Speaker 1: I won't lend my body out out everything that I'm made.
Speaker 1: DOT won't spend my life trying to change. I'm learning
Speaker 1: to love who I am. I get I'm strong, I
Speaker 1: feel free, I know who every part of me. It's
Speaker 1: beautiful and I will always out way if you feel it.
Speaker 1: With your hays in the air, She'll love to the
Speaker 1: poet there say goode day and time did you and
Speaker 1: die out? Welcome back to La everyone. We've got myself,
Speaker 1: We've got Amy, and we've got Chelsea Culbertson. Welcome Chelsea. Hi,
Speaker 1: so happy to be here. It's possible you already follow
Speaker 1: Chelsea on Instagram. She's choosing Chelsea will put her information
Speaker 1: below just in case you don't. But you all have
Speaker 1: been asking for somebody to come on and talk about
Speaker 1: the postpartum experience. And who better or than freshly in
Speaker 1: that postpartum experience than Chelsea. Chelsea shares it all on
Speaker 1: social media, and I think you just do a really
Speaker 1: good job of being you, which is kind of hard
Speaker 1: to do on social media when especially in the world
Speaker 1: that can you know, pick you apart. So congratulations and
Speaker 1: we can't wait to hear about how you're doing. Thank
Speaker 1: you thank you so much. That's what a great introduction.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean it's hard to be you, but
Speaker 1: also I don't know how to not be, so sometimes
Speaker 1: it feels like I just don't have a filter. But
Speaker 1: that's fine. Well you've been doing it just like that
Speaker 1: for years and going through your big life transitions has
Speaker 1: been interesting. So you have two daughters now, yes, my
Speaker 1: older daughters twelve. I had her when I was seventeen,
Speaker 1: so a baby, having a baby, and I just had
Speaker 1: my newborn at the end of March and she's almost
Speaker 1: three months, so yeah, twelve year age gaps. It's literally
Speaker 1: like starting all over again. Everything feels brand new, including
Speaker 1: the postpartum experience and assume, oh yeah, it's such a blur.
Speaker 1: And I only remember like the recovery part from the
Speaker 1: being postpartum with my first and I just remember being
Speaker 1: like I didn't know I was gonna like bleed for that,
Speaker 1: Like you just don't You're not taught all this stuff,
Speaker 1: and so much was like a surprise to me. I
Speaker 1: was like, wait, it's gonna sting horribly when I pe
Speaker 1: for the next like however many weeks because of who
Speaker 1: knows what happened down below and uh so, yeah, but now, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so much more. It feels like it's hard to
Speaker 1: even put it into words, but it's a whole new experience.
Speaker 1: And you've been so proactive about body image over the
Speaker 1: last I don't know, we've been following each other for
Speaker 1: many years. I imagine when you were seventeen, your body
Speaker 1: image woes were different than your body image woes now
Speaker 1: twelve years later after your second Or is it the
Speaker 1: same despite the amount of work that you put into
Speaker 1: you know, loving yourself. No, it's so different. And just
Speaker 1: for like a little bit of background, my my Instagram
Speaker 1: page started as like a fitness account and like a
Speaker 1: weight loss account, and then as I went through that journey,
Speaker 1: I transitioned into more of you know, self love, body acceptance,
Speaker 1: body confidence, trying to find that happy middle ground. And
Speaker 1: then I transcentioned this new postpartument period. And when I
Speaker 1: was seventeen, I had always been like a bigger girl.
Speaker 1: I carried a lot more weight. I was always very chubby,
Speaker 1: and since I was seventeen, I actually spent a majority
Speaker 1: of my pregnancy hiding my pregnancy. I didn't even tell
Speaker 1: my mom or anyone in my family. I was pregnant
Speaker 1: until I was six and a half months pregnant, so
Speaker 1: I wasn't really focusing on my body at all except
Speaker 1: for just trying to like hide it, and I was
Speaker 1: able to mask it pretty well because I was a
Speaker 1: little bigger. And then after that, I wasn't really looking
Speaker 1: at my body. I wasn't taking a lot of pictures,
Speaker 1: I wasn't focusing on my body very much at all.
Speaker 1: But then I continued to just gain so much weight
Speaker 1: after that pregnancy because I kind of kept eating as
Speaker 1: if I was pregnant still, so that started my whole
Speaker 1: weight loss journey after gaining a ton of weight from that.
