Latest / Pretty In Pink Again / Episode 41: Identity vs. Roles: Who Are You When No One Needs Anything From You?
Transcript
- 0:00i'm Christina.
- 0:01And I'm t and this is the Pretty and Pink Again podcast where Motherhood meets rediscovery.
- 0:16Hi.
- 0:17Hi.
- 0:17How are you?
- 0:18Fresh off a Thanksgiving?
- 0:20Yeah.
- 0:21How was your weekend?
- 0:22I haven't seen you.
- 0:23I know.
- 0:23It was good.
- 0:24It was, we had a really nice like low key Thanksgiving with my side of the family.
- 0:30So it was the kids and I do my annual girls night the night before.
- 0:35I'm still.
- 0:3639 going out the night before Thanksgiving.
- 0:39Good for you.
- 0:39And I am loud and proud of it.
- 0:41Your mom doesn't scold you that you don't help her the night before, get ready for the Absolutely.
- 0:44She encourages me to go out because this has been, this is a tradition and Yeah, it's, I actually posted something about it because there's a lot of, like funny chatter about like staying in the night before Thanksgiving or the transition where you're like, I don't wanna go out anymore the night before Thanksgiving, but my girlfriends and I like, of course, we don't wanna go out either, but we make it a priority to go out because we're like, if we don't keep this tradition, it almost feels like a letdown.
- 1:11We're like, this is about us.
- 1:12It's bigger than us.
- 1:13So everybody comes home for the holiday.
- 1:15Yeah.
- 1:15We have like a small group and stays over.
- 1:16Yeah.
- 1:16We have a small group.
- 1:17We come home and we see each other for the night before Thanksgiving.
- 1:21We've been doing it for 20 years and so it's more I said this on Instagram, but it went from sneaking into bars to bar hopping all night to like getting in so late to being so hung over the next day to a dinner.
- 1:35And then now it's like we had a reservation at five 30.
- 1:39We were literally like, were you home late?
- 1:41We, no, I literally was home by nine.
- 1:43Like I was like, oh, so you were home.
- 1:44Really?
- 1:44Yeah.
- 1:44So we, yeah.
- 1:44So it's we have tailored it a little bit to fit our lifestyles to the early for dinner.
- 1:49We don't miss it.
- 1:50We don't miss it.
- 1:51But yeah.
- 1:52What about you?
- 1:53How was your Thanksgiving?
- 1:53You were away.
- 1:54It was good.
- 1:54Yeah.
- 1:55So we have a tradition now.
- 1:56We go away the week before Thanksgiving.
- 1:58Because Nick's office is closed Thursday, Friday.
- 2:01So he just has to take off a few days of work and we go away for the week.
- 2:05So we've been taking the kids away since we had kids that week.
- 2:08So we go, usually we go to The Bahamas.
- 2:10So we had a great week away.
- 2:12We had good weather, fun.
- 2:13It was fun to get away.
- 2:14I love the Baja Mar, like I think it's a great, it's where we met place.
- 2:17Yeah.
- 2:18I think it's a great place to take your family.
- 2:19It's so I know.
- 2:20It is.
- 2:20It's so great.
- 2:21I cannot wait to bring the kids back there.
- 2:22And I'm very well aware that there are other places to go to.
- 2:25I would appreciate recommendations, but I just love this one.
- 2:27It's such a quick flight.
- 2:29Yep.
- 2:29It's so easy.
- 2:30So we did that and then we flew.
- 2:33Into New Jersey.
- 2:35'cause my in-laws, that's where they live.
- 2:36Mm-hmm.
- 2:37And we went there for Thanksgiving Day and then woke up first thing the next morning, had to get home'cause Joseph was playing in a hockey tournament.
- 2:46MLO had a dance competition right back into the activities.
- 2:49My husband's best friend, like surprised 40th birthday party.
- 2:52Like we just, I'm, oh my gosh, I'm so grateful everybody's back at school this week.
- 2:57Yeah.
- 2:57Yeah.
- 2:57There was so much together time.
- 2:58I know, I know.
- 2:59And it was, you know what happened?
- 3:01It, we shoot these a little bit earlier in the week, so it's either usually Monday or Tuesday when we shoot these.
- 3:05Yes.
- 3:05And then these air on Thursday.
- 3:06But today I woke up and I was like, it's Cyber Monday.
- 3:09Still.
- 3:10Does it feel like it's been cyber week for I know.
- 3:14Two weeks, four months?
- 3:15Yeah, four months.
- 3:16Crazy.
- 3:16Did you get anything good?
- 3:17I did a little bit of shopping, but like nothing crazy.
- 3:20Some of the stuff that was on my list, I restocked on some stuff that I like.
- 3:24'cause sometimes, even just like my everyday things that I use, the were on sale.
- 3:28So it's oh, why not?
- 3:29So I grabbed a couple things that I needed restocks of and then did a little bit of shopping.
- 3:33But honestly, I feel like the sales are just, they go for, they're until Christmas, right?
- 3:38They go until the holidays.
- 3:39I feel like it's less pressure now.
- 3:41Of that, where it's like this Cyber Monday used to be so stressful and the whole weekend of Thanksgiving used to be like all about shopping.
- 3:48And I feel like it's a little bit less than that now, which is nice.
- 3:51Because it starts earlier.
- 3:52It goes later, which is fine.
