BONUS: My Raw & Real 2024 Recap - Month by Month Motherhood Moments

In this bonus episode of the Everwell Mama Podcast, Siobhan takes a heartfelt look back at 2024, reflecting on the personal and professional milestones that shaped her year. From navigating early maternity leave and embracing a peaceful postpartum experience to discovering her calling in wellness coaching, this episode is an inspiring journey of growth and self-discovery. Siobhan shares the pivotal moments that led her to prioritize family, reevaluate her career path, and build a fulfilling coaching practice. Whether you’re a mom seeking balance or someone contemplating a big life change, this episode offers insights on aligning your life with your values, embracing change, and finding joy in the process.

In this episode, you’ll learn

• The power of reflecting on your personal growth and accomplishments.
• How to reframe moments of perceived failure into opportunities for self-compassion.
• The differences between two postpartum experiences and the lessons they bring.
• Why aligning your career with your values is crucial for happiness and fulfillment.
• The importance of self-care as a tool to be your best self for your family and career.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

" I need to be able to be there for my family and not be so burnt out that I can't be the mom and the partner and the worker that I want to be."

"I learned to give myself a freaking break."

"I felt at peace in motherhood, which I don't think everyone can say."

Your Yearly Reflection

Let’s celebrate your wins together! DM me on Instagram @everwellcoaching or email me at siobhan@everwellcoaching.com to share your wins from this year. Whether big or small, they all matter! Let’s chat and cheer each other on as we look forward to the year ahead.

Connect with Siobhan

• Tired of being tired? Go from “Too Tired” to “Ready for Anything” with Siobhan’s 21 Energy Hacks
• Ready to reclaim your energy and wellness, Mama? DM Siobhan on Instagram for details about her coaching services.
• Instagram: @everwellcoaching

About Siobhan

Siobhan Bingham coaches working moms to boost their energy to show up better for their kids, their partner, their work, and themselves. Using her ALIGN framework, she provides personalized strategies to break free from exhaustion and create a daily rhythm that works with your life—not against it.

Transcript

Hey Mama, welcome to the Everwell Mama podcast, the place where we explore simple, sustainable, self care and wellness strategies to help you feel your best while managing your busy life. I'm Siobhan Bingham. A holistic life and wellness coach here to guide you as we uncover practical tools that will actually stick so you can enjoy self care without the guilt trip.

Whether you're a new listener or returning for more, I'm so glad you're here. Let's dive into the next step on your journey to becoming an Everwell Mama.

Hello, hello, welcome back. Today's episode is a bonus episode because usually I have a specific topic that I want to talk to you about, but today I just kind of felt the need and the desire to just kind of talk. I think it is just with it being the end of 2024 as I'm recording this and Wanting to kind of reflect on my year to think about the year that's coming up and all that I have accomplished and all that I want to still accomplish next year.

And I was inspired by those posts on Instagram that were saying, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything this year, but really I've done. This huge list of like amazing accomplishments. I really want to just kind of share my year with you and tell you about the things that I've accomplished. And I would love if you would tell me about the things that you have accomplished.

And again, you can DM me on Instagram. You can email me, just let me know what your year has been like. I'm going to break this down month by month. And I'm just going to kind of ramble on here and tell you kind of the big things that have happened throughout 2024 for me, and we can see what I've learned.

All right. So January, 2024, I learned to give myself a freaking break. Honestly, I was feeling so disappointed with myself and feeling a bit like a failure, but also feeling like, why, why do I even care what people think? Because this was the moment that I decided to go off of work early, even earlier than I had originally thought for my maternity leave.

And again, I was feeling like disappointed. Like I thought that I was going to be able to make it to the beginning of February. I thought that I was going to be able to like do all of these things. And I felt like I was disappointing people and I was letting kids down. But at the same time, like, no, I needed this time.

And it was really, really nice to spend that time with my eldest, just one on one and have that special connection time with her before the new baby came. And then moving on into February, we had a new baby. And so I was in the thick of newborn things. Which was so nice because my first postpartum experience was just like mind bogglingly different.

It was so difficult for me in so many different ways. My second, I just kind of remember looking around at me like, what's different? Like, why does this feel so much better? And I don't think that there is one clear cut thing. There were a lot of different factors at play there. But I think I was really able in February, the thing that I accomplished was I felt at peace in motherhood, which I don't think everyone can say.

Then into March. March was a whirlwind of fun. We got to travel as a family of four out of the country, which was crazy in and of itself. And I remember there were a lot of people that were like, I'm sorry, what? You're traveling with a newborn? You're going to drive 12 hours, stay over one night, and then drive another hour to get on a plane for three hours to then drive for another two hours just to, just to reach your final destination with a newborn and a three year old?

