A Fresh Joy For Frazzled Mums with Amy Jones

What if the fastest way to a calmer home isn’t a new chore chart but a steadier nervous system and a clearer sense of who you are? We sit down with Amy Jones, founder of A Fresh Joy, to unpack a path from burnout to purpose that starts inside and flows out into the daily rhythms that hold a family together. Amy shares her move from a decades-long corporate career to coaching overwhelmed working mums, sparked by anxiety, a supermarket panic attack, and a faith-led nudge she couldn’t ignore.

We break the cycle of “try harder” by starting where stress actually lives: your body’s survival responses. Amy explains why familiar negative thoughts become neural grooves and how short, simple regulation practices make room for better choices. From there, we pivot to identity: when survival mode shrinks your world, you forget what you value and who you’re becoming. Re-anchoring identity (grounded in faith for many) turns pressure into purpose and gives every routine a reason.

Only then do the home systems click. Instead of chasing a perfect pantry, we look at the house as an ecosystem and design for real bottlenecks. Amy’s “socks-and-shoes station” in the kitchen solved morning meltdowns by honouring sensory needs and proximity, not by adding punishment or waking earlier. 

You’ll hear a practical, compassionate framework: regulate the nervous system, reclaim identity, then build simple, flexible routines that reduce decisions and share the mental load. Along the way we name the two biggest blockers (shame and the belief that you are the problem) and offer kinder scripts and tiny steps that stack into lasting change.

If this conversation helps you breathe a little deeper and imagine a simpler way through your week, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs fresh hope, and leave a review so more mums can find the show. Your next small win starts today.

Follow Amy @afreshjoy for further inspiration.

Transcript

Welcome And Mission Of The Show

Mel 0:37

Welcome to Beyond Organised, the podcast that helps you simplify your life and amplify your purpose. I'm Mel Schenker, life coach, speaker, founder of She's Organised, but, more importantly, a wife and mum of four little kids. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, like you're constantly juggling everything but never quite catching up, this is the place for you. Here we go beyond just the tidying up and creating systems. We're talking about real life strategies that bring order to your life, but also we talk about the things beyond the organising, the things that really matter, like your parenting relationships and so much more. So grab your coffee and let's dive in. Welcome back to another episode of Beyond Organized. I have the lovely Amy here, and this time I am going to get Amy to introduce herself to you all.

Amy 1:11

Hi everybody. My name's Amy Jones, and I am the founder of A Fresh Joy. With my company, what I do is I help overwhelmed working moms who are just feeling the pressures, feeling the mom guilt, all those types of things that we all feel at times, but just totally overfunctioning, overburdened. And so what I would do is really help them to silence that inner critic and to put rhythms and routines in place inside their households so that they start to see themselves the way God sees them and they have a fresh joy. They start getting a fresh joy inside their homes and hearts. So that's what a fresh joke is all about.

Mel 1:55

I'm so excited. I'm so excited to have you on the show. Welcome. Thank you.

Amy 2:00

I'm so excited to be here.

Mel 2:03

Thank you. I just wanted to start by saying we are in the same space, and I love that. I love that we are, we're not competing for starters. For anyone that's out there that's thinking, what? What's happening? We're not competing. We're not competing at all. I love that we're in the same space. Secondly, I will just highlight the fact, yes, my voice does not sound normal today, and that's okay. I've just gotten it back. So forgive me if I do sound a little bit dull today, but that's okay because I'm not doing most of the talking. I'm gonna let my good friend Amy here do a lot of the talking today. So, Amy, I would love to hear what inspired you to do the work that you're doing.

Amy 2:44

Yeah, it's really interesting because there were two parallel paths going on at once, but each path didn't know about the other path. So the first one was um, you know, I'm a working mom. At the time I worked in corporate, I spent 30 years in the corporate world doing a lot of what I'll be doing now, but in a corporate sense. So um healthy businesses put systems and and things into place. And so now I'll be helping people do that, which is a lot more fulfilling, by the way.