- 3:53So it's not just like Black Friday, cyber Monday, small business Saturday.
- 3:57Exactly.
- 3:58Sunday question mark.
- 3:59Cyber Monday.
- 4:00Less Cyber Monday.
- 4:00Yeah.
- 4:01It feels a little bit more spread out.
- 4:03So less pressure on those actual days and you could probably just shop when you feel like it.
- 4:07Take the time to decompress after the weekend.
- 4:10And hopefully you did get yourself something though.
- 4:13If you had your eye on something, it's like the best when you can score a deal, but just you don't need that pressure anymore, no, I've just been buying for the kids.
- 4:20I was just trying to get everything on their list.
- 4:22Our elf came today, so the kids, I have not started that.
- 4:25Kids made their, the kids made their lists.
- 4:26Yep.
- 4:27And so the elf gets the list.
- 4:29The list, yeah.
- 4:29So they had the list out like ready to go for the elf.
- 4:33So I was like gazing at the list.
- 4:34And it is, Camille and Ava's list is similar to mine.
- 4:38Yeah, of course.
- 4:39I know.
- 4:39Like your girls drunk elephant what is the other Bumble or bubble something or other?
- 4:45Everything is just all the skincare, all the beauty, all the skincare, all the beauty.
- 4:49I know.
- 4:49But now they're back in school.
- 4:50So over Thanksgiving break, we were just, since we were off for the week, we were just popping up some older clips from some older episodes.
- 4:58And one of the clips that came up was from your friend Marissa Mead, and in part of that episode, she touched on a topic and it was about roles versus identity.
- 5:08And you had also sent me a clip on Instagram that was like, in that same Yeah.
- 5:12Coincidentally.
- 5:13Coincidentally.
- 5:13Yeah.
- 5:13We, this must have been on our mind.
- 5:15And I was like, oh, this is a really interesting topic.
- 5:18What is identity?
- 5:19What's roles?
- 5:19So we started to research what are the two things?
- 5:22And they're separate.
- 5:25Identity is internal roles are external, I think that your role still shape your identity.
- 5:32They still, they somewhat overlap or they woven cann together.
- 5:35So I just wanted to tease that out with motherhood, when you become a mother and you take on that role, it's an external, it's huge role.
- 5:42Yep.
- 5:43But it also is part of your identity.
- 5:45Even if you say no, it's the external role, I still think it's part of your identity.
- 5:50It 1000% ends up shaping your identity, even some.
- 5:53Jobs you are a content creator, that's your role, that's your job, that's external.
- 5:58However, it's still your identity because you're in such a unique position.
- 6:02And I think that sometimes they overlap and they can get a little messy that way, yes.
- 6:05Like it's definitely something that can get messy when things aren't defined right.
- 6:10And things start bleeding into one another.
- 6:12And we had also talked about, T and I are both 39, and we had talked about this almost like identity crisis and like midlife crisis, that sometimes you feel like looms, right?
- 6:25You would always hear that, oh, he's having an identity crisis, he's having a midlife crisis, and we are in that.
- 6:31Sweet spot, if you wanna call it that.
- 6:33And so I think some of this'cause we're in the middle.
- 6:36We're in the, we're in that middle phase.
- 6:38So it's that transformation stage.
- 6:41It's not the before.
- 6:42It's not the after.
- 6:43It's the middle.
- 6:44Yep.
- 6:44Yep.
- 6:44So what does that mean?
- 6:45What does it mean to be in the middle?
- 6:46I think that as you kind of age, and you're in this middle of life, right?
- 6:51And you've now taken on all of these roles throughout your life.
- 6:55Like for us, it's like we've taken on motherhood.
- 6:58You've been a wife, you've been in relationships, you have a job, you have friendships.
- 7:04And then, and you have now we're like the default person, right?
- 7:07That holds everything together.
- 7:09And I think sometimes what happens is like you wake up from that and you realize like you've gotten so good at performing in those roles that you're like, I don't even know who I am anymore.
- 7:21And so I think that for me, some of that shift happened.
- 7:25When I became a mom, and some of that was because of my job and becoming a mom and kind of it all happening at once.
- 7:32Mm-hmm.
- 7:33But I think that this happens too.
- 7:34I think that this could happen years into motherhood.
- 7:37It could happen like when your kids leave the house and all of a sudden you wake up and you're like, who am I?
- 7:44And just this role just got a little bit less right?
- 7:47Like maybe I'm not in demand day to day as much as I was because my kids no longer live in the house.
- 7:52But you hear of these things happening and I just think it's an interesting conversation.
- 7:56I do.
- 7:57To that point, we haven't reached that point yet, but I can so see that point happening a hundred percent.
- 8:02I am living in this world now where I'm raising my kids with other people and we're all like in passing circles.
- 8:09So we're doing similar activities.
- 8:11We're going to the Santa brunch, we're going to the same tournament, the same dance thing, the same birthday parties.
- 8:16We're all intermingling and raising our families together when when my kids go off and leave, and if I don't have other friendships that I didn't meet through roles, right?
- 8:27Then I'm left with my husband and us wondering like, all right, so now what do we do?
- 8:32Do we move to New York City into the one bedroom apartment that we always talked about?
- 8:35Do we stay here in this house with all of the kids are gone and all of our friends' kids are gone and they don't know what to do now, can you, I can see how that, I can hundred percent how that happens then.