Speaker 1: But this time around, I've had so much more of
Speaker 1: a focus on my body the entire time because I'm
Speaker 1: always taking pictures, I'm showing up online, I'm sharing about
Speaker 1: my body image and trying to be accepting of my body.
Speaker 1: And it's so much more like in the field of
Speaker 1: vision when it's become part of my brand and what
Speaker 1: I talk about. And then that opens me up to
Speaker 1: be more self critical about my my postpartum body because
Speaker 1: I can really see the difference between what it looks
Speaker 1: like now and what it looks like before I got pregnant,
Speaker 1: and then you know, add into the fact that a
Speaker 1: pandemic hit months before I got pregnan in and not
Speaker 1: throw things through a loop with my body too. So
Speaker 1: it's been interesting to see the least. You put up
Speaker 1: a recent post on Instagram and this is the caption
Speaker 1: that was with it. What I hear and you quoted
Speaker 1: things you hear from people. You look amazing, you don't
Speaker 1: even look like you had a baby. I wish I
Speaker 1: look like that postpartum breastfeeding will have you losing all
Speaker 1: that extra weight in no time. And then you wrote
Speaker 1: the reality, I don't feel amazing. I do look like
Speaker 1: I just had a baby. You see this hair and
Speaker 1: the bags under my eyes? Right? I wish I look
Speaker 1: like a lot of people postpartum. But do I really
Speaker 1: not so much? Do I want to be them? Nope?
Speaker 1: Is it weight loss my goal of breastfeeding? No? And
Speaker 1: does it always help you lose weight? Also no. Remember
Speaker 1: we don't always see the full picture. Everything has so
Speaker 1: much more depth to it than what you see on
Speaker 1: the outside. I chose this post to bring up I
Speaker 1: always like to scroll through people's instagrams and see if
Speaker 1: I can paint a picture of kind of who the
Speaker 1: person is, what they're about with their Instagram feed has
Speaker 1: on there, and you know made me think of something
Speaker 1: Lisa and I tried to concentrate on here in our
Speaker 1: outweigh family is like, first of all, just commenting on
Speaker 1: people's bodies in general. So like when when people have
Speaker 1: said things to you, maybe even while you were pregnant
Speaker 1: and postpartum, how do you handle that, Like if someone says, oh,
Speaker 1: breastfeeding will have you lose that weight in no time,
Speaker 1: Like do you just kind of let that go or
Speaker 1: is it a time to maybe help educate them on
Speaker 1: commenting about people's bodies or how do you handle that personally?
Speaker 1: It's crazy because I think during pregnancy and maybe at
Speaker 1: the beginning of my postpartum journey, that would give me
Speaker 1: a little grain of hope because you know, we still
Speaker 1: have that ingrained in us, like, oh, having that weight
Speaker 1: loss would be great, Like I would love to get
Speaker 1: you know, a little bit of my body back as
Speaker 1: as it was, so that old part of your brain
Speaker 1: is like, oh, hopefulness. But then the reality sets in
Speaker 1: when you realize that not only do a lot of
Speaker 1: people not lose weight by breastfeeding, but a lot of
Speaker 1: them gain weight from breastfeeding because you're having to nurture
Speaker 1: your body so much more to help with the milk
Speaker 1: production for the baby, which I didn't realize how common
Speaker 1: this was until actually I posted that, and I scrolled
Speaker 1: through all the comments, and I saw how many women
Speaker 1: were like, I can't stand when I hear that, because
Speaker 1: it's not true. It wasn't true for me. I gained
Speaker 1: weight while breastfeeding, and it hurts to hear that. And
Speaker 1: so now when it comes up, I do try to,
Speaker 1: you know, gently educate and be like, you know, that's
Speaker 1: actually not true. A lot of women don't lose weight
Speaker 1: by breastfeeding, or the opposite happened, so it's not really true.
Speaker 1: I love that when you said that that you had
Speaker 1: to nurture your body more. I think that's an important
Speaker 1: way to describe it, because some people are like they
Speaker 1: might have in their head like oh, I can't stop eating,
Speaker 1: I'm just eating this or craving this or craving that.