And we were like, yeah, yeah, we are. And it was so fun. And it was honestly amazing. And I felt so powerful and so at peace with everything again. It was just like a really like chill vibe overall. It was really nice to know that I had the capacity and the ability to do that because. I wasn't expecting that I would based on how the first postpartum period went.

And based on the fact that I had two C sections. So just the fact that I was able to do that and that we were able to make such amazing memories together as a family was really, truly a special joy in March. And then in April, we traveled another place, um, to visit with family and, and let. My side of the family meet the baby, which was lovely.

And then it's also April was also my birthday. So I, I was able to celebrate a wonderful birthday again with two wonderful babies and my wonderful supportive partner, whom I love so much. April was really nice. But April, I think, was also kind of the starting point of me being like, I need something different.

The life plan that I had originally envisioned for myself, in terms of career, wasn't playing out how I wanted it to. It didn't feel how I wanted it to feel. I was feeling, when I returned to work, I was then going to be disappointing my kids. And disappointing myself because I wasn't going to be able to make that time to be with them.

And I wasn't going to be able to give them the support and the connection that I wanted to give them. I remember going back to work with my first, just sobbing in the bathroom. And if you're on my email list, you know all about this story. But I was just sobbing in the bathroom, pumping, and just thinking like, I What is our society come to that this is what women have to do?

That we have to be at work crying because we're apart from our babies, because our boobs are so sore from being so full of milk, from having to use these machines to pump us. And I was fortunate enough that my mom was able to care for my eldest, but I think that it would have been even more. difficult if I had had to get her up, get her ready, take her to daycare in the morning before then leaving myself.

And I had a pretty long commute as well, so that was an extra two hours a day that was tacked on to my work day that I wasn't spending with my kids, well with my daughter at the time. And so in April 2024, I was like, I need to change this up. I need to be able to be there for my family and not be so burnt out that I can't be the mom and the partner and the worker that I want to be.

And I have nothing like I really want to make this clear, but I have nothing against stay at home moms. My mom was both a stay at home mom and a working mom at different points in her life. And I think that stay at home moms and stay at home parents in general are invaluable to their families and the work that they do is invaluable to their families.

priceless and they are working 24 7. It's a much harder job. But for me, I know that I personally am not built to be home all day with the kids. I am a much better parent and a much better person to be around when I have that mental stimulation, that learning, that ability to talk to other adults and not be wiping butts all day.

I'm just, I am better at being there and being around when I have that time for a break. And so April was when I started to really question my career plans and what I wanted to do. in this world. And what I was feeling called to do that was aligned with my values at this point, because obviously I have changed significantly since I was 16 and made up my mind that I was going to be a teacher.

Then we get into May. May was the start of spring, my partner's birthday, We were able to really like settle in and do some big projects in our home and outside of our home in order to make it feel even more like us. And this is the month that I really started to figure out that coaching was what was calling to me.

And coaching is what aligned with my values and with what I needed to do. And so in June, I signed up for a certification. I ended up throughout the whole year getting five. It was June that the process fully started. And I was sitting there with my, with my three year old running around the house. My then three month old curled up on me, having her naps.

And I was, I was at school again. I was, I was doing my, doing my studies. I was figuring things out. I was practicing coaching and it was really, really lovely. And I was like, yes, this is what I wanted. And then in July, I went on to do a few more of those certifications. So I, I did a certification in life purpose coaching.

I did a certification and happiness coaching and general life coaching and. Goal setting life coaching, and all of these together gave me the title of master life coach. And this was a great start, but I knew that I wanted to go deeper. I knew that I wanted it to be more targeted because I knew that I wanted to support women in order to live a happier life.

And like, how, how blase is that, right? Wouldn't it be nice if we could all do that? But I wasn't sure how to make that work. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do that, but I knew that I wanted to make sure that other women could feel as happy as I felt in that moment. Then I found wellness coaching and that's what really lit up my heart.

And I was like, yep, this is it. This is the sweet spot for me. And so I signed up for my certification. And throughout the rest of the year, I was working on that. And so we are into August 2024 now. And wellness coaching was life changing. I was able to work with amazing women, both in the program and out.

I had a client work with me for eight weeks to drastically improve her physical pain and her ability to care for herself. And she is the one who made me want to really focus in on supporting moms. Because we are always supporting everyone else. You're always the, the firm pillar, and my mom never really showed me how to do that, you know?

I always joke about this one time when she yelled at me for not knowing how to use tweezers. She had gotten this huge splinter. And she's, my mom's a bit of a baby when it comes to pain. So she got this huge splinter. She's freaking out. She's like, get the tweezers, get the tweezers. So I run to the bathroom.

I find the tweezers were at my aunt's house. So that was a hurdle in and of itself. I don't know where the tweezers are at her house. By the time I get back to my mom with these tweezers, she's like, pull it out, pull it out, pull it out. And so I grabbed the tweezers and I'm trying to use the pokey end to get them out.

And she's like, that's not how you use tweezers. You have to use the flat edge and that's how you get it out. And at the time I was just like, what the hell? Like, how am I supposed to know that? You've never taught me how to use tweezers before. I'm like a 12 year old girl. You don't let me tweeze my eyebrows or any such things.

So like, how would I know that? And I tell this story because there's a lot of things that my mom did teach me. Like, she's one of my biggest role models in this world. She's taught me so much and I love her so dearly. But there's a lot of things that she never taught me, including how to set boundaries for herself, including how to properly care for herself, including how to put her needs on the same level as her kids needs.

She sacrificed everything for us, especially with being a single mom in the end. She really worked so hard. so hard to make sure that we had a better life than she did. And I don't think that my story is, is unique. I think there are so many women that can say that their mom did the same thing, right?

There are so many women who have been my mom, who have sacrificed everything, who are giving up themselves like all the time, all in every way to make sure that their kids are having a better life. And while I am so appreciative of that, and where I am now, as opposed to where I was then, I never learned from her how to care for myself, and especially in that role of a mom.

And that's something that I have had to teach myself, is how to care for myself as a mom, so that I can continue to care for my kids, and continue to show up as a partner, another thing that my mom wasn't able to properly show me, right? So, all of these are important lessons that I was understanding and developing throughout this coaching process and learning more about myself, but also about my clients and my peers in order to really fulfill that need of where am I now and where do I want to be?

And how do I get there? And that is what is so special to me about coaching. Because in my first postpartum period, I did the therapy thing. And I found it very helpful in certain aspects. But I think now knowing what I know, therapy wasn't actually what I needed. I didn't need to go back and unpack my past.

I didn't need to figure out what was so traumatizing about my birth experience. I just needed to know how to get from where I was feeling now to how I wanted to feel about it later. And I think a coach would have been more, more helpful for me at that point to figure out what I needed. Okay. That was a bit of a tangent.

Let's go back. So that was August to September of 2024. Then in October, I started to really dive into the idea of what my coaching business was going to look like. I started to build out things. I started to get things put into place. I started this podcast process. Because I really wanted to make sure that my world, my community that I'm building is something that's meaningful to other moms, it's meaningful to other women, and it's not just me taking up space to take up space.

That is not my desire in any way, especially as an introvert and as a generator, like, that's just not me. I am here to help others to feel better about themselves. I'm here to help others to lift themselves up and to have a community for others to see themselves represented in other people as well. Just like I'm sure my story with my mom isn't unique.

There are a million women out there who have similar stories to you and what you're feeling right now and what your year has been like. And so that is my whole purpose and plan in creating my business is to make a space for us to come together and have these conversations. Have these connection points, have these tools and strategies in order to build ourselves up and to be better in the coming year.

Okay, I feel like I've rambled a lot here. But, just to quickly sum up, October and November. October was a whirlwind. I'm in Canada, that's Thanksgiving, that's my mom's birthday, that's Halloween. All in all, right there, super busy. November was the beginning of the winter season, really. This November, we had a lot of snow, which is totally different from how it was last year.

It hunkering down, setting up good habits and routines. For movement, for health, all of these things. Oh my goodness, and I totally forgot. Back in June, I found out about a medical diagnosis in the family that we didn't know about before. And so, we had to make huge, huge, huge changes to the way that we were eating, the way that we were hydrating ourselves.

The way that the air quality was in our house, like, we had to make huge changes overall to, like, every aspect of our lives. This whole half of the year has been making sure that we are at our best for that health diagnosis as well as making sure that we are at our best for each other. And then December.

December is lovely times because it is busy, busy, busy. We have holiday concerts, we've got all of the cookies that need to be made, we've got holiday cards, I have a great friend who just had a baby who we're super excited about that he has arrived. December is also my daughter's. birthday so that was a big shindig.

Christmas and now we're into new year and so much has been done. Apparently I've been talking for 23 minutes which is insane. I'm sure there'll be a lot of it edited out but next year I'm sure is gonna be even better and I cannot wait for you to tell me how your year has gone and what you are looking forward to most for next year.

All right, Thank you for listening. Bye bye. Thank you so much for tuning in today. You can find the transcript and all the resources mentioned in the show notes below. If this episode was helpful, I would really appreciate you leaving a 5 star rating and review so I can keep making it. Also, I want to make sure this podcast actually answers your wellness questions.

If you've got a specific question about how to implement more wellness into your already filled day, send me a DM on Instagram at everwellcoaching so I can share resources or create a future episode just for you. Stay tuned for our next episode, and until then, remember to take a moment each day to do something that fills your cup, mama.