- 8:45Yes.
- 8:46And I feel like for me, it feels far, but also time flies.
- 8:50And you are so in it.
- 8:52When you're in it.
- 8:53And I think everyone tells you and that's what everyone tells me.
- 8:55You're in it now.
- 8:56You're in it now.
- 8:57And then I think that what is starting to happen is you start coming up for air, right?
- 9:02And you're like, okay, so time is moving on.
- 9:04You're less in it every day.
- 9:06And then you come up and you're like, whoa.
- 9:08What just happened?
- 9:09You blinked and time went by, you blinked and your roles changed.
- 9:13And you don't know who you are, right?
- 9:15Or what you like, or what you wanna do, and so I think that can definitely spur this identity crisis, midlife crisis.
- 9:24I think that's a lot of the time where that comes from.
- 9:26And it shouldn't be looked at like a pathetic thing.
- 9:30I think it's real.
- 9:31And I think it's probably one of those things where if people.
- 9:34Maybe they don't even realize that they're in it.
- 9:36They don't even realize that they're having that's what it is.
- 9:38Mm-hmm.
- 9:38You know, Like that's what's actually going on.
- 9:41And I think it needs to be talked about.
- 9:43I think that the goal is your roles should be something that you enjoy doing.
- 9:49Because then you're gonna burn out.
- 9:50So you have to reevaluate very frequently what those roles are.
- 9:54You have to make space for that.
- 9:56And if your roles are a reflection of your identity, the two should be in sync.
- 9:59But I think that when the two are not in sync and you're playing all these external roles that don't even match up with your core identity, then that's, you're screwed.
- 10:07For sure.
- 10:08So to your point, you said you have to come up for air.
- 10:11If you've gotten to that point.
- 10:13It's almost too late for, yes.
- 10:15It has to be like a constant reevaluation, a constant looking at what you're doing.
- 10:20Maybe that's when it feels like it has to be so constant.
- 10:22Maybe that's when it feels like an identity crisis.
- 10:24Yes.
- 10:24Is when you haven't wait.
- 10:25You wait if it gets to that point.
- 10:27Yep.
- 10:27So I thought when you said this at the beginning, you said that like identity is an internal thing and your roles are external things.
- 10:34But I wanted to like also share a couple other break down comparison statements between the two because I think that I use them interchangeably and probably never realized that I did, but they are very different.
- 10:46So identity is your being and your roles are your doing.
- 10:51Okay.
- 10:52So roles are jobs then essentially.
- 10:55Yes.
- 10:55If you're saying you're doing yes.
- 10:56What are a couple examples of a role if you had to think of a few.
- 11:00It's an external, it's often temporary, it is visible to others.
- 11:07It's based on what people need from you and it changes as life changes.
- 11:12So back to that kind of being in a temporary thing, it could be temporary.
- 11:16So they're more performative to what you were saying earlier?
- 11:18Yes, they're more performative.
- 11:18Okay.
- 11:19So when you serve others.
- 11:21And identity is internal.
- 11:24It is stable over time.
- 11:26It's personal and quiet.
- 11:28It's shaped by your experiences and not assignments.
- 11:31And it's who you are when all of the titles fall away.
- 11:35So it's permanent.
- 11:37And roles shift with your seasons.
- 11:41Identity also asks you what you need, roles, ask what others need, and identity fills you and rolls often drain or demand from you.
- 11:51So it is interesting to think of the differences between the two.
- 11:55So do you feel like identity can change?
- 12:00I think it, it can probably evolve with experiences.
- 12:03So as time is going and as you have more life experiences, I do think that you can change and grow.
- 12:10I don't think that it's like a night and day difference though.
- 12:13I think that you are who you are and you normally gravitate towards what you like and I think that, yes, I do think that you can evolve and grow from that identity, so identity is the core.
- 12:26And it might shift.
- 12:27It might shift ever so slightly and come back in, but it's very stable.
- 12:31It's more stable roles and I think yes, roles are the things that are like spinning and changing constantly around you.
- 12:37Yes.
- 12:37And I think that, yes, I don't wanna ever say that like it's black and white.
- 12:40You are who you are.
- 12:42'cause I think that what this said that it's through experiences and I think as you experience things, experiences shape you.
- 12:50Sure.
- 12:50So I think that, yes, my identity has changed over.
- 12:55I would say probably the last 10 years, especially as I shifted, I feel like things for me really started changing.
- 13:03When I went through infertility.
- 13:04It was like the pandemic, infertility, and then motherhood.
- 13:07And I always think of it as it was like boom, boom, boom.
- 13:09Like it just a lot happened at once and I definitely shifted and evolved from all of those things happening and what it did to me.
- 13:19But I'm still who I am, so yes, I think that things can evolve and grow, but like I don't think that you really change who you are, right at your core.
- 13:29So at your core, your identity, who you are, not what you are, it's your values.
- 13:36Your inner voice, your preferences.
- 13:38Yeah.
- 13:38Your instincts, what matters to you.
- 13:41Those things I don't think have ever changed for me.
- 13:44My inner voice is loud.
- 13:45Yep.
- 13:46My instincts, yep.
- 13:47Those gut reactions that you have.
- 13:49Yep.
- 13:49Those have all been really stable.
- 13:51Yep.