Speaker 1: But really, when it comes down to your orchering your
Speaker 1: body and giving it the calories that it needs to
Speaker 1: produce the milk and feed another life, yeah, exactly. As
Speaker 1: a nurse and somebody who at least for the last
Speaker 1: few years. I know your journey has transitioned a bit
Speaker 1: from where it started, which is natural. You're somebody that
Speaker 1: fights diet culture every day by showing up and sharing
Speaker 1: your story. How do you fight the culture of people saying, oh,
Speaker 1: you should breastfeed because you'll lose weight. Like, let's just
Speaker 1: say that was a fact, which we now know it's
Speaker 1: not right. But let's just say every time every woman
Speaker 1: that breastfeed loses weight. How do we get those two
Speaker 1: apart so that women want to breastfeed and get the
Speaker 1: joys of breastfeeding, assuming it's joyful. I don't know, but
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure it comes with lots of difficulty
Speaker 1: as well. But how can we separate those two in
Speaker 1: conversation and go back to what breastfeeding is really about? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think it ultimately comes down to what is the
Speaker 1: point of breastfeeding and the point of breastfeeding how absolutely
Speaker 1: nothing to do with your weight. Breastfeeding is to feed
Speaker 1: your baby, so your baby gains weight or your baby
Speaker 1: is nourished. Like, that is what it comes down to,
Speaker 1: And I think people often forget that with that statement
Speaker 1: because we're just so ingrained to feel like we need
Speaker 1: to bounce back, we need to get our body back,
Speaker 1: and so they're like, this can help, this will do it,
Speaker 1: and they say it as like, I don't know, to
Speaker 1: make you feel good or to keep you hopeful. It's
Speaker 1: it's very bizarre, and I'm like, who planting that idea
Speaker 1: and like made that something that everyone things happens. Were
Speaker 1: they trying to get more people to breastfeed from that?
Speaker 1: I just don't understand. I mean, I'm sitting here starting
Speaker 1: to wonder if that was something that was planted just
Speaker 1: to yeah, make women feel better about doing it, or
Speaker 1: it is like a goal to like make it happen
Speaker 1: so that in their head they're like, Okay, I'm doing this,
Speaker 1: I'm doing this. And it's almost like sometimes I've I've
Speaker 1: never been praying in it. So I'm just speaking here.
Speaker 1: I do have two children that they're adopted, and I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think, like, shouldn't the real thing be if
Speaker 1: you do choose to breastfeed. Some people may not, which
Speaker 1: is totally their choice, but shouldn't the real focus be, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm I can't wait to breastfeed so that I can
Speaker 1: have that crazy connection with my child. Instead what we
Speaker 1: have grown up hearing is, Oh, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: breastfeed because it will help me lose a few of
Speaker 1: these pounds, which I am appreciative of certain people in
Speaker 1: the spotlight that are saying I don't want to have
Speaker 1: my pre baby body back, Like I'm gonna stop saying
Speaker 1: that to myself. Like Marion Morris was in the news
Speaker 1: a couple of months ago saying, you know, admitting that
Speaker 1: she was someone that had said, maybe not even publicly,
Speaker 1: but to herself like I'm working to get my pre
Speaker 1: baby body back. And she she has quite the following
Speaker 1: and has so many girls that look up to her
Speaker 1: and women that I was so thankful to hear her
Speaker 1: post and say, yeah, I'm gonna stop saying that to myself.
Speaker 1: And some of it, yeah, you like you have a
Speaker 1: very online presence, so you're able to speak into people,
Speaker 1: but sometimes it's the narrative that we have quietly in
Speaker 1: our head, like people might be thinking, oh, I need
Speaker 1: to get my my pre baby body back, And thank
Speaker 1: you for being part of helping change that narrative. And
Speaker 1: and it's hard because I'm myself, I'm not comfortable in
Speaker 1: my new postpartum body. It feels very strange. I feel
Speaker 1: disconnected a little bit. It's starting to be better now,
Speaker 1: but it's this whole new person. It's like you birth
Speaker 1: of baby, and you're getting to know this baby that
Speaker 1: grew inside you for nine months, and you're able to
Speaker 1: get excited about the changes happening in your body through
Speaker 1: that nine months because you're seeing the growth of your
Speaker 1: baby happen. But then you have this new baby who
Speaker 1: you just love and adore. But then you kind of
Speaker 1: birth this new you at the same time mine that
Speaker 1: you're trying to get to know that you're not used
Speaker 1: to your clothes don't fit, things, just don't feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: Add onto the fact that you you can't work out,
Speaker 1: you are probably eating differently than you were before, definitely
Speaker 1: more sporadically. You're you're probably snacking, eating less, eating more,
Speaker 1: doing whatever you can. Basically you're in survival mode at first,
Speaker 1: and you're probably not getting as much sunshine. Just so
Speaker 1: many changes, so many changes are happening that are impacting
Speaker 1: not only your physical appearance, but how you feel internally.
