completely different relationship with including yourself.
Speaker 1:you know, and I actually liked that part about motherhood is like I got to have a new relationship with myself, the one I always dreamed I could have, and so I think that it's like the beautiful part of motherhood. That's really really beautiful if you can get the right support. But it is really challenging time because you're navigating all these different things. And, like I said, gosh, imagine if you're a single mom and you don't have anybody supporting you. Or maybe you've done that by choice, but still it's an equally more difficult challenge and task. Even if you have a partner who's doing like 2% of the share task load, it's still a little something. And so I think there's just all these really challenging dynamics that you've never been faced with that you're having to face all at one time.
Speaker 1:My friend also describes it as like imagine. This is her visualization of motherhood. She says imagine you get hit by a truck, a big Mack truck, 18 wheeler, okay, and then someone throws you into the ocean. But wait, you don't even know how to swim. Okay, so you've been hit by a Mack truck and then you have to go swim in the ocean and then they say wait, wait, here's an entity and good luck, see, on the flip side, and I think that's a visualization that is like how it, how it feels. You know, you just like like what's happening with your bodies to shit and you're like trying to like figure all these things out. And so I think, the more we can get the world to understand and internalize that visualization we just talked about, then we it'll be confusing why we are not getting paid leave, like you know, like fixing maternal health care, worrying about, you know, maternal mental health and all of these different pieces, because it'll be so understood the weight and the challenges that mothers are facing and that we need to support them.
Speaker 2:And what we're talking about, support. You mentioned that you had a bit of a team. You had a great OBGYN, you had a therapist. By the sounds of it, you, by the sounds of it, you got some nutritional education as well. Tell me a little bit about your support team, what that looked like and who was involved, and perhaps as well, any recommendations for moms who have popped out the other end and don't necessarily have a support team, didn't think they needed a support team, and what you're from your experience, you might recommend in those situations.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I love this question. The first thing I didn't even know existed was a pelvic floor therapist. If you don't know what a pelvic floor therapist is, go go live right now and go find one, especially if you're pregnant. Go ahead and make that appointment. Get on their waitlist so that once the baby comes out, you can go insert getting support. Frankly, I feel like one of the frustrations I have with the medical space, which is very different from what I understand having a midwife or a doula, what your experience would be like. There is there's little to no or zero education around all of these additional support players that can be a part of your birthing experience and I think it's such a miss and it's such a sad moment because that would be a great time to start educating moms on this.
Speaker 1:But I'd say pelvic floor therapists and a public law therapist is this amazing almost thing about. Like PT, before you go for your vagina and all the parts that make her beautiful and really what she helps you do, or he or they, for them will help you do and understand how to really get your strength back down there after you deliver, whether you've had a vaginal birth or a cesarean birth as well. They can really support like kind of getting all your muscles and all your fascia working back together. It should. You know now that your body is like delivered a human and so I think that was a huge one that I didn't find out about. And a lot of women are like oh yeah, you know how you just pee. Like you pee your pants now after you have a baby. That's not normal. Maybe it's common, but that's not normal. Okay, like if a dude told you all of a sudden you just give you a call up and he's like 45 years old, like hey, some weird thing happened. Every time I start running I pee my pants. Someone would say go see a doctor, like go talk to somebody. Like that is not standard. So these are all the things that public floor therapist can help you with health therapy. It's all homeopathic. So I recommend that acupuncture, and acupuncture is so incredible. Acupuncturists are amazing, even before you deliver. And even fertility. I actually used one of my really good friends who is an acupuncturist during my second child when we were just having, say, like a fertility issue per se. But I know my body and I know how to listen to my body and I knew that it was taking longer than it should have taken, and so they really helped in kind of connecting things. They're also really, really into and helping with body pain, helping to like loosen up some of the tightness, some of the scar tissue that you may or may not have experienced during, you know, labor or post heartom, etc. Another one is a therapist and honestly I recommend a therapist for everybody. They're absolutely the most amazing and wonderful tool.