Mel 3:12

Yeah. Yep.

Amy 3:13

Um along with that, you know, I had two kids, went through a divorce. There are lots of things that happened, some some major issues with my children at different times. And, you know, life just piled on. And I was working a lot. I was, you know, climbing that corporate ladder as much as I could and starting to make like a name for myself within my my companies that I've worked for. And burnout is a funny thing because it sneaks up, right? Like, you don't wake up one day and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm all of a sudden burnout. It's it starts small, right? So you're like frustrated and you think, this is what I did, is I thought, like, well, once I get past this season, we'll get back to normal. And then it just like it just the next season then kicks in the next season. I realized like this is how life is now. This is this is my life. Like, I'm just frazzled, I'm burnout. Um health problems, you know, it starts with the migraines and some tight neck, you know.

Mel 4:19

I still have the stiff neck.

Amy 4:22

I know, and then and then it gets worse, you know, you start getting gut issues. And for me, I really started having like it got so bad that I would be at the grocery store. I can remember being at the grocery store having an actual panic attack because you know, it was time to make dinner. We didn't have ingredients, I didn't have a meal plan or any kind of because I didn't have time to make any kind of plan. Um, and so I'm at the grocery store trying my best to figure out like, okay, what's everyone gonna eat? And I got to get back before the meltdowns begin and and all those sorts of things. And I just started having like a panic attack. And I didn't know that's what it was. Um, so went to the cardiologist and I'm totally fine. But meanwhile, when all that started, um, I heard a message loud and clear from God. And he said, Amy, I want you to help hurting people. Um, this makes me emotional. I want you to help hurting people find who they are in Christ. And I knew it wasn't my own thought, it was just like almost like a download. And I was like, okay, great. Like, let's go. What do we do? What do you want me to do?

Mel 5:29

And it's so cool. I'm sorry to cut you off. It's just the the fact you said download, that is the exact word I use for the way God asked me as well to that. It was like, it was just this download of like, are you going to help the women? It was more of a question because he goes, I've asked other people before you, and they've either said no, or they've started and they've given up. Are you going to keep going all the way? And I'm just like, I don't know what I'm getting myself into. But he gave me a full download. This is the business name, this is what you'll be doing, this is who you'll be helping. Ah, it's crazy. Sorry to cut you off. I'm just like, oh my gosh, it's amazing how he works.

Amy 6:12

It's so parallel.

Mel 6:14

Yeah.

Amy 6:15

Yeah, he gave me the business name as well two years later. Um, he drew me to um Isaiah 29.19, which says, the humble, the humble shall receive a fresh joy from the Lord. Oh, oh, that's so beautiful.

Mel 6:32

Isn't it just so it just does something inside your soul and it's just like this is all working out, it's lining up, God's in this, it's gonna work.

Panic, Faith, And A New Direction

Amy 6:42

Right. And so I have that like constantly in the back of my mind, right? And but I'm too busy to do anything with it. Um, and I posted on Instagram, on a different account, a lot of Bible verses and things like that, but I wasn't really, I knew that wasn't the thing. Then I became really disillusioned with my corporate career, just really it wasn't, I decided it wasn't like where my heart was, it wasn't where my calling was. And I think the Lord just really put it on my heart that you need to be done with this. And so I was wrestling around with that. Like, like, how am I gonna do this? And um then I got laid off.

Mel 7:22

Oh, oh gosh, that's not great because it's never in our timing, is it?

Amy 7:30

Um I wasn't upset about it. They gave us a chance to um apply for like another position, but I decided not to. I decided I needed to just move on and start this for real.

Mel 7:44

I'm in disbelief. My previous job, um, they did a massive restructure and they offered me positions in what was pretty much seemed a downgrade to what I was doing, and I just didn't want to do it. I left, but I did go into banking. So I'm in a startup banking thing, even at the moment, but part-time. But that this is it. Like my business is is it. This is where I want to go. But there are so many layers to what you're saying that I'm like, there is a parallel here.