Speaker 1: That also affects your body image. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't matter how I actually look if I'm
Speaker 1: not moving my body, eating well in a way that
Speaker 1: makes me feel good, getting some decent sunshine, I feel
Speaker 1: like crap. And if I feel like crap, I look
Speaker 1: in the mirror. It doesn't matter if I look great,
Speaker 1: quote unquote great or what not. I'd be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: my body not a fan right now. It's not a
Speaker 1: fan because I don't feel good inside. And I think
Speaker 1: that that's something that's so many new moms struggle with,
Speaker 1: where they just don't feel good because of all these
Speaker 1: new elements, and it often is reflected in their body
Speaker 1: image because that's the easiest thing they can pinpoint. Because
Speaker 1: they look in the mirror and they don't look the same,
Speaker 1: They don't look like they used to. They see a
Speaker 1: stranger looking back at them. They're exhausted, they have this
Speaker 1: new life and and it's hard. And so then you
Speaker 1: have that little voice in the back of your head
Speaker 1: like things would be so much easier if at least
Speaker 1: my body was what it used to be. Things would
Speaker 1: be so much easier if I could just fit into
Speaker 1: my clothes again, and and if something couldn't be normal again.
Speaker 1: And so it is this very difficult, delicate balance of
Speaker 1: I want to feel good and I want to look
Speaker 1: a certain way because that's how I'm comfortable, and then
Speaker 1: trying to navigate. Let's break that down, what's going on?
Speaker 1: Do I really want to look that way? Do I
Speaker 1: need something else? It's very complicated and complex, and I'm
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out myself because I wasn't super
Speaker 1: comfortable in my body, but for many of those reasons,
Speaker 1: because I wasn't moving, I wasn't eating properly, and I
Speaker 1: wasn't getting outside, and I just felt like crap. It's
Speaker 1: so interesting because it's such a natural process for a woman.
Speaker 1: I'm putting that in air quotes so everyone could hear
Speaker 1: that I'm doing that. But I never realized how disregulating
Speaker 1: those first few weeks are. When you said, you know,
Speaker 1: a new mom is exhausted. She says no sleep, She
Speaker 1: has probably no access to nourishing meals because that takes time,
Speaker 1: you know, no access to sunshine, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you know, you look in the mirror and
Speaker 1: you blame it all on the way you look when
Speaker 1: there's so many things, like you said, components that make
Speaker 1: you feel good. But body image is such a low
Speaker 1: hanging fruit, the one that we're allowed to complain about
Speaker 1: the one that we're allowed to work on. And I
Speaker 1: love this post that you did about your prey Nancy clothes.
Speaker 1: You said, I have no idea when I'll fit into
Speaker 1: my pre pregnancy clothes or if I'll ever fit into them.
Speaker 1: And while I could continue to wear leggings and oversized clothes,
Speaker 1: I'm sick of not feeling cute, so I went shopping.
Speaker 1: There's been more failures than successes. There's been a lot
Speaker 1: of sizing up. It has not been the most fun experience.
Speaker 1: But now I have some clothes that fit me as
Speaker 1: I am now in the body that I have now,
Speaker 1: and that feels good. I'm not saying I always love
Speaker 1: how I look in these new clothes, but I can
Speaker 1: be okay in them, and for now, that's enough. And
Speaker 1: there's just so much in that post to really savor
Speaker 1: and digest, because it, first of all, applies to all
Speaker 1: women who are experiencing a change in their body that
Speaker 1: are frustrated every time they go to try on clothing
Speaker 1: that want to feel cute, but instead of putting on
Speaker 1: oversized clothing because they think they shouldn't invest in something
Speaker 1: for now, And there's nothing wrong with looking cute putting
Speaker 1: on clothes that fit you now and being okay with
Speaker 1: your body just as it is in this moment. So
Speaker 1: I I personally just really thank you for that post too,
Speaker 1: because I can't imagine how many women recently pregnant or
Speaker 1: not are just like, yes, I should go get clothes
Speaker 1: that fit me now. Maybe not an entire new wardrobe,
Speaker 1: because I don't know where this body is going, but
Speaker 1: I want to feel good tomorrow walking out the door. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I actually I was a little heartbroken because I
Speaker 1: put up a pole and I was or a little
Speaker 1: question box, and I was like, how long did you
Speaker 1: wait after baby to go shopping again and buy new clothes,
Speaker 1: And the amount of responses saying, I'm a year postpartum,
Speaker 1: I still haven't going shopping, I'm still wearing my maternity clothes,