Speaker 1:It's odd to me that we have a healthcare system that somehow decides to leave one of our biggest organs that we have. I mean, there's even a doctor for my freaking skin. Well, we're not out here pushing like mental health. I don't understand it. So I think, especially for women, knowing all of the changes that are going to happen during the pregnancy, after the pregnancy, having that just setting that up for yourself is not necessarily going to solve things. There's no therapist solves our issues for us, but it's just starting to have that other person, as my therapist would always say, she's like in the sidecar with me. You know, understanding, helping to kind of let you know if you're in that dark hole before it's so dark you don't even know how to get out it's. Those are the types of resources that I think are so helpful.
Speaker 1:I think I'm trying to think of some other ones that were really, really great.
Speaker 1:Lactation consultants are fantastic, like you mentioned to. Like so many women feel like they're having issues nursing and breastfeeding, but I would say probably a lot of that is like dealing with being tired, being stressed, not dealing, and like not having good education on your nutrition and how much caloric intake and water and liquid you need to be taking, and then also just helping to show you just some little light, tips and tricks and ways to make it a little less intense and painful, and so I think those are some that, like I wasn't quite aware of at the onset of all of these. You know different journeys that I went on that I think were very helpful, and I would just say, start building your team now, because, if you, I never believed in fully rely on the medical system, so I built my own homeopathic like marble team. You know Avengers unite, and we were just out there trying to make sure my health and wellness was like on the right path. So go do it for yourself. Mama, you could do this.
Speaker 2:Oh, you've given us so much value with this episode, but that piece right there, boom Right. So much for everybody. So thank you for that. And you know this is the thing, right, like it's very easy for us to say we don't have time and and very often you know we might have the intention. This afternoon I'll allocate a little bit of time for me, but the schedule fills up with everybody else's agenda before you get the time to insert yourself. So sometimes making these appointments with somebody on the outside for your self care is going to be that little push to actually schedule that self care in for you.
Speaker 2:And the education component I mean you mentioned earlier, like what happens in the season where you've got to have this conversation with your daughters about, you know, their body changes and the mental cycle and sex education. And the reality is we spoke about this transition earlier, about where we were maybe, you know, 50 years ago, in contrast to where we are now as women. And one thing I saw in my journey as a women's health naturopath is women are in their 30s and 40s and have never understood their body or their period or their menstrual cycle, and so, yes, we're in a generation now where we're starting to talk about it, but our parents don't know much about it. All it was was a burden and an inconvenience and embarrassing and shameful. And then the generation prior to that and there's still many traditional cultures around the world where it is a very taboo thing and women are shunned and shamed for having this period.
Speaker 2:So there's this huge lack of education. And then so how is a mother, when we don't know our own body, supposed to educate the next generation? And so I think it's really powerful that you draw on that education aspect. You know, if, if you felt like that lacked in your own life in this new season where you're raising another human being, like educate yourself so that you can give them that best shot, understanding self and the journey. And you know, expect, you've got two little girls, you know womanhood and all of the things. So, gosh, you just get so much value.
Speaker 1:It's critical, it really is Like my daughter, my oldest daughter. She wants to be a doctor and she came out the womb wanting to be a doctor. Like this was not anything I pushed at all. I would love her to be an artist, honestly, but she wants to be a doctor. She loves to take care of people. She's a Libra, so it's like natural with her, like where she's, where she is a dessert.
Speaker 1:And so she said to me the other day we're doing tubby time and she was like looking in the mirror, like at her body, because I've had to spin, like you said, a lot of active energy. I had a lot of like body shaming, role models for me, just like you know a lot of unhealthy habits, and so I've really tried even though it doesn't feel comfortable sometimes at least give her a different starting point To do this like looking at her body and like we got a part that she's like Mommy, I know this is going to be during that, but really love to be able to understand other body parts before I go to the doctor's school. So do you think you could have some time so you could like teach me, mommy, the names of the other parts? She's like seeing that there's like other parts like that are down and I said absolutely, baby girl, we are going to educate you Because the fact that, like even me, I just learned what a vulva was not a Volvo, okay, a Volvo Like what that was like relatively recently, like the clitoris, I just learned, like exactly where that even is, like on a human body, and then on my own body, like very recently, and to your point, it's so, so important because I don't know how you can advocate for yourself if you aren't even able to understand your body and you don't have to know the parts.