Amy 8:15

You know, it's incredible how so I'm having a freak out. This is like a divine appointment, I think. Sorry, keep going. Yeah. So then in June of last year, I opened the doors for a fresh joy. And so here I am today on your podcast.

Mel 8:34

Oh, good on you. Good on you. I'm so excited. I've been looking through your Instagram and loving your content. It's just, yeah, your yours looks much prettier than mine. You're you've got good stuff. You've got a lot of really good stuff. So I'm sure anyone that's listening to me and obviously wants to, you know, get a little bit more organized, wants to help around the home, then check out Amy as well, because her stuff is amazing. But anyway, I I could talk about how amazing you are forever, but let's keep going. So, how how do you help people exactly? And what's your process or your way of going about things?

Amy 9:17

There's really like three buckets or or pillars that I look at it as. The first one is really about renewing your mind. And I can completely geek out on everything neuroscience. I've I've been studying it for like the last two years, and I just cannot learn enough about it. Yeah. And that's exactly where I ended up starting. I I worked with a coach, um, and she really helped me to see that my nervous system was just frazzled, and I was operating out of just total survival mode. I was in fight or flight or freeze. A lot of times I would freeze. That's kind of my go-to. You can't reason your way out of drain stem logic.

Mel 10:03

Yeah, no. It's built-in survival.

Amy 10:06

It is. And what I learned through that process was that the more you have certain thoughts that your nervous system feels are threats, the more it reinforces it. So those neural pathways get deeper and deeper and deeper the more it goes. So, you know, when I'm sitting here telling myself, you're such a bad mom. Why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you doing this? You know, your neighbor does it this way. Why can't you do it that way? Why won't your kids do this? Why, you know, all the bad mom talk that I was telling to myself. Like I wouldn't say that people, why would I say it to no?

Mel 10:47

It's horrible to say to anyone else, but yet somehow it's okay to say to ourselves.

Amy 10:51

Yeah. And so it just went on repeat. And that's what that's what our nervous system does is it looks for what's familiar. And if it's not encounters something that's not familiar, it sees it as a threat. So it was safe with me saying the same terrible things. I mean, it didn't know they were terrible because it's just brainstem level.

Mel 11:15

Yeah.

Amy 11:16

So really starting with the the nervous system and the mindset is a key aspect. We break down limiting beliefs that are keeping women stuck that we don't even know we have, cultural conditioning, family, sometimes family pressures, and of course Pinterest and YouTube. Yes.

Mel 11:38

All of them. Trying to be Pinterest perfect. Yeah.

Launching The Business And Shared Paths

Amy 11:40

Yeah, possible. And, you know, we look at we see all these women on Pinterest, Pinterest and Instagram. And to us, they could be a hundred women that we're watching, but in our minds, we think it's one woman and that we should be that one woman who's all of those things. Um, so really breaking down that mindset and those limiting beliefs, and then really looking holistically at like, what are the unsolved problems that are in your life and in your environment? And, you know, I don't mean like my husband and I fight every day, or I can't stand it that he leaves dishes in the sink. We dig deeper, a lot deeper. So it's like, okay, what is it about the dishes? Like, what's the real unsolved problem here? What is it? Is it that they remind you that uh you have a million undone tasks and it you just start ruminating every time you see the dishes about everything else that's undone? You get paralyzed, yeah. And then you're right, or you're irritable, snapping at everyone. Or maybe it maybe it represents that you think you're lazy. You know, it it could be many, many things. It's not just dishes in the sink. And so we abstract it from, you know, the husband did this, or the husband didn't do this, or the daughter did this and didn't do that. Um, we focus on like what is the core issue, and then we go through a prioritization. And so there's lots of different factors that go into that. I like to do things like really systematically. I'm just a systems person on a systems. So we go through that systematically, prioritize and and um put together like a roadmap. So I did software product management for a long time, and and that's really what we did, you know, with the businesses we supported. And so it's it's really second nature at this point for me. And then the second phase or second um pillar is identity. When you're doing everything for everyone else, you lose it. You are. You don't even I know I've had situations where I looked in the mirror and I'm like, who even am I? Like I I don't know what I think, I don't know what I feel, I just feel numb. Um, and so your identity just starts to fade when you're in survival mode. So we really focus on, you know, what do you want your life to be? Because when when you're in survival mode, your world shrinks.