- 13:51And with all the different roles that I've played, I think helped sharpen some of my for sure.
- 13:57Instincts, some of my roles, some of my values.
- 14:00I don't think that they've dolled them, I think that they've sharpened them.
- 14:04I think that the roles exhaust me and when I think of the roles, I think of jobs and work that are like very tiring.
- 14:12And it's funny because the roles are what everybody identifies me as.
- 14:16Yes.
- 14:17Not even, Not even the internal stuff, it's all the external stuff.
- 14:21Those are the things that people are attracted to you are interested in, those external Yep.
- 14:27Roles.
- 14:27I think that also symbolizes your relationship with your husband, your relationship with your friends, that's when you take it to the next level, right?
- 14:36Is when think when those roles are stripped away.
- 14:38Mm-hmm.
- 14:38And Marissa and I did talk about how we have mainly been in different, quote unquote life stages are entire 15 year friendship.
- 14:48It's almost been that long.
- 14:50And I was getting married, I've been a mom, she's been traveling the world so it's like we were never on the same.
- 14:58Role at the same time, minus being a content creator.
- 15:02And we were able to bond over that.
- 15:04Arguably, that could have even made the relationship even harder it could have, right?
- 15:07Because now you have competing roles.
- 15:09And so we had always prided ourselves, and we talked about this at length in that episode, about how when you love a person truly like you, love who they are, and you are able to strip away all of the roles that person plays and just look at them for their heart and their soul and who they are, that's when real true friendship forms, where it's just, it's such a deep relationship and with such a foundation under it.
- 15:38And I think a lot of the times we are connected to friendships, like you're saying, through the roles that you play.
- 15:44And hopefully when you're in a marriage or a longstanding partnership that you.
- 15:50Together because of the identity and not the roles that you play.
- 15:54But I think that's where it can get really tricky is when some of these roles are then stripped away.
- 15:59And this goes back to what we were talking about when your kids leave the house, right?
- 16:03And your mom and dad.
- 16:05And then all of a sudden now you're not really faced with that day to day all the time.
- 16:09And you look at your partner and you're like, who are you?
- 16:11Who am I?
- 16:12And this is why it's like another phase of life where you hear of people like falling out, right?
- 16:17Because you're like, this is now a different stage of life and you don't know who you are anymore.
- 16:22We are not there yet.
- 16:24I feel like currently the stage of life I'm in is, I feel like this like busy time of when you're in your thirties and your forties and my roles have.
- 16:33Multiplied like exponentially.
- 16:35And I have multiple kids, I have multiple tasks.
- 16:38I am the household manager.
- 16:40I'm the chauffeur, I'm the emotional regulator of the children.
- 16:42Sometimes my partner, I, I'm learning how to regulate my own emotions.
- 16:46Yes, I am, somebody's, coworker, I play multiple roles.
- 16:51So sometimes you lose your identity through these roles and how are you supposed to make nice connections with other people?
- 17:01If you don't have, because you're in this,'cause you're saying you're in this busy, we're in this busy season, but I'm not only in this busy season, someone else's, my peers are too.
- 17:09Yes.
- 17:09Yes.
- 17:09So you're trying to create and can make connections, genuine connections.
- 17:15With two women that are just busy that don't even know who their, what their identities are.
- 17:19So we're all in this together.
- 17:21Yep.
- 17:21So that also, I think is another layer of why, friendships can be hard too, because you can't, you have to be vulnerable and get back to the foundation of it all.
- 17:32Yes.
- 17:33It's tricky to do.
- 17:34So, Especially like you said in the like, crazy busy season that we're all in right now.
- 17:39It's it, and it takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of effort.
- 17:42And it takes you being comfortable with letting your walls down and opening yourself up a little bit more and roles can be very heavy too.
- 17:54There's a lot of because it's performance based, with some of them.
- 17:57Yeah.
- 17:57And they're performative, they feel very heavy.
- 18:00There's a lot of pressure, there's judgment, there's, it doesn't all feel like light.
- 18:05Yeah.
- 18:05But it could also be a kind of a crutch, right?
- 18:09Like you can hide behind the role that you're in.
- 18:12And so again, that could be like a whole other thing that gets a little bit tricky, I think that I did that, yeah.
- 18:18For a long time is I think I, I started being a, an influencer content creator.
- 18:24It was a blogger back then when I was 25.
- 18:27And so if I think of myself as a 25-year-old, I'm like just becoming an adult.
- 18:32I was on my own, Raja and I were living together.
- 18:34It was like our first, few years of real responsibilities and jobs and a house and all of these things and building our life together.
- 18:42And I started my blog and took on this role as an influencer.
- 18:49Blogger and I had a name for my blog.
- 18:52It was Oso Glam and it took over.
- 18:54You took, you were like, I almost felt so glam.
- 18:57Yeah.
- 18:57Like I almost felt like for a while it was like I had to have these pillars of my brand that I was building and what does Oso glam mean and how does that translate into who I am?
- 19:09And I remember thinking like at points, like this is back in the day, I think that as time went on, I was a little bit more comfortable with it, but it's is this something, oh, so glam would wear, is this something that I like?
- 19:22You know what I mean?
- 19:22Because it almost took over think she's like a third person in your relationship.
- 19:26Yeah.