Speaker 1:But even understanding, like what's happening within your body, to be able to know like something's off, it's hard to do when you're living in a system where you go to a doctor and they tell you what you're supposed to know about your body and what's happening with your own body. So we have to. We have to have a Reclamation with a little favorite book. Where's that little favorite book up here? I love this book. Pussy, pussy, a Reclamation. I love that.
Speaker 2:I've not seen it all heard of it, but I'm going to grab yourself a copy.
Speaker 1:Follow Mama Gina. She is all about a Reclamation of your body and Reclamation of all those different things, but it really is just about that, you know, taking it back for yourself. So I'm a firm believer.
Speaker 2:Well, before I lead into my next question, let's hope that your daughter, when she makes it into this medical world as sex stance, in that, the change that I'm sure we're about to have a conversation around, that we need to see in the medical model. And you know, can I just ask how old is this, this little one?
Speaker 1:Yes, she just turned five, oh my goodness, and she's already like.
Speaker 2:Mummy, teach me about my body before I go to medical school. She is, she's like, she's so smart.
Speaker 1:She's like. I just want to know she's like. Tell me, she's like. I want you to tell me before they tell me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, five, oh, amazing. So, Tina, I feel, before we even have this conversation, that I'm going to resonate with everything that you said, but it's been to me about, I guess, the professionalism within your medical journey, or lack thereof, and how women can kind of find their own advocacy when it comes to their own body, because you touched on a really valid point. You know, we're told what's quote unquote normal for us.
Speaker 2:I experienced this pride of becoming a natural path, where I knew that my mental health was struggling, my body was changing, all of this stuff was happening and I knew something was wrong. But every time I went to the doctor they would say you know, you've got your BMI's within range, you know you're in your prime and there's nothing wrong with you, and completely invalidating my experience because I fit it within their tick and flick box. And so I would love to hear your experience of this journey, because you've had a pretty lengthy medical experience with the chimera prior to the pregnancy. So yeah, tell me a little bit about this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, what's so wild is that when I was going on this experience of having all these stomach issues, I'd had stomach issues like my whole life and really struggled with trying to figure out what was going on, but it always kind of like ebbed and flowed and eventually like balanced out. So it was never long enough for me to like pay attention to it and like, right, I was like in my 20s and before my 20s and so who is probably bothered with like a stomach ache, like you know, you just eat more sugar later or something you know, like with kids, you know, and so I never really stopped in pause. But then I was in my like mentally 20. And I was just having too many issues and I had been to the Mayo Clinic, I had been to some of the top you know OB-GYNs and whatnot, like where I lived in the country. You know Boston, which is where I moved before. I lived in Maine, which is where I live, and I mean they have some of the best doctors in the world. I mean you Harvard Medical School, all of these great places, and I had so many people look at me, poke and prod and read my test results and look at my test results and tell me eat more fiber. Oh, you're having constipation issues. Okay, here's some medicine. Here's a pill. Oh, this is happening to you like exercise, and I was just like I don't understand everybody. I feel awful. I see this person and that person and that person looking like they're living in this world with some type of comfort and they can eat things that they want and they don't have to think about where the bathroom is everywhere they go. They don't have to like plan out how they're going to travel because they need to like. Literally this is what my life was. I was trying to figure out, like how I could travel with jars of prune juice. Okay, because I was like worried about how I would find it in a foreign country because I knew I was going to have issues like constipation or my digestive tract like working properly.