Mel 14:16

Yeah. You can't think beyond today.

Amy 14:20

All the possibilities, your creativity really goes on the back burner because you're just trying to live through the day. And so helping helping her really expand um into other possibilities as her nervous system gets settled, then that creativity can open up and she can begin with help, you know, to see those those possibilities out there. And and this is where we spend time as well, looking at what the Bible says about who we are.

Mel 14:48

Yeah, who God created us to be.

Three Pillars: Mindset, Identity, Home

Amy 14:51

Yeah. When we're in Christ, we're a whole new creation, right? And and we we we're cherished, we're beloved, we're set apart, we're all these things that we don't know that we are um at the time. So really either re-anchoring her in those truths or for people who don't already know that, it's walking them through that and helping them see the beauty of it. And it's it's it's um it's not pressure, it's purpose, right? Yeah. And so working through that. So with stages one and two, your nervous system is calm, you're out of fight and fight or flight, you're able to see possibilities, and you know, you get really firm in in who you are and what you want. And that's when we can start really getting to the practical aspects of okay, let's look at your home. Um, and let's look at it as like a complete ecosystem, not just like this room, that room, the closet, the drawers. How does everything work together? How does everything affect everything else, the stuff and the people, right? And really start to um break that down and start thinking about um how things how things can change in your environment to s to support you and your family. I have one um one example that I always go back to is when my son was little, um, he's autistic. We just had the worst putting on shoes, fucks and shoes in the morning was about it was really, really, really hard. Like we would be late to school sometimes because of it. And like I tried getting up early, I tried punishment, I tried all these things, nothing worked. And then one day I realized maybe I should just get really curious about what's going on here.

Mel 16:45

Maybe it's not defiance, maybe it's it's a sensory thing, it's a yeah, yeah.

Amy 16:53

So what we ended up doing was um I made like a socks and shoes station like in the middle of our kitchen. Yeah. Because he always wanted to be near me, and that was like kind of our area. And so I just I had to get really creative, which I couldn't have done if my nervous system wasn't calm. So we he had his little station for getting ready there. Um, you know, and who says your socks have to be across the house in the bed, right? It's fine.

Mel 17:23

Um, if that's what works for you, then that's the whole point, isn't it?

Amy 17:27

Yep, that's great. So that's kind of one example um in my own life of how I've applied some of that, um, putting those systems into place.

Mel 17:37

That is so good. And there's just so much in what you're saying that just lines up with not just how I do things, but what I feel God has led me in as well, in the whole beliefs and identity and all these things.

Amy 17:54

Oh, yeah.

Mel 17:54

God's given me that same sort of framework as well. And I I love that because I feel like from what you're saying, I'm not, I I could see how a lot of people would be like, oh, she's doing the same as me. Oh, oh no, we're we're competitors. And because I have I have come across that. But for me, I'm just hearing, God, you're so good. You're like, you're consistent. You're doing, you're saying the same kind of thing to me as you are to Amy. And that's great because that I think Yeah, we don't even know each other before this, but it's even more exciting to me because I think there's a depth to this that I didn't even realize, but I'm hearing it now and just going, wow, there must be almost like God's got his own formula with this and he's given it to us in the way that we're doing things, and it's exciting.

Amy 18:45

It is, and you know, he's a god of order, and this is a proven method between the two of us, and so yeah, it's kind of like how he's ordered things to be.