- 19:26It was just like, and I know I, I recognized that was unhealthy and I also wasn't, it wasn't that it wasn't authentic to me, it was just that it was a part of who I was.
- 19:37And this was before content got so immersive where it's more acceptable for you to be yourself now.
- 19:44And but this was back in the day.
- 19:46And so if I think about that, how that shaped me as a mid 20 something, as I was trying to find myself as an adult, and I had this role that it wasn't my identity.
- 19:58It was a role that I So you created, so you're saying that, oh, Oso Glam was a role.
- 20:02It was a hundred percent.
- 20:04It was a role.
- 20:05And it wa it doesn't mean that it wasn't authentic.
- 20:07Just like of course you're a mom, you're a wife, it doesn't mean that it's not authentic.
- 20:11It just means that it was one part, one thing of that makes up who I am.
- 20:17But it was such a big, it was such a big presence, like a media presence.
- 20:22Yes.
- 20:22That it almost took over the identity.
- 20:24Yes.
- 20:24It started to don't, or it would infringe on it don't feel like now it would infringe on it.
- 20:28Now you are more Christina Tishi for sure.
- 20:32And also Glam truly is.
- 20:34A pillar of that.
- 20:35Yes.
- 20:35I wanna know, how did you transform I wanna even go through this.
- 20:41How did you start to reclaim some of that identity and still be everything you are?
- 20:46I feel like a lot of the transformation happened within the last five years, and I really feel like a lot of it took like being at rock bottom and almost having an identity crisis for me to start to really find myself again.
- 21:01A lot of those were outside factors and.
- 21:05Compiled all at once, but it took me almost having almost like a mental breakdown to be like, I don't know who I am.
- 21:13And it wasn't, it was like a cry for help.
- 21:15I don't know who I am and I need to know who I am.
- 21:17And so I needed to just pause.
- 21:20We talked about this pause, take a step back from a lot of things.
- 21:24Focus on only the roles that needed me, so like I needed to go into motherhood, like that's.
- 21:31Where I am right now.
- 21:32I can't worry about all these other things.
- 21:34I need to focus on my family.
- 21:36I need to focus on being a wife.
- 21:38I need to focus on being a mom, and I need to focus on myself.
- 21:41And I went MIA for a little bit, and then as I started resurfacing a little bit I did a lot of inner, I did a lot of inner work.
- 21:50I think a lot of journaling, a lot of I did a lot of gratitude things.
- 21:55I did therapy.
- 21:56I feel like I had to start speaking out loud and not in my head and talking about things.
- 22:03I had to talk about things from before motherhood, and I had to start ironing out, who that person was and what I liked about her.
- 22:10So you were, and what needed to come back into my life again.
- 22:13And so it wasn't, it's not like a light switch, it was like, it was a lot of work.
- 22:18It really was.
- 22:19So I guess for a listener who.
- 22:21Is in that same spot as you were five years ago.
- 22:24I know that there's pe.
- 22:24I know that there are people that are here because I feel like everybody is there.
- 22:27Yes.
- 22:27I think a good place to start is asking yourself, what do I like?
- 22:32Yeah.
- 22:33Because it sounds like you asked yourself, what do I like?
- 22:35Maybe you can't answer that right away.
- 22:36I couldn't, I take some time.
- 22:37Remember, that was also the scary part, was that I remember asking myself that question, I think it was from a therapy session, and it was like, who am I?
- 22:45What do I even like anymore?
- 22:46And I didn't know.
- 22:48Yeah.
- 22:48And I remember being like I asked you.
- 22:50Yes.
- 22:50You asked me and I still didn't know, but I Do you know now?
- 22:53Yes, So what do you like, tell me.
- 22:54I know I need to be out of my bubble.
- 22:57I know I need to be with people as much as I, I say that I am an introvert and sometimes I recharge in private, you need the energies of others.
- 23:05I need the energy.
- 23:06I need comradery.
- 23:07I need collaboration.
- 23:09I had set myself up to work alone and to run my own business, yes, there's team members, there's managers, there's assistants, people that help you with things.
- 23:20But I'm, you're a solo act.
- 23:21I'm a solo act.
- 23:22Yeah.
- 23:22And I realized that after a long time that I don't thrive with that.
- 23:26I like being with people.
- 23:27I like the creative energy of being around other people.
- 23:31And so I needed to bring some of that back into my life.
- 23:34I needed to spend time with some of my family.
- 23:36I needed to get back to, seeing shows listening to music that I like.
- 23:41So these are all the things that you like Yes.
- 23:42You like the presence of others.
- 23:43Yes.
- 23:44You like being around community, music, performance, performances like that.
- 23:49So you now look, you just named like 10 things.
- 23:51Yeah.
- 23:52But I like, yeah.
- 23:53All of the creative.
- 23:54Yeah.
- 23:54So that's all part of your identity.
- 23:56Yes.
- 23:56Those are, that are things that light me up that that have not changed.
- 24:00That have not changed.
- 24:01So those are things that you like.
- 24:02Yes.
- 24:03You have likes.
- 24:03Yes.
- 24:04Another one is what feels good to me?
- 24:06What drains me.
- 24:07What fills me.
- 24:08Those are important questions to ask yourself.
- 24:10Yeah.
- 24:10And I think most importantly is, what did you love before?
- 24:14Yep.
- 24:15Motherhood.
- 24:15Yep.