Speaker 1:And then eventually it got to the point where I was losing so much weight and I become so sick and the changing point for me was finally realizing, through an arduous process was probably about five years of going to do everything that doctors told me to do all the testing, all the exams, everything and they found nothing and I finally sat and this was like the process of go see your, your PCP, your primary care physician, and learn, don't kind of put you on, it's not a select your own adventure. Okay, it's like they put you on this path and tell you oh, go to this doctor that they pick, and then you go to this next doctor that they pick and we all know that it's hard in the medical profession. I'll give them a little bit of benefit or a down over and they got 15 minutes and that's fine, what? And so I finally said this is fucking bullshit and I am going to go on Google and I am a trained professional, so I'm going to do my own research. I'm going to find my own doctors because I had the health insurance.
Speaker 1:People don't realize this. Like, if you have health insurance, like the majority of plans, you don't have to go through your doctors plan. Like, you can literally find your own physicians, you can find your own practitioners, you can do whatever you want. Especially, don't have anything where it's requiring you to have a referral and you can literally like, pick your own plan and you can be your own medical advocate. And that's what I did. I literally researched and found this amazing, brilliant gastroenterologist, dr Brian Clark wasn't him.
Speaker 1:And he had recently graduated from Yale. He was like a new young dad and I'll never forget it. I went into a first appointment with him and he just stopped and he listened and we found like a weird lump in my gut and he was like we need to go look into this. And so he didn't stop Like we did. You know, I had a in this stop with me in a colonoscopy at one point and we didn't find anything and it wasn't just like like that emoji, we didn't find it. See you. Later he was like no, okay, we're going to do an MRI. Okay, cool, now we're going to go do this. And then I'll never forget it Like we finally, when we finally found it you know he gives me a call was like 9am one morning and I was like working from home and my husband was in the shower getting ready for the dinner and the topter tells me he's like.
Speaker 1:You know, christina, we found at the time he's like a 19 centimeter mass in your body and what I learned then is that, like in a medical proportion, they're all about jurisdiction. So give me the downstream terrologist. So he's like, and where your lumps are aren't in your digestive tract, it's down in your reproductive area, so you need to find an OBGYN and then you're gonna have to like they didn't really tell me what was gonna happen next, but I mean, I kind of like figured it out. You know, we're gonna have to like do a surgery and do all these things and basically he helped me get to my OBGYN. Dr Whit it was a network and it was somebody that he recommended and because Dr Whit is so lovely, I would never forget it. I remember calling to book the appointment and I was talking to the nurses that like worked in the front of his office and they were like I said, hey, I got to get this appointment. I don't know. I'm calling around the doctor, should I book it? And they're like look, honey, he just had an opening and people wait for hours to come see this man. Like people come out of out of the country to have him deliver their babies, like get out of his books of the power, of, like how good he is. Even his staff was like come see him and I did and I never looked back. He delivered both of my girls. He delivered Kayla and Zuri and he was absolutely amazing. It's actually part of the reasons why I'm like can I even have a third? Because it's like if it's not him, it feels off. That's really how it started.
Speaker 1:Was me taking it into my own hand, using my own, my own wherewithal, to say what are the qualifications I want in a position Like if I need to go find somebody in the medical space to go heal this, what do I find as a requirement to treat me? Not what they're going to tell me is requirement and then making sure I like got on the books of the people that mattered. But I think the biggest piece that you mentioned that's really hard for a lot of women is that we are not trained to listen to our bodies like at all. Like we're actually taught actually not even just women, to be fair, I feel like in humanity we're not taught to be in our bodies at all Like, and with social media on the rise, we're literally getting all of these things to literally disconnect fully from our bodies and just kind of like float around like the zeitgeist, like as if we're, you know, actually here, and that's just really so detrimental, because I think being able to listen to your body like I said, with my snucket, I knew I needed to go see an acupuncturist, like I just knew it. I knew there was something off of the connection. I was like, okay, I need Eastern medicine, I need them to like kind of connect all my wires and get everything kind of like flowing back on the circuit. And it worked and it did. But it was because I had then learned the skill of listening inward, which is a practice, honestly, and I've continued to really invest in that and I think the more moms can really make this practice of listening inward and that's really what my team is about, that I mentioned earlier, like my whole meal pathic Avengers that are uniting.
Speaker 1:It's about teaching me, supporting me and helping me navigate inward as much as possible so that I can have like the deepest connection with myself, because I think that's what's really the most important.
Speaker 1:I know that a lot of people would dream that you know you have a kid and it's this kind of like perfect 5050 thing that kind of is going to work and like you're going to do 50% of the tasks and they're gonna do 50% of the tasks, but like I don't know what relationship works like that honestly, like friendships, anything like nothing's like dry, like that. You know somebody's here and somebody's here, somebody's here. Somebody's here Sometimes, we're here, but it's not always like that, and I think the way as humans we can really thrive is finding that strength inward within ourselves and that is how you can really overcome like very challenging situations or things that might be a challenge even in the moment in your life. And so that's what I try to always kind of bring back, and I think that's the importance of advocacy, and advocating for yourself is taking the power back, and it starts with you knowing and you saying what's happening and demanding that, demanding that level of care for yourself.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for sharing that, because it is absolute truth. And I think we're in a season of time right now, where it couldn't be more needed to hear this, because I think, with time, we've become complacent in expecting that we can trust the government, expecting that we can trust the GP, expecting that we can like. There's this hierarchy of these people who are trained in a particular area that we're supposed to hand over everything to trust that their word is going to be absolute truth and in doing so, we do disconnect from that intuitive knowledge that we have, that's unique for us, and we just put all of our trust into that, that one person. And it's where, in a day and age where we're starting to see examples of how harmful this has been, you know, with COVID, and starting to recognize that what we thought was truth may be a part of an agenda, it may be a part of capitalism, it may, you know, there's a bigger picture that I think we've all just buried our head in the sand and ignored for so long.
Speaker 2:And so I think, particularly when it comes to the medical world, I mean, there are people that do justice and injustice in every sector. You know myself as a natural path and natural health. There are also people who do a disservice in our industry. Likewise, in the medical profession, and as you touched on you know you have, as a GP, you have to know a little about everything. Can you've got 15 minutes to, and how possibly could you understand what is truly going on for a person like you, what the time that you have is to literally rack your back brain at the database of pharmaceuticals that you could recommend for this particular symptom, right, and so this is where advocacy is so important, because one it needs to be collaborative, like, especially when we start getting handballed to specialists. These people are specialized in one area of the body like gastroenterologists.
Speaker 2:It's got a solely look at the digestive system and the body isn't mechanical, it doesn't work in isolation, it works in synergy. And so this is where I just love this message, because it really is self awareness, understanding the functions of your body, what is actually right, from a unique perspective of what is normal for you, and challenging whether it is quote, unquote normal or whether you just live with it for so long that it's accepted.
Speaker 2:And really starting to understand. You know not only what qualifications do I want, but what kind of care do I want.
Speaker 1:What kind of?
Speaker 2:human do. I want supporting me on this journey. So I want and I hate that this was the journey for you to uncover this valuable information, but I do believe that all of these challenges come through us for us to be able to voice change, and so I am grateful for that aspect of your journey as well.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I can't agree more.
Speaker 2:Now we are at the top of the hour and I just feel like there is so much more I would have loved to have done with you, tina, but I would love to circle back around to where we very first started and I would love for you to share with your community, or with my community, about your community, like, tell us what rebranding motherhood is, tell us what vision you have for the future of rebranding motherhood and, yeah, let us know everything to do with this, because I think you're such a powerhouse voice in this space.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I mean really my mission is so simple it's to eradicate sanitized imagery around motherhood and to offer education, support and just unfiltered stories of motherhood, of the journey, like. I really see this as my legacy that I can leave, almost kind of like documenting my experience through motherhood, in the hopes that when my two daughters become mothers if they want to be, I think they do they already have little babies. They claim their motherhood. Thanks, they can really enter into this in a space that is very different than I had to navigate against, and they can come into this space at least understanding from the beginning how they can work in connection with their body, just under, at least cycle tracking, understanding all of these different alternative homeopathic resources and even all of the non natural resources that they can use to support them living their best life. And so that's really what I want to be able to build with rebranding motherhood.