Speaker 1: or I'm still wearing the same leggings and baggy shirt
Speaker 1: that I have been this whole time, and so many
Speaker 1: responses like that, and you can just tell that they
Speaker 1: just don't feel good about themselves and that they're like
Speaker 1: afraid to go shopping, They're afraid to go try on
Speaker 1: those new clothes, or they're holding out hope, they're waiting
Speaker 1: they're waiting to get their body back and to fit
Speaker 1: into their old clothes again, which, like I said, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's ever going to happen. Not only
Speaker 1: does your body get bigger in the obvious places, but
Speaker 1: it kind of shifts shape a little bit too, Like
Speaker 1: you're not the same proportions that you were before, So
Speaker 1: you're kind of having to figure out how to address
Speaker 1: a newly proportioned body and not just a bigger body,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. So it just it made me
Speaker 1: really sad to see how many people were just not
Speaker 1: excited to go shopping. And I get it. It can
Speaker 1: be scary, it could be intimidating. It's taken me a
Speaker 1: really long time to go from trying in the target
Speaker 1: dressing room when I try and close that don't fit me,
Speaker 1: because for so long you try and close they don't fit,
Speaker 1: you think you're the problem. You think your body is
Speaker 1: the problem, instead of realizing that piece of clothing is
Speaker 1: the problem. Um, I either need to find a different
Speaker 1: piece of clothing or try on a different size in
Speaker 1: that clothing that actually works for my body, not the
Speaker 1: other way around. And I've now realized that I'm going
Speaker 1: to have so many more failures of shopping experiences than successes.
Speaker 1: Shopping takes so much patience. It takes going into it
Speaker 1: knowing that, hey, a lot of this stuff is probably
Speaker 1: not gonna fit. I'm not gonna love how it looks
Speaker 1: on me because it's not the right piece of clothing
Speaker 1: for me, and just saying Okay, this isn't it. Moving on,
Speaker 1: Let's try the next thing until you find the thing
Speaker 1: you love. But it's so easy to just get overwhelmed
Speaker 1: by the negative shopping experiences that it makes you want
Speaker 1: to avoid it completely, and then you miss out on
Speaker 1: all these awesome pieces of clothes that might make you
Speaker 1: feel really good because you don't want to go through it.
Speaker 1: It can be such a gut wrenching experience in so
Speaker 1: many of these places where the lighting is just extra
Speaker 1: awful and you're like fighting with tags that are stuck
Speaker 1: on your body because it's too small of a garment.
Speaker 1: You know, there's just so many things that make it
Speaker 1: really uncomfortable. But I love what you said about knowing
Speaker 1: that you're going to have more failures than successes. Like
Speaker 1: also just knowing that majority of the things that you
Speaker 1: put on are just not gonna work and that shape shifting,
Speaker 1: like you said, that's happening, your body is changing. Makes
Speaker 1: it even more challenging because normally you might know that,
Speaker 1: let's say a line dresses look good on your body, right,
Speaker 1: and then you're walking into this store and you have
Speaker 1: no even just being in pregnancy, like the style of dress.
Speaker 1: I have no idea how to dress myself, And it's
Speaker 1: just it's interesting to kind of go into it with
Speaker 1: the mindset of knowing, Hey, we're gonna give this a go.
Speaker 1: We're not going to be attached to the outcomes, and
Speaker 1: we're just going to find things that work just for today. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: In this postpartum space for you, how have you dealt
Speaker 1: with any or have you dealt with any internal struggles
Speaker 1: with certain people that you follow or stuff you come
Speaker 1: across on Instagram of like comparison with other people that
Speaker 1: are postpartum. I just didn't know if you could speak
Speaker 1: to that at all and offer encouragement to people that
Speaker 1: may find themselves in that position, whether pregnant now or
Speaker 1: in postpartum, or might be pregnant one day, or just
Speaker 1: even comparison online in general, What do you do to
Speaker 1: help protect your brain from any thoughts. Oh yeah, And
Speaker 1: it's so hard because while I used to compare my
Speaker 1: body all the time to other people that I saw online,
Speaker 1: that hasn't necessarily been the top of mind. But I
Speaker 1: definitely catch myself comparing myself to others with a bunch
Speaker 1: of different other things. And I don't know how it happened,
Speaker 1: but I have so many friends online in a similar
Speaker 1: space that I am, and everyone just happened to get
Speaker 1: pregnant at this same time and had babies all around
Speaker 1: the same time. And it's so bizarre but also so amazing.