- 24:16Because you may not like the same things and that's okay too.
- 24:19That's okay too.
- 24:19And that's an exercise.
- 24:19But sometimes it's just good to quiz yourself.
- 24:22I used to love doing this with, I want, do I wanna revisit this?
- 24:25And you talked about that in another episode where you had said I liked playing soccer as a kid.
- 24:30I don't wanna play soccer now.
- 24:32But what did you like about that?
- 24:33You liked being on a team, you liked the competitiveness.
- 24:36Like you have to sometimes go back in time and it's almost an exercise.
- 24:40What did I like about that?
- 24:41And break it down and how can I then add that back into my life in a way that makes sense for me now.
- 24:47So it does take a lot of work.
- 24:48And it's unfortunately not something that anybody can do for you.
- 24:52I think that all of these statements that I just read off to you all start with I I and me, because so often do I say, oh, my kids would like this.
- 25:02Oh, my kids.
- 25:03Oh, the kids will love it.
- 25:04Oh, the kids.
- 25:05The kids, we will do this.
- 25:06The kids, we that.
- 25:07Yep.
- 25:07Oh, Nick and I will like that, blah, blah, blah.
- 25:08Sometimes I think it's great just to have a couple eye things.
- 25:12Yes.
- 25:12A couple of me things that are not external.
- 25:14They're for nobody else.
- 25:15They are just for yourself.
- 25:17They are not selfish.
- 25:17They are very important.
- 25:18Because if you can't answer the questions to these, you've lost your identity.
- 25:22Yes.
- 25:22Yes.
- 25:22And then how are you supposed to play a role to support others?
- 25:25No.
- 25:26You really can't.
- 25:26No.
- 25:27And I feel to that point, I felt like at that point, because I didn't really know who I was anymore.
- 25:33It's hard to be a wife.
- 25:34It's hard to be a mom.
- 25:36A roles.
- 25:36It's hard to be, it's hard to work because you're like, if I don't know who I am at my core, then.
- 25:42I those roles that you play yes, you can hide behind them, but I really didn't know what I was doing in any aspect of my life because I didn't really know who I was anymore.
- 25:53So I think that statement of just not knowing is the red flag.
- 25:58And hopefully, like you had said at the beginning you, you want to try to avoid that happening, and there, I'm sure there's ways to avoid that happening, but once you get to that point it's just a lot of internal work.
- 26:10So TI think that the next thing that I wanna ask you about is when roles become your identity.
- 26:18Like and when the outside world kind of rewards you only for the role, right?
- 26:23And I'm thinking of this in terms of you're home with the kids.
- 26:26So this is the role of a stay-at-home mom.
- 26:28This is the role of a stay-at-home mom.
- 26:29So stay-at-home mom.
- 26:31Rule could be like your job.
- 26:33Yes.
- 26:33And mom Yes.
- 26:34Is like your a huge role.
- 26:36And I think that mom is part of your identity.
- 26:38Oh, of course.
- 26:39It, mom, like I am everything.
- 26:41Yes.
- 26:41Like to my children, I'm, you have to be, you have to be just like my mom is still everything.
- 26:45Yep.
- 26:46To me.
- 26:46And I think that when you are put in this role of the caregiver, the chauffeur, the cook, the tutor, and everybody's saying oh, you're so involved with the kids.
- 26:57And you get praised for that.
- 26:58Oh, I don't know how you do it.
- 26:59You're juggling everything.
- 27:01And you get all of this external praise from the outside world about your job of being a mother, that really becomes who you are.
- 27:09And it's like you're saying it's performative.
- 27:12Yeah.
- 27:12It is a performance, even if I'm not doing it for the performance or the accolades, I'm doing it just to purely raise my children.
- 27:19It's become my job.
- 27:20But Right.
- 27:20They call it a stay at home mom.
- 27:22Yes.
- 27:22Because it needs a title.
- 27:24I feel like it's a very misunderstood rule, which might be why I am even having trouble.
- 27:30Speaking to it, because even though I play this role I still don't fully understand it.
- 27:35It's hard, honestly, because I do it because I, I have to, there's something that just takes over in you when you become a mother that you just have to care for other people.
- 27:46You have to keep them alive, and then you fall in love with them and you just pour your heart into it and then you start, reading books and having other things that maybe aren't necessarily your values mixed with.
- 27:58How you feel in your core because you're trying to do your best.
- 28:02So you have a lot of different.
- 28:04Mixes of things come together when you're raising kids, yes, I totally get that.
- 28:07Yep.
- 28:08And then also you're, then you're playing this societal role of, oh, okay, now you're a stay at home mom.
- 28:13Or you left your job and now you're, now you're doing this.
- 28:16Or, oh, you're just a mom, there's so many mixed messages and mixed emotions.
- 28:21With being a mom I feel like, again, I always say this when we like get into something where I'm like, I feel like a little bit of a chill in my body where I'm like, I feel like we could have an entire episode about this, because I freaking hate that.
- 28:36I hate making a stay at home mom feel less than, and I actually hate the battle.
- 28:42I feel like there is a silent battle of working moms versus stay at home moms.
- 28:46I don't think that it's like.
- 28:49A nasty battle, but I think that there's like a, who has it harder, like it's a comparison thing.
- 28:54But I think that it was my brief stint with it, it was the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life.
- 29:03I applaud anybody who is home full-time with their kids.