Speaker 1:And I think one of the really beautiful unintended benefits that has come from rebranding motherhood is this birch-bull village when I tell you our community, like they really rally, like you know, even if they're rallying for me, I honestly feel like it's just a rally across all mothers and when I see how people are just really supporting people and the type of conversations, like I don't really have to scrub the trolls, like I don't have all this negativity that's coming in the space, and I think part of that is just really coming into this brand with an intentionality.
Speaker 1:I spend a lot of time focusing on exactly how I want to communicate. It's never scripted you all see myself it's not scripted but I do have an intentionality to make sure I can remain inclusive, remain open, remain aware and remain understanding that I don't know a lot and I'm really trying to learn so much more and I want to share all the resources and the amazing experts and the beautiful souls and the beautiful story, even the hard story that we don't often talk about. I recently sat down with one of my really good close friends who lost her child at the age of two and we don't talk about the loss of a child within motherhood and my goal is to be able to support you through motherhood in all of the different milestones, not just the pretty cute ones, but the ones that we are actually really going through and the ones that are affecting all of us. So that's kind of the dream state. You all, keep me honest, come see me, give me commentary, keep me honest, but that's really what I'm trying to go do for everybody out there.
Speaker 2:And is it just on Instagram, or are there other ways that people can follow your work and reach out to you?
Speaker 1:Yes, great question. So I have a YouTube channel and I have some really cool conversation, more long form, where you can really kind of see some broader storytelling. And then I'm also on the TikTok. I don't know why it says the TikTok, but I don't feel like I'm young enough to like really be repping the TikTok, so I just call it the TikTok. And then, of course, instagram is the main face, but there's so much stuff coming behind the rebranding motherhood brand. We just expanded. I have a team now, so I actually have some people that are going to be hoping to really support as many moms as possible, and that's really the goal is to be able to have the largest conversation on the widest spanning reach, so that every mom can feel seen and we can relinquish this closeted life we live and turn into a reclamation of our inner goddess power, because moms are fucking incredible. Seriously, we really are. We really are. Amen, sister, right.
Speaker 2:Really are. And, tina, I'm going to add all of your links into our show notes. I will be sending an email out to my community very soon with all of those links so that they can find you and follow along on the journey. And, as I touched on at the top of the episode, storytelling is huge in a healing where we can just feel seen and heard through someone else's story and we can, I guess, be given that permission to have a voice for our own story as well. And I think it's so valuable and I absolutely love what you're doing and I can't wait to watch this space grow. So, for everybody listening, I highly encourage you to seek Tina out rebranding motherhood, and I can only imagine that. You know, in the next couple of years we're going to see this pop and boom and there's going to be so many offerings on the side that. So I'm over here on the other side of the world fangirling you, tina. You're doing an amazing job and you know just for this conversation, I can already say you're an incredible mother.
Speaker 2:You sound like you've got two beautiful, intelligent little young women following in your footsteps, so thank you so much for everything that you bring into this world.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for this opportunity and seriously, I would love to come back and have another conversation Whenever you're ready, we can go in deeper and talk about more. This was such a treat. Thank you, Australia, for letting me come into your world. This is quite an experience, truly.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening. I hope today's episode inspired you and your journey towards wellness. And if you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend, because it'll help you truly understand the information that you've taken in today and, of course, it'll plant the seed for wellness in the life of someone you love. I'd love if you could leave me a review over at Apple Podcasts and let me know what you learned over at social media at Hits All Wellness. I really love hearing the feedback from you, as it helps me to continue to make this show better. And if you want more inspiration from our incredible guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure you sign up for the Wellness Newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at jermainefiletcom. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are so loved, you are so worthy and you matter. Now it's time to go out there and be the best person you can be. Until next time, remember Hits All Wellness.
