Hello everyone! If this was a corporate email I would say “Happy Tuesday! Hope you’re enjoying the beautiful weather today.”
A year ago my husband (and the biggest supporter of my crazy ideas) told me to think of goals in more binary terms. When your goal is binary, you either do it or you don’t do it. 0 or 1, no in between. This was one of the greatest pieces of advice I’ve been given. It has pushed me to take chances and “just do it” instead of thinking constantly about perfecting something, or making sure that it’s 150% ready, or even that I’m 150% ready. Nothing is ever perfect nor is it safe from evolution. Volume 2.0 will always be better, and the sooner I allowed myself to accept that, the faster I could move forward with my creative pursuits.
When I started thinking about recording a podcast, I found myself writing lists for weeks. I was contacting friends for research purposes, writing down ideas, thinking about the different seasons and the chronology of episodes. On and on I planned, but of course, time waits for no one. Soon several months had passed and I hadn’t really moved much closer to my goal. I was still just ideating in circles. Preparing to be perfectly ready and yet… Finally, I remembered the advice that Brandon had given me and I thought to myself: enough. I needed to simultaneously stop and start. Stop planning, start moving forward.
I’ve never in my life recorded a podcast and there is simply no way I was going to be a pro right off the bat. We all know the ten-thousand-hours-rule. I just have to do it, and do it again, and then do it again! Dive in head first. After I bought (and wore) the shoes that inspired my year of yes, I was on a roll and I knew that I needed to let go of the fear and the doubt. I had to stop worrying about what others would think or about who would like (or hate) the pod, and go for it.
The plus-side of these binary decisions is that you move quickly. The down side is also that you move quickly. This means that there is less room for research and imperfection while you figure out the nooks and crannies of everything that you are doing. So bear with me, friends.
Episode 1 of my podcast is shared above, so give it a listen. I interview my friend from high school, Yana Kofman of Kofman Wellness, who is a licensed mental health counselor. We talk about what it’s really like to come home with a newborn. How it feels to walk out of the hospital doors without a single clue as to what comes next. We discuss the insane hormonal rush, which brings both deep elation and deeper exhaustion. We share the confusion, the doubt, the tears. The uncertainty, the love, the sleepless nights. We talk honestly about our own experiences, and Yana also talks about what she commonly experiences with her postpartum patients.
The audio recording is not perfect, and there are a few minutes at the beginning that I should have edited out. There are more questions that I wish I had asked looking back, but hey, as my friend Tessa said “it’s a WIP, baby.”
Yes, yes it is. and yes I am.
There will be a new episode coming out every few weeks or so, but the schedule isn’t iron clad. Hopefully, the podcast feels like a coffee talk with a close mom friend. No bullshit, no sugarcoating, no guilt. Real, raw, honest, much like this newsletter. My guests this season have babies or toddlers, so season 1 will be most relevant for those who are in a similar stage of life: thinking about babies, having babies, wanting to have babies, or missing the days when your kids were babies.
If you listen to the episode, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. And if you’re passionate about motherhood and want to talk about your experience on the pod, shoot me a note.
I’m looking forward to sharing more on this topic with you, and don’t worry, my regular newsletter will still continue :) You can’t get rid of me so easily!
the bigget hugs,
Jane
Coming Home With A Newborn, with Yana Kofman, Licensed Mental Health Counselor