- 29:07I think that it is the hardest job in the entire world.
- 29:10It is a 24 7 job, and there is no other comparison to it.
- 29:16There is no other comparison to that type of, on that honestness.
- 29:21I have such strong feelings about that because I could not do it right.
- 29:26And I, I consider that a weakness, I do, I consider it like I.
- 29:32Wanted to go back to work.
- 29:34I thought it was the hardest thing being home full-time.
- 29:38I needed something else outside of it and I wish I didn't, but don't you just think then, if women could just say, I do best with the structure of my job and working a little extra harder to pay for somebody to compliment the upbringing of my children.
- 29:59And then on the other side, the other women say, I actually don't strive in the office and strive, bringing in an income for my family.
- 30:07So instead I play a slightly more supportive role to my husband and I'm home raising the kids.
- 30:12'cause that's what I do best, right?
- 30:14I think if you just embrace what you do best.
- 30:17Yeah.
- 30:18It sounds so much better.
- 30:19But when you teeter on both sides, it sounds very like comp.
- 30:24I don't know.
- 30:24But I also think that some women are forced into the position of either staying home or going back to work.
- 30:30I guess there's, I'm talking more like a choice, like you and I, if you have a choice, you and I are talking from choices.
- 30:36From choices because we had a choice.
- 30:39Some women don't have a choice.
- 30:40But luckily you made the choice to go back to work.
- 30:44And you're also mothering very closely.
- 30:47Yes.
- 30:47It's a mix of both.
- 30:48It's a mix of both, but you have a little extra help in doing the tasks.
- 30:53That are involved in the running of the household, which fall under mom.
- 30:58Mom is almost like the CEO position.
- 31:01Yep.
- 31:02And the CEO of a company doesn't do the laundry.
- 31:05At the company, they have somebody that does the laundry.
- 31:08When you're the mom, you're the CEO of the house, but you do the laundry, everything you cook, you take care of the kids.
- 31:13Yep.
- 31:13When you look at it like that, it requires a lot of structure and there's a lot more that goes For sure.
- 31:20Into it.
- 31:20Yep.
- 31:21For sure.
- 31:21So yes.
- 31:22How could I not become that role?
- 31:25Because it's everything.
- 31:26It's everything.
- 31:27It's everything.
- 31:28And I think that's actually my point is that it's, for me, that was the hardest struggle.
- 31:34I didn't feel like I had another role outside of the role in my house because it's so much.
- 31:41And it also limits you if you want to.
- 31:45Expand or integrate other things and other roles to help remind you of your identity.
- 31:53Because your time is so limited, playing the role of a mother, it's hard to spark creativity, self-expression, your interests.
- 32:04Community building, all those other things.
- 32:06For sure.
- 32:06So did you feel, because you explained in, I think, your intro episode about yourself that you left your job and when your son was born.
- 32:19Yeah.
- 32:19So I didn't feel this.
- 32:21Then I was happy to stop working and I was happy to be a stay-at-home mom.
- 32:25Life was like super easy.
- 32:26Then I was 26, Nick was starting his job as a doctor.
- 32:29I wanted to be home.
- 32:30My like best friend was home with her kid.
- 32:32Like her and I were having the time of our lives.
- 32:34Yeah.
- 32:34It was more when we moved to this house and I had to assume the role of caring for.
- 32:40This house two kids.
- 32:42Nick was literally never home because he was always working and then professionally he was getting so many like attaboys with work.
- 32:49Like he was skyrocketing.
- 32:52And it wasn't that I was jealous of him, I was always so happy and proud of him.
- 32:57But it was like he took off and I was left in the dust.
- 33:01Like really struggling being a young mom with two kids and then managing the house and all the other things.
- 33:08And that's when I was like, ah.
- 33:09Yep.
- 33:10I can understand.
- 33:11Did.
- 33:11And that's when I had my like quarter life crisis.
- 33:14So I wanna ask you, so when did you first notice that people praised you more for what you do then who you are?
- 33:23Okay, that's a good question.
- 33:25So when I had the twins, I got a lot of praise.
- 33:28Yeah.
- 33:28For having twins.
- 33:29And you also had twins?
- 33:30Like third technically had twin.
- 33:32Twin.
- 33:32That was I twins.
- 33:32You went from two to fourth.
- 33:33I had a full, which sometimes when I think about that, yeah.
- 33:35I'm like, I, that, that is insane.
- 33:38So I had, all right, I'll talk about my twin story really quickly.
- 33:41'cause I feel like when people hear twin stories, they always hear bad twin stories.
- 33:45'cause there are so many bad twin stories.
- 33:48I luckily had a very healthy twin story.
- 33:51Mm-hmm.
- 33:51I carried two girls full term.
- 33:53And I was just so grateful that I had healthy babies, that it was so easy for me.
- 33:59Yeah.
- 33:59Because, yeah.
- 34:00Because I thought I was gonna deliver early.
- 34:02I thought I was gonna have all these things happen.
- 34:04I thought I was gonna have a C-section.
- 34:05I thought I was gonna have to have one vaginally, one C-section.
- 34:08I had two twin girls.
- 34:11Delivered vaginally and I was home two days later.
- 34:13Yeah, you, I know you, so I got off easy.
- 34:15So I was riding that high for mm-hmm.
- 34:18a long time.