Speaker 1: But then that also leaves you compare are in yourselves,
Speaker 1: whether you know, because Instagram is a business and it
Speaker 1: can be so hard to see, you know, engagement differences
Speaker 1: and brand partnership differences and stuff like that where some
Speaker 1: people are creating this what I think is like really
Speaker 1: amazing content, and I'm like, how do you have the energy?
Speaker 1: How do you have the energy? Like I can't even
Speaker 1: get dressed today, Like how are you writing these amazing captions?
Speaker 1: And you read a couple of good ones, I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: I have another one. Okay, I put some good stuff
Speaker 1: out there, but for the most problem, like how are
Speaker 1: you how are you doing this? And then I just
Speaker 1: fall down this spiral of feeling like I'm inadequate or
Speaker 1: feeling like I'm not good enough. And I'm sure you
Speaker 1: must know Sarah of the Bird's Papaya. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but me and all my other friends, we we can't
Speaker 1: help but compare ourselves to her because she's just like
Speaker 1: this anomaly, superhuman on Instagram, and we all kind of
Speaker 1: she's a friend of mine. I love her so much
Speaker 1: and I look up to her. And it's hard because
Speaker 1: we were all kind of in a similar spaces her
Speaker 1: and then and then she exploded, and she's doing all
Speaker 1: these incredible, amazing things, and it can feel like what
Speaker 1: am I doing wrong? Or what why am I not
Speaker 1: doing amazing things? Or why am I not as likable?
Speaker 1: Which can be so mind boggling. And and something that
Speaker 1: from a personal level has been a little difficult is
Speaker 1: my my twelve girl didn't have the best bonding with
Speaker 1: the baby at first. It took a really long time
Speaker 1: for her to warm up to the baby, and from
Speaker 1: watching Sarah and her older kids just like seemed like
Speaker 1: they were absolutely in love with her new baby, seeing
Speaker 1: that special relationship and bond that they were going through.
Speaker 1: It was really hard for me when mine were not
Speaker 1: having that same kind of bond. And so it's just
Speaker 1: like stuff like that that you wouldn't think about. Are
Speaker 1: are definitely challenges that you don't anticipate when you're just
Speaker 1: watching people on Instagram, you know. Yeah, comparison sneaks in
Speaker 1: in in a lot of different ways. And I will
Speaker 1: say I have a brother who's sixteen years younger than me,
Speaker 1: and I was really piste off when he was born,
Speaker 1: and then I really do love him. So I will
Speaker 1: say that good relation tips take a little bit of
Speaker 1: you know, cultivation time. Yeah, and things are things that
Speaker 1: I could talk about it now because things are much
Speaker 1: better now, But for a while it was like, oh no,
Speaker 1: But I think you bring up a good point that
Speaker 1: it's just so easy to compare, even to compare to
Speaker 1: people that you're so happy for, and especially in the
Speaker 1: new moms space when you're so tired, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's so hard and and you're somebody that shows up
Speaker 1: for other new moms, you know, that's what your account
Speaker 1: is about. That It's like, it's not even like you
Speaker 1: comparing yourself to anyone else. It's about why can't I
Speaker 1: continue to show up in the way that I used
Speaker 1: to serve. I can personally relate to that being frustrating
Speaker 1: from my own life experiences, and it's just so easy
Speaker 1: to to get caught up in that. So comparison comes
Speaker 1: in all different shapes and sizes, you know, so to speak.
Speaker 1: It's not just about oh, this person bounced back, It's about, oh,
Speaker 1: this person's brain went back to working faster than my
Speaker 1: brain went to work back working, and that can feel
Speaker 1: so frustrating. Oh you nailed it, you nailed it, so yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I love that your Instagram description is sugar and spice
Speaker 1: with a dash of sass, and that you're into realistic
Speaker 1: wellness and some motherhood messiness. And I just think your Space,
Speaker 1: you've done a really great job with it, and you're
Speaker 1: giving so many of your people, your followers and hopefully
Speaker 1: some new ones that come and follow you after today,
Speaker 1: just that permission to to be themselves right where they are,
Speaker 1: just to meet themselves right where they're at, and be
Speaker 1: okay with that. I know, I'm super thankful for it.