Mel 18:56

Yeah, yep. And look, I I will say you your three pillars in that are different to mine and all of that, but it's all saying the same kind of thing, and I just think that's exciting. I think that's very exciting, but at the same time, the way you deliver it and who you are, you you're created different to me. You know, we're we're created differently. And I feel like even just going through your Instagram page, there's stuff that you're saying that I'm like, oh, that's really good. Oh, I like that. So I can still learn from you as well.

Amy 19:29

So yeah, I've enjoyed listening to your podcasts. I've I've picked up on so many things. It's great.

Mel 19:37

Thank you. So, in your experience, what do you think is the main thing that holds these working mums back?

Amy 19:46

I would say the first thing is shame. It's it's when we take a thing and we turn it inward. So it can be really hard to ask for help when you feel that shame. You isolate because you don't want to be constantly reminded of you know how terrible of a wife, mom, worker, yes, you are. Yeah. You you isolate and it's really damaging.

Nervous System, Shame, And Self-Talk

Mel 20:16

Yeah, that that is it's something I definitely see a lot, but also with the shame, like it's it's in our heads. It's in our heads. It's it's the narrative we're talking to ourselves in. And I mean, a lot of people that have listened to me have heard this before, but it's more because I had this experience before I even got married, where my husband, boyfriend at the time, now husband, he was just like, you know, oh, you're so negative in the way that you speak to yourself. And and it was also because I would make a lot of jokes, you know, I like to have a laugh, but it was always at my expense. And so he highlighted that, and he highlighted with my family as well. But it was interesting because I never saw it. I didn't even realize I was doing it. And as I coach women and that now, and I hear the kind of language of lack, really, um, of not feeling good enough, not being good enough, not being organized enough, not you know, all this kind of stuff. And it's just a very negative narrative that it's reinforcing what you're saying. Like what you say and what you speak, it comes to life. You know, that that's what you become. And there's it even says in the Bible, the the power of our tongue. And and we do have to be careful in what we say because in that has the power of life and death. And I choose to speak life, and it's been a difficult journey. You can't just say, I'm gonna be more positive, I'm gonna speak life, and it just happened. Because there is so much that goes on in here that never even comes out that you don't even realize is going on in here because it's just like a default. So there's a lot of a lot of work that goes into it. But people like yourself, people like me, we have walked through it. So we can help others fast track that and give them the tips and the the coaching and stuff that's needed to move them forward. And and I love that you've got your own structure and your own way of your own method, really, of doing things. I love that because again, I love systems, I love structure, you do too. And there is order, and you are right. God speaks a God of order.

Amy 22:43

It's like MY DNA. I can't not do it.

Mel 22:46

Yeah. Well, the funny thing is when it comes to um structure and order and that, I don't think it is in my DNA. Because a lot of it has been trained into me. Because I was I was a pretty disorganized person, but then I I had it really trained into me that I went too far the other way, and then I was miserable because I was everything had to be perfect, like you were saying before. And so now I've come back to this sort of happy medium balance. But even that, like being on the really disorganized end was hard, but being really organized was miserable. So it's it's finding that balance, and I love a good spreadsheet. I love a good I love data and everything. And I love that now. But growing up, or even as a young adult, there's no way. I just that was not me then. But now, because I've seen how good it can be and how much easier my life can be, I'm I'd say it's been trained into me, but I do genuinely love it. And I love the data, I love the facts and figures, I love all of that. But I want to encourage anyone that if you're thinking, oh my goodness, that's not me, I'm so disorganized, and that you can get to a stage where you go, Oh, I can really appreciate this way of doing things, but it's okay if that's not you either, because we're all created differently.

Amy 24:10

Yeah, absolutely. It's a great point. I would say the other thing that keeps me on stuck is they think they think they're the problem.