- 34:18And I kept getting praised I can't believe you're doing this.
- 34:21How are you doing this?
- 34:22You are a mom of four.
- 34:23Oh my God, how are you doing this?
- 34:25And I like, didn't even want to hear it anymore.
- 34:27I was like, how am I doing this?
- 34:28Are you kidding me?
- 34:29I quite literally have no choice.
- 34:31I like, what?
- 34:33Yeah.
- 34:33How am I doing this off of like coffee and, yep.
- 34:37I don't even know what, like cortisol, like I, I have to, I have four kids that are staring at me like right when I delivered the twins.
- 34:45It was at 11:00 PM Nick had to work at 6:00 AM the next day.
- 34:49And I remember being like, don't you think we're cutting it a little close here?
- 34:53What if I don't just fire these babies out?
- 34:55Not everybody can fire babies out in 15 minutes.
- 34:59Just because I did that with the boys doesn't mean what?
- 35:03But anyways, so that's when I became truly like everybody around me was like, oh, she's the twin mom of four.
- 35:10Yeah.
- 35:10I was gonna say, I feel like you're the mom of four.
- 35:13I know we we know people.
- 35:15Luckily that other, most of my friends are also Yeah, you, I know.
- 35:18I was gonna say there's a handful of people that have four now I blend in, but I still think that it's the more kids, it's like a badge of honor.
- 35:25Like you're like, you're the mom of four.
- 35:27I feel like it's just.
- 35:30It's almost like that's a, I mean, role itself, it's part of itself.
- 35:33It's part of my, it's like a role within a role.
- 35:34Like you're mom of then you're now mom of four.
- 35:37And it is also part of my identity.
- 35:39Yeah.
- 35:39Being a twin mom, you and having four kids has become part, Did you ever see the movie movie Inside Out?
- 35:45No.
- 35:45No.
- 35:45No.
- 35:45Okay.
- 35:46So in the movie Inside Out, she, it's a really cute movie and it has, it's about.
- 35:51All of these different pieces of you, and it's envy, sad, happy, mad, and how there's not just like one piece of you, right?
- 35:58You like, there's like a panel of five people that control your emotions.
- 36:02Okay.
- 36:02There's also embarrassed, anxiety, all these other things.
- 36:05It's the cutest movie ever, but when things stick around for long enough, they end up entering your core of who you are, right?
- 36:14So I feel like this role of a twin mom and mom really just snuck its way into my identity.
- 36:20It got you.
- 36:20It got, yeah.
- 36:21And I, I can't get rid of it now.
- 36:22It's, it is who I am.
- 36:24Yeah.
- 36:24But that became everything that I was, so now I was like, Nick's wife, house manager, mom.
- 36:32And now I'm like okay, there's nothing left.
- 36:34There's nothing left here.
- 36:36And that is when it was imperative that I started to integrate.
- 36:41Other things.
- 36:42So it was more work for me.
- 36:43I had to do more work, but it was imperative at that moment that I started to do other things and I wasn't hiding behind them because they were enhancing my life and they were reminding me of who I was.
- 36:54And that was when I started to integrate some of more of the community based stuff.
- 36:59And other things that you needed.
- 37:01I was only identifying as the twin mom or the mom of four kids.
- 37:06And I was getting so much praise for it.
- 37:07It wasn't like it was a bad thing, but it was just all I would hear.
- 37:10Yeah.
- 37:11But it's, it overshadows a lot of, like I, or I don't know if that's the word, it just No, I think so.
- 37:15Yeah.
- 37:15It overshadows everything else.
- 37:18Yeah.
- 37:19I don't know how you And it is incredible.
- 37:21Incredible.
- 37:21I know how she does.
- 37:22And I'm not saying don't give compliments to people.
- 37:25It's not that.
- 37:25It's not that I'm not grateful that people recognize,'cause I was also being seen because people were recognizing like, holy shit, this looks hard.
- 37:32Yes.
- 37:33Guess.
- 37:33Yeah, it was.
- 37:34Yeah.
- 37:34It's like almost like it feels, if it's like a backhanded compliment, right?
- 37:38Or it's like where you feel like you're like, okay, yes, you're being recognized.
- 37:42Thank you.
- 37:43It is this is a lot.
- 37:45Or thank you for recognizing that this is a little bit different than how everybody experiences things.
- 37:50But, or sometimes people would say to me, which I'm sure everybody's had, had somebody say to this oh, your hands are full.
- 37:54Yes.
- 37:54It's looks like you have your hands full.
- 37:56Looks like you have your hands full.
- 37:57I'm like yeah why don't you lend one out?
- 38:00I know.
- 38:00I know.
- 38:01But I don't know.
- 38:02And then at that point too, I think I also.
- 38:06My role just became that I was a disaster and like my kids were gonna be late.
- 38:11We were gonna forget things.
- 38:13Like all these other negative roles came along with it too.
- 38:16And now I feel like I'm just trying to clean the mess up.
- 38:19It's interesting that you're saying that'cause you're saying like that the role sort of brand you Yeah.
- 38:24Which they do.
- 38:25And that's like another thing where again, this is, they're all external, it's an external thing.
- 38:30But it's crazy that those end up shaping you, right?
- 38:34Like it's shapes, maybe it's like almost like your own inner identity.
- 38:38Like the longer you're in something and doing something, like now