105. Practicing What I Preach: An Honest Update for Ambitious Moms This Summer

There's something a little uncomfortable about spending an entire summer series talking about slowing down — and then white-knuckling your way through a weekly release schedule anyway.

I noticed it. And I decided to do something about it.

In this short solo episode, I'm sharing an honest update about where I am this summer, why new episodes are going on pause until fall, and why choosing this actually feels like one of the most aligned decisions I've made in a while. If you've been struggling to give yourself permission to slow down this season — even when everything in you says you should — this one is for you.

In This Episode:

- The honest truth about where my energy is going this summer (and why it's a good thing)

- Why pushing out weekly content started to feel like it was working against everything I've been talking about

- The ambitious mom / present mom tension — and what it actually looks like to choose presence when it costs you something

- What I'm coming back with in the fall

- How to stay connected this summer while new episodes are on pause

Resources & Links:

- 🌿 Join the Present Mom Summer Practice — a free 6-week email series for moms who want to actually feel present this summer, not just try to be. This is where I'll be showing up all summer long: https://experiencemotherhood.myflodesk.com/summer-of-grace

- 📖 Grab the free Busy Mom Guide: https://experiencemotherhood.myflodesk.com/busy-mom-guide

- 🌿 Interested in a deeper space beyond the podcast? Join the interest list: https://experiencemotherhood.myflodesk.com/a-place-to-go-deeper

If this episode gave you permission to breathe a little easier this summer, the best thing you can do is share it with a mom who needs to hear it. And leave a rating and review — it takes two minutes and genuinely helps other moms find this community. Thank you for being here.

Experience Motherhood more!

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Until next time. . . Go Experience Motherhood!


Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only. In no way is this therapy or clinical advice.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Motherhood is beautiful, but let's be real, it's also overwhelming. If you're a mom who loves her kids fiercely but also has ambitions beyond the carpool line, you might be feeling something else too. Torn. You're keeping everything running, managing the schedules, the meals, the mental load, but you're also craving something more. Maybe it's your career, your creativity, or just remembering who you were before everyone needed something from you. And the guilt of wanting both, it's exhausting. From the outside, you look like you have it all together, but inside you're stretched thin, wondering if you have to choose between being a great mom and becoming the woman you're meant to be. Here's the truth: you don't have to choose between both. I'm Liz Emmerich, licensed therapist, mom of three, and someone who deeply understands the both and tension of motherhood. This is Experience Motherhood, the place where we dismantle the myth that you have to do it all or lose yourself. Through honest conversations with experts and moms in the trenches, you'll get mental health insights, grounded encouragement, and permission to build a life that honors every part of you. Let's live motherhood fully, honestly, and together. It's time to experience motherhood. So I have something a little different to share with you today, and it really does feel a little vulnerable, but it also feels really right, and I know I need to share it. So it feels a little ironic that the last few episodes I have been sharing a lot about this amazing summer email series that I'm offering this summer. I'll talk more about here in a minute, but it's all about slowing down, being present, and basically just not, you know, white knuckling your way through the season. And I've realized that I actually need to live that way. So in the past on the podcast, I have typically really planned that I was going to take the summer off really because I did want to be present with my kids. It's a lot of work, as you know, as a mom, when your kids are in a totally different schedule. So whether maybe you work less in the summer to be with your kids, maybe your kids are in a trillion different camps, maybe it's, you know, they're in daycare camp every day or whatever it is, or some wide range of a mix of all of this. Um, but whatever your season is, summer is just really difficult. And I think leading up to this summer, I really had big goals of wanting to really have new episodes releasing every week. That is my desire. I am ambitious. I'm talking to you also, who is ambitious, and we want to do it all. But the reality is as I was preparing for what kind of episodes I wanted to do this summer, I just kind of kept hitting this realization that I need to have my focus elsewhere. And so I'm going to talk about that a little bit today. I want to be really authentic with you. This is really not very scripted at all, which is probably good. But yeah, I want to just share that, you know, my energy lately, because I'm ambitious and have big dreams, is that I'm building my private practice, Creek Side Counseling, and it's turned from a solo practice into a group practice with two amazing clinicians. And this has all been happening behind the scenes, not involved with the podcast or experience motherhood at all. This is my private practice business, and it's grown a ton in, I guess it's been a little over six months. So I went from solo to having two amazing clinicians and growing into this group practice. And there's a lot of behind the scenes work that is so important to me to provide good quality care for the clients that we serve in our community. I want to be able to serve my clinicians with amazing opportunity to build their caseloads and to support them, not only as a clinician, but also as a whole person. And so there's just been a lot of going on behind the scenes that I just haven't had maybe the energy of where I would want it to be to grow this podcast over the summer. I've really hit a point recently where I thought maybe I could kind of batch a few um episodes and release them over the summer. But in all honesty, we all just went through the month of May and it's insane. It is insane every year. I cannot believe that we forget how insane May is. There is just so much going on between the end of school and kids and schedules and sports, and then throw in the regular work stuff, or if you're growing in work or life stuff. I mean, I know people who are dealing with health crises right now on top of everything else that happens in May. So I just want to name that there is just so much going on, and it's so important to me that I love talking about being present and being true to your values that it would feel so weird to not follow what I'm preaching. And so I am not going anywhere. I am still going to be doing the podcast, but there aren't going to be new episodes this summer, at least at the moment. Maybe I'll throw in one or two if I have something to say and have the time, but I will be returning in the fall with some fresh episodes, some just amazing guests. They've been waiting to schedule our interviews, and I need to get on that. Um, so I just am so excited to have so many amazing women and moms on this podcast so that we can all feel like we're in community together. So for me, I want you to hear that it's actually really hard. This is really hard for me to take a pause on the podcast episodes because I have big dreams for this podcast. And I want it to reach more ears because I know how important it is for us to feel like we're not alone in our motherhood journey. And so I really want you to just know that everything that I share on this podcast really is from me. It's true of my values. And because I talk so much about being present, because I want to be with my kids and I love summer, you guys. Like I, I mean, I don't love the humidity and I do not like bugs, but I love everything else about summer. I can't wait to go to the pool. I can't wait to just play outside with my kids. I just love summer in that way. And so I gotta be present. I need to take something off my plate so that I can still run my creekside counseling business. I can still support my clients the best I can, and I can still be the mom that I feel really called to be and what aligns with my values. And so I want to encourage you, just take a minute. You know, I think we have put so many expectations on what summer should look like, could look like, but I want you to tap in. If you've got feelings that are coming up of like, this doesn't feel right or it feels too much. You know, feelings don't give us all the facts, but they are huge pointers into that something's going on and we need to check in with that. And I think that's where I kept having this feeling of like, I just, I didn't know what I wanted to share on the podcast. I didn't know what episodes would be really impactful for you. And I didn't want to just put out content to put out content. I I want this to really be valuable, something that maybe I'm learning, something that you could take away, something that I feel like us as moms could use. And sometimes it's just fun stuff, you know, like recipes that might help you in a busy season. And sometimes it's more serious stuff. But yeah, I didn't feel comfortable just pushing through the summer. And I'm in a group coaching mastermind, I guess you would say. And one of the therapists, I was sharing my feelings about the podcast, and one of the therapists in the group just called me out and was like, you just don't sound excited to do the podcast this summer. And oh my gosh, was she spot on? Um, and if you're listening, you know who you are. If you said that to me. Um, but I think I just needed to name it and have someone name it for me that yeah, I actually do love doing the podcast. I want you to hear that. But I also, yeah, I'm not excited about it in the summer because that means it takes away more time from my kids. And I want to be with my kids in the summer. They're off school. Like I only do get so many years with them in the house. And I want us to be a family together as much as possible. So this has been such a ramble of an episode. But hopefully you're hearing my heart, you're hearing where I'm coming from. And I want to introduce you to that same experience because I've been talking about it before on several episodes, but there is a present mom summer practice email series that I'm launching. You can, it's actually already launched, so you can join it anytime because I know everybody's summer starts a little differently, but it is a six-week email series. It's not a course, it is not homework. It really just meets you where you are. It's right in your inbox. Um, and it'll be here for six weeks this summer. Just gives you an opportunity to kind of reframe. It's a little bit of my stories, a little bit of just encouraging us to slow down. And again, I talked even last week. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to do nothing to slow down, but you have to be intentional. You have to be aware of what you're doing in the moment. And for me, it's not necessarily slowing down the summer, but I just need to reprioritize a little bit. And perhaps you do too. So if this is at all on your heart or mind, or you're like, I would love to be more intentional with my summer, or maybe you do want to slow down, whatever that feels like for you, I would love for you to join this email series and you can grab that link in the show notes. Just join. It's one email a week, not a big deal. Like I said, there's absolutely no pressure in it. It's really just an opportunity for us to check in with ourselves and have the summer that we desire and that's aligned with our values. So I just want to thank you all so much for always listening to this podcast. Thank you for sharing it with your friends. Um, it really means so much. If you haven't left a review or rated this podcast, please do. It means so much to me. I read those comments. It really does help shape what this podcast is going to become. And I cannot wait to come back in the fall with fresh energy, fresh episodes. And I will be sprinkling maybe some throwbacks over the summer that I know were really popular episodes, and maybe you haven't heard them, or maybe you have and you want to re-listen. But I just want you to know that I will see you all in the fall. And I hope this summer gives you exactly what you need. Let's go experience motherhood. Thank you so much for joining me today, and I hope this episode really brought so much value to your experience in motherhood. Please take a minute to rate and review this podcast and make sure that you're subscribed so you don't miss the next new episode. Until next time, go experience motherhood. The Experienced Motherhood Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing shared on this podcast should be considered clinical advice or a substitute for individualized mental health care. Although I am a licensed professional clinical counselor, this podcast does not establish a therapeutic relationship. If you're needing support, please reach out to a qualified mental health provider near you. If you're in crisis, contact your local emergency services or the 988 Suicide in Crisis Lifeline.