Mel 24:20

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, because it's it's either you get the women that it's like it's all my fault, or you get the small percentage of women that it's everybody else's fault. But we're talking to the mums here that are like, no, I I do absolutely everything for everyone, but yet somehow I'm still the problem.

Amy 24:42

Yeah, why can't I get I I remember thinking like, why can I not get it together?

Mel 24:47

Yeah.

Amy 24:47

What is wrong with me that I cannot get myself out of this mode of fight or flight and just everything's just a crazy mess. Like I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't get myself out.

Mel 25:04

It's it's unfortunately extremely common.

Amy 25:07

It's I'm fighting it is.

Mel 25:09

I mean, it's it's hard enough when you've walked through it, but then when you step into this space uh as a leader representing all of this, and you come across dozens, then hundreds of women that are the same. There's a there's a little part of me that that breaks a little bit for them because I just think like I'm hearing the same story from women from a lot of countries, like all over the world. And I just think, why is this the same thing? And isn't that how the enemy works? Like he puts us in a position where you know he's not necessarily screaming nightmares into our face and terrorizing us that way. It's the the slow sort of chipping away at who we are, our identity. Like you were saying before, it's that it's that chipping away so we are not living in the purpose that God has created us for, that we're just stuck in this hamster wheel with no end and survival mode. And that that is where the enemy has won. And so we don't want to give him that power anymore. And it's easier said than done because as much as you go, yep, no, I'm living my life for Jesus and I'm gonna do this and I'm in control and whatever it is, or God's in control, there is still a lot of work that needs to happen because you don't realize that from as young as you can remember, the enemy was also working on you and and making you content in areas where you shouldn't have been, or making you feel shame and guilt and frustration and all these things when that's not what God wants for you. And so, yeah, it can be really, really hard, particularly as a mum, when we've got also the expectations of the world in that, oh, you should be able to do it all, but yet, like, why? I don't want to do it all.

Amy 27:17

Like I know you're asked for all this.

Mel 27:20

I can work, I can have my own business, I can have my job, I can whatever, volunteer, whatever it is, I can I can do those things and I can raise my family and I can run the household and I can find a minute to shower. I don't know. It's it's like you think you can do it all, but should you have to? Just because and I think that well, I think the feminist movement kind of hurt us in a lot of ways, but that's a topic for another day. Because it I think from what I'm seeing with your stuff, and then also what I'm what I say too is you shouldn't have to do it all. And there is a way that you can still get it all done without it necessarily falling on us, that pressure and that mental load and and all of that too, because sometimes it's unavoidable the season you're in, little kids, all of that. You just gotta navigate it. But there are also things that we don't necessarily need to be carrying and we can let go and work out the priority and all that kind of stuff. So yeah. Anyway, I think we could go on about this forever. So to wrap it up a little bit, where can people find you if they want to work with you?

Systems Thinking At Home

Amy 28:37

Sure. The best way is um to go to my Instagram profile and on Facebook. I am at AfreshJoy, just all one word. Um, and you'll see more of you know how I position things and um, and if that looks good to you, then you can either DM me on those platforms or you can email me at Amy at a freshjoy.com.

Mel 29:02

Perfect. I'll make sure all the details are in the show notes. So it's very easy for people to find you. Thank you so much for coming on today, Amy. I really enjoyed our conversation and it's so exciting to see God moving in you and in me in similar circles. I love it.

Amy 29:19

I love it. Thank you so much for having me. It's been an honor to be able to be here. And I'm just I'm so excited about God made two of us. It's so cool.

Mel 29:28

Yeah. Yep. That's the and you've got your voice, and I've got mine. Well, mine's coming back. Right. Oh, thank you so much.

Amy 29:39

Thank you.

Mel 29:41

If you like this episode, don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you want to continue the conversation, you can connect with me on Instagram @shes.organised or for some free resources, head over to beyondorganised.com/ toolkit. Remember, organising is a tool to live the purposeful life beyond it. See you next time.