Speaker 1: I think that it takes a special type of person
Speaker 1: to kind of show show up in all all of
Speaker 1: their ways, and you do it so well. I mean
Speaker 1: sometimes I'll even like I don't put probably as much
Speaker 1: of my life on Instagram. I have other outlets where
Speaker 1: people learn more about me. And I've worked in radio
Speaker 1: for fifteen years and I'm on air, so it's it's
Speaker 1: that's more of my space. But there is something about
Speaker 1: having a visual with it too, and even your videos,
Speaker 1: Like I've just watched so many of your stories and
Speaker 1: instantly felt comforted, and I'm like, this is where it's at.
Speaker 1: This girl's keeping it real because I've watched some mother
Speaker 1: mothers and they are making it seem like they just
Speaker 1: have it all together, and like motherhood is so easy
Speaker 1: and simple, and I just think that you're doing it well.
Speaker 1: So I want to say that I look up to
Speaker 1: you just as you may look up to uh Sarah, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you. That means a lot, and shout out to
Speaker 1: my Instagram bio. I'm like, what's what's my point here?
Speaker 1: So Amy? Can you read the other social media posts
Speaker 1: that you liked of oh the other one that I pulled? Yes,
Speaker 1: I can. Yeah, hopefully Chelsea is fine with us just
Speaker 1: like reading her words back to her, But it's really
Speaker 1: for everybody else for the world all right now. This
Speaker 1: one is from January, and Chelsea wrote, my body was
Speaker 1: the epicenter of my brand for so many years, from
Speaker 1: building this page based on my weight lust journey to
Speaker 1: learning to accept my body. It's always focused on my body,
Speaker 1: explaining why it wasn't okay, explaining why it was, to
Speaker 1: talking about why I didn't like it, how I was
Speaker 1: learning to love it. But all roads led back to
Speaker 1: my body being the focus, and while being okay with
Speaker 1: my body and myself in general, will always be a
Speaker 1: part of my story that I will continue exploring. It
Speaker 1: never has and never will be the full thing. Like
Speaker 1: we all know by now, we are so much more
Speaker 1: than our bodies. Sometimes in this space it doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like I can talk about anything else because that's all
Speaker 1: I've done for so long, and it just doesn't resonate
Speaker 1: as much anymore because frankly, I don't want to think
Speaker 1: about my body day every day. It can be rather exhausting,
Speaker 1: to be honest. So here's to a future of my
Speaker 1: body being only part of my story and not the
Speaker 1: sole focus. I had goose bumps while I read that
Speaker 1: out loud, so sorry that I just yelled into the microphone,
Speaker 1: But I mean that is that's the kind of content
Speaker 1: you're going to get from ling people. I think that
Speaker 1: was one of my favorite posts that I ever put
Speaker 1: out there, because I felt like after saying that that
Speaker 1: I was kind of like drawing a line in the
Speaker 1: sand that I was moving forward with talking about my
Speaker 1: body less. And that was really scary, actually, because then
Speaker 1: I felt like I was going to be judged if
Speaker 1: I did talk about my body, or that I was
Speaker 1: going to have my content hyper focused on what is
Speaker 1: she doing that or is she not? And it was
Speaker 1: also freeing because I had been feeling that way for
Speaker 1: a very very long time. And I know many other
Speaker 1: people who who started out like I did with either
Speaker 1: a fitness weight loss account, transition to a similar places
Speaker 1: me and and feel very similar, but they're afraid to
Speaker 1: integrate other different types of content because people love that.
Speaker 1: People love to see if you talking about your body,
Speaker 1: people sharing their cellulie and stretch marks and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: They love it, and the algorithm loves it. And not
Speaker 1: doing that, it's kind of it can hinder your brand
Speaker 1: a little bit too, And it's scary, and I think
Speaker 1: it's it's hard because it's so emotionally draining to have
Speaker 1: to feel like you have to talk about that all
Speaker 1: the time, and it can just have a really negative
Speaker 1: impact on your mental health. And then, like I said,
Speaker 1: you're you're just hyper focusing on your body, so then
Speaker 1: you end up being more self critical. Or if you're
Speaker 1: having a bad body image day, then you feel like
Speaker 1: you're failing because you're talking about how you're supposed to
Speaker 1: have good body image and it's just it's all disaster.
Speaker 1: I think there's so much authenticity laced into that, And
Speaker 1: in the beginning of Instagram, it was kind of like,
Speaker 1: if you show your imperfections all the time, that's the
Speaker 1: most authentic thing you can do. But like you said,
Speaker 1: when you start to build your brand on that, but
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, it's like, wait, that's not
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about all the time, but it's what
Speaker 1: I'm posting all the time because it's what people like.
Speaker 1: To really go back to what you like, your journey,
Speaker 1: your reality, which could be a funny caption. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: really enjoy your short captions. You're one liners that I
Speaker 1: think like that to me is who you are. You're
Speaker 1: you know, you said, what was it? What was the
Speaker 1: bio sugar and spiced with a little set. I messed
Speaker 1: up sugar and spice and a little bits. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit of sass, you know when you're you're
Speaker 1: getting it in there and you're a full person, And
Speaker 1: it truly feels like like Amy said, like when you
Speaker 1: watch your stories, it feels real seeing somebody just share
Speaker 1: their imperfections. And I think even like really long quotes
Speaker 1: while I'm short, resonates with each person differently from a
Speaker 1: creator point of view, I just feel you on that
Speaker 1: where it's like we're a well rounded human being. We
Speaker 1: need to show all of those well rounds and not
Speaker 1: chase the algorithm because of you know what performs well, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, I know, I got you. Okay,
Speaker 1: Well this was super super interesting. Can just to finish
Speaker 1: off the episode, is there just one thing that you
Speaker 1: would want a new mom to know in weeks one
Speaker 1: through eight, You're gonna be okay, it's gonna be fine,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be massy, it's gonna be a little hard.
Speaker 1: I have a very difficult time asking for help. So
Speaker 1: I had so many people while I was still pregnant
Speaker 1: say I'll bring food by I'll go grocery shopping this
Speaker 1: that there's so many offers for things before baby came,
Speaker 1: But then baby came and crickets, and I'm not the
Speaker 1: type of I'm not going to text you and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: will you go do that thing that you said you
Speaker 1: were gonna do like four weeks ago, because that'd be
Speaker 1: great right about now, I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1: So if you can, you know, gentle reminder of those
Speaker 1: people when they're offering ahead of time, like will you
Speaker 1: offer that again when babies here? And I think that
Speaker 1: would help a lot because then it's a lot easier
Speaker 1: for someone be like, hey, I'm I'm running to the store.
Speaker 1: Can I grab you something and be like yes, instead
Speaker 1: of reaching out and asking for that help. Because while
Speaker 1: while asking for help is great, it's really really hard
Speaker 1: and realistically we're not going to do it. So I'd say,
Speaker 1: definitely do that, and and just know it's a phase.
Speaker 1: It's a phase, soak it in. It goes by so quickly,
Speaker 1: and while it's one of the most challenging times, your
Speaker 1: baby is never going to be like as squishy and
Speaker 1: tiny and and fresh, and you only get to enjoy
Speaker 1: that for such a short period of time that you know,
Speaker 1: even if you're feeling a little strange in your body
Speaker 1: and your mindsets not not its best, Just just know
Speaker 1: it'll be okay and it'll pass and and soak up
Speaker 1: all the good that you can from that that time,
Speaker 1: because it'll be over before you know it. I love it,
Speaker 1: and I guess I'll just piggyback off of that and
Speaker 1: maybe gear what you said towards people that are listening
Speaker 1: that may have a friend that's pregnant or have just
Speaker 1: had a baby, or if they're about to to like
Speaker 1: hear what Chelsea said, and make sure you're intentional about
Speaker 1: reaching out after the baby is born. That's an excellent point.
Speaker 1: Like maybe you could be the friend that organizes the
Speaker 1: meal train. Maybe you could be the friend that organizes,
Speaker 1: you know, a group text to make sure that whoever
Speaker 1: just had a baby is taken care of for the
Speaker 1: first couple of months. Like you know, if you have
Speaker 1: a handful of friends that take two weeks out of
Speaker 1: twelve or something, then boom, they've got some some support.
Speaker 1: And so if if you're listening right now, instead of
Speaker 1: the pregnant person having to maybe kind of subtly remind
Speaker 1: friends to be there for them, like we'll just send
Speaker 1: the reminder out to all of us, Like, Lisa is
Speaker 1: having a baby soon, so now I'm making a mental
Speaker 1: note to make sure that Lisa's okay after she goes birth.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, Chelsea. We'll put your information below
Speaker 1: so everyone can go follow if they're not And thank
Speaker 1: you for being such a light. And congrats on your
Speaker 1: baby and you're growing family and it's just a beautiful
Speaker 1: life you have. And congrats to you Lisa. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see your little baby. And thanks to be
Speaker 1: here before you know. It's so exciting. I was so
Speaker 1: good to talk to both of you. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for having me on my pleasure. Thanks, thank you,