In this episode I was honoured to have the lovely Janelle Hanchett as my guest. Janelle is a mom of four beautiful kiddos, the creator of the blog Renegade Mothering, and in 2018 she published a memoir, ‘I’m Just Happy to Be Here,’ which is a beautifully written and powerful book about her journey through addiction and recovery. She is also a writing teacher and editor, and hosts the most amazing writing retreats and workshops. Her blog and her writing courses have been a big piece of my own journey, and I am so grateful to be able to share this conversation with all of you.
We talk about:
- Experiencing PPD after having her first child
- The lack of conversations about mental health when she had her 1st
- The fear of having her baby taken away
- Asking new parents how they are – really
- The importance of talking about the grief and the loss that we can feel as new parents
- The conflicting feelings that come up with parenthood
- The importance of connection with other parents
- Going through active addiction and being a parent in recovery
- Why she started her blog
- Sharing her story of recovery
- The hope in knowing that addiction is a disease
- The shame spiral of addiction
- Having a big family
- Letting go of being the perfect parent and embracing the chaos
- The pros and cons of the ‘mommy blog’
- Not fitting in with other moms
- The pressure put on mothers to be perfect for their kids
- The assumptions people make about her kids and her family because she is in recovery
- Harmful societal narratives of parenting that cause emotional distress
- What Janelle’s blog and writing workshops have meant for my own healing
- The power of taking space for yourself and intentionally carve out time for yourself
- The gift of not relying on our kids for our whole identity
- Knowing that you have everything you need inside yourself
Resources:
- Renegade Mothering
- I’m Just Happy to be Here
- @renegademothering on Instagram
- Renegade Mothering on Facebook
