Ep 58: Slay Your Dragon of Self-Doubt with Returning Guest Katherine Wintsch

It’s Season Four of the Mother’s Quest Podcast! At time of recording we’re on the threshold of spring, a season of new growth and fresh opportunities.

Around this time,  three years ago, I was visited by two birds trapped in my house, and letting them out became a sign for me to slay my self-doubt and choose into living what I now call my E.P.I.C. life.

I could never have imagined that day, that three years later, I’d be releasing my 58th podcast episode, building community with over 600 members from across the world in our Facebook group, and welcoming the fourth cohort of incredible women into my Mother’s Quest Circle experience.

In this first episode of Season Four, I’m honored to host returning guest Katherine Wintsch, releasing this conversation during the week she’s launching her first book, “Slay Like a Mother: How to Destroy What’s Holding You Back So You Can Live the Life You Want.”

One of my very first interviews when I launched the podcast, Katherine’s episode has become a favorite for so many mothers who resonated with her journey from self-loathing to self-love and the premise of her TEDx talk, encouraging us to take off our masks as mothers and release the myth of perfection.

Katherine’s truth-telling and insightful research on modern motherhood has been featured by The Today Show, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company, and she regularly writes about the topic of modern motherhood for Working Mother magazine and now on the Slay Like a Mother platform.

As CEO of the company she founded, The Mom Complex, she dedicates her life to making the lives of mothers easier, working with companies like Johnson and Johnson and Unilever to help develop better products and services for mothers. With the debut of her book, Slay Like a Mother, she’s on a mission to help mothers around the world destroy what’s holding them back, the dragon of self-doubt, so they can live the life they want.

I think you’ll find a lot to light your way, as Katherine and I delve deep into how she conquered her self-doubt and practiced the dance between hard work and letting go in order to get her book published, persevering through 23 rejections in the six year process. She shares highlights of some of her favorite practices and perspective shifts from the book along all the E.P.I.C. guideposts. And then Katherine gives us an important challenge to raise our own awareness and challenge our negative thought patterns. A simple, though not easy shift, that can make a tremendous difference.

For me, the idea that I would forever defeat my dragon didn’t feel likely. But, inspired by Katherine’s metaphor, and something one of my clients shared recently, I’m holding a visual picture of my dragon as a baby one, strapped into the car seat in the back of the car, far from the wheel and the ability to derail my course as I travel the road of my E.P.I.C. life this season. What picture do you want to hold of your dragon?  I hope you’ll join us in the Mother’s Quest community and share your thoughts.

Much appreciation,

P.S. Check out the announcements below and pay this forward to a friend who may be interested.

This Episode is Dedicated by Brooke Markevicius:

Brooke Markevicius is the Founder and CEO of MOMentum Marketplace and host of the podcast, MOMentum Radio.  MOMentum is a marketplace of goods  and services powered by moms and is on a mission to get moms paid so they can lead a flexible life. You can learn more and join our beta by going to the link below.

www.MOMentumMarket.io www.MOMentumMarketplace.io/podcast  www.Twitter.com/momentumpod www.instagram.com/momentummarket

In This Episode We Talk About:

• The epic journey to publishing her book, Slay Like A Mother. What inspired her to write it and the story behind its publishing.
• The Dragon of self-doubt, your worries gone wild, and how it can become a beast that eats you up if you don’t break free.
• The Cherokee “Two Wolves” metaphor/analogy and how you starve and weaken your Dragon through feeding yourself with self-love.
• How to think of a recurring negative voice as nothing but an echo and the power of speaking back to it.
• The perspective that development happens in spirals and not in a straight line.
• Katherine’s mindful bedtime routine with her children and what her son has said about her upcoming appearance on the Today Show
• Acknowledging structural and systemic barriers to happiness and the distinction between struggle and suffering
• How being overly busy is an amnesia for an empty life
• Putting yourself first on the calendar and how Katherine sets color-coded recurring meetings for yourself
• Finding the guides and the importance of asking for help.
• Katherine’s specific challenge for us, that I hope you’ll say yes to also, to catch ourselves in the act of speaking negatively to ourselves. Practice saying “That’s not true!” to that voice
• The negative voice as a shadow behind us. All it needs is our awareness to shine a light and make that shadow dissipate.
• Lessons Katherine and I both learned since our last conversation 2 years ago.

Resources Mentioned:

• Katherine’s Book – Slay Like a Mother: How to Destroy What’s Holding You Back So You Can Live the Life You Want
• Mother’s Quest Podcast Episode 2 with Katherine
• Umasking Motherhood (Katherine’s TEDxRVA talk)
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Mom Complex
• Katherine’s blog post that tells the story of the Cherokee story of the Two Wolves
• Ep 55: From Grief to Advocacy and a Circle of Mothers with Trayvon Martin’s Mother Sybrina Fulton

Learn More About Katherine Wintsch:

Katherine dedicates her life to making the lives of mothers easier. In her role as founder and CEO of The Mom Complex, she works alongside companies such as Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Chobani and Unilever to help develop better products and services for mothers. And as author of the personal empowerment book, Slay Like a Mother, she’s helping mothers around the world destroy what’s holding them back so they can live the life they want.

Katherine’s sought-after research on modern motherhood has been featured by The Today Show, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company, and she regularly writes about the topic of modern motherhood for Working Mother magazine and on the Slay Like a Mother platform.

In 2016, Katherine was named Advertising Women of New York’s “Working Mother of the Year,” an award given to women who have achieved outstanding business results while also serving as strong role models at work, at home, and within their communities.

www.momcomplex.com www.slaylikeamother.com www.katherinewintsch.com www.facebook.com/SlayLikeaMother www.instagram.com/slaylikeamother

Announcements: Mother’s Quest Circle

Applications Close Tomorrow, March 22!!

If you’re on a quest to live an E.P.I.C. life, on the threshold of a new chapter, but feeling uncertain or challenged by the path ahead, and want to be in community on your journey, the Virtual Mother’s Quest Circle may be the source of connection you’re looking for.

The Mother’s Quest Circle provides inspiration, coaching and community for an intimate group of no more than 8 women who are ready to say “yes” to:

Reflect together, in a community of like-minded mothers, on what matters most To consciously live their version (not someone else’s) of an E.P.I.C. life To take bold action toward one of the E.P.I.C. life guideposts before the end of the sessions To hold space for sharing, coaching, and championing one another

If you’re looking to create big shifts in your life or impact in 2019, the Circle is a great way to make an investment in yourself and what matters most to you. Apply here.

Special 45 Minute Clarity Coaching Sessions…in honor of Ryan’s birthday and my 15 years of motherhood!!

Ever worked with a life coach? It’s a bit like this video with Cookie Monster above 

Not really, but if you’d like to get a “taste” of what it’s like to have a coach holding space for you and championing you on your quest, I’ve set up special rates if you book in the month of March, to celebrate the month my first son was born and I became a mother.

For $90, bring any question or intention you want to explore to a 45 minute coaching session. We’ll get you to clarity about what you want, why it matters, and one key action step together. We can also explore future possibilities for working together if that’s something you seek.

Reply to this email if you’re interested and I’ll reach out to get you a spot on the calendar.

Holding five spots at this rate, so don’t delay if this is calling to you.

Spark Your E.P.I.C. Year

Anyone else not have your year start the way you hoped?

A month ago, I declared February the new January and facilitated a Mother’s Quest Workshop/Virtual Milestone Hike experience to help us all start again.

Using photos from my favorite local hike, I took a small group on a virtual journey to:

Reflect on our last chapter (as we ascend) Decide what we want to release (using an image of a big bad bonfire!) and what we want to carry forward Then, set intentions along the E.P.I.C. guideposts for our new chapter.

There’s a special planning sheet we created to guide you and help you document the whole process.

Truthfully, we can start fresh any time we choose.

If you decide you want to reset and begin again, today, this afternoon or this weekend, using this experience and worksheet to support you. Just sign up here.

Punta de Gloria Resort

Seven years ago, I found my first individual coaching client in Lisa Valerio, mindful mother to an autistic son. Learn more about how our work together sparked Lisa’s epic creation of a resort in the Philippines and why she’s signed up for the next cohort of the Mother’s Quest Circle. Read here.

Acknowledgements:

A big THANK YOU to our “patrons” for helping to bring these conversations to myself and other mothers through financial and/or in-kind support:

Brooke Markevicius Democracy Clothing Michael Skolnik Helgi Maki Kari Azuma Tamara Sobomehin Katie Krimitsos Carrie Caulfield Arick Rachel Rosen Chandra Brooks Jen Simon Monisha Vasa Celia Ward-Wallace Vanessa Couto Desiree Adaway Rachel Steinman Katie Hanus Denise Barreto Sage B. Hobbs Samantha Nolan-Smith Jody Smith Emily Cretella Collette Flanagan Titilayo Tinubu Ali Carly Magnus Hurt Lizzy Russinko Suzanne Brown Mara Berns Langer Mallory Schlabach Katharine Earhart Jessica Kupferman Jen Jenkins Dohner Genese Harris Tonya Rineer Liane Louie-Badua Cristin Downs Erin Kendall Niko Osoteo Erik Newton Claire Fry Divya Silbermann Rachel Winter Caren and Debbie Lieberman Cameron Miranda Fran and David Lieberman Debbie and Alan Goore The Sustainable Living Podcast

Support the Podcast

If you’d like to make a contribution to Mother’s Quest to support Season Three of the Podcast and/or help provide coaching scholarships for mothers, follow this link to make a contribution.

If you would like to “dedicate” an upcoming episode to a special mother in your life, email me at julie@mothersquest.com

Mother’s Quest is a podcast for moms who are ready to live a truly E.P.I.C. life.

Join in for intimate conversations with a diverse group of inspiring mothers as they share how they are living an E.P.I.C. life, Engaging mindfully with their children (E), Passionately and Purposefully making a difference beyond their family (P), Investing in themselves (I), and Connecting to a strong support network (C).

Join our community of mothers to light the way and sustain you on your quest at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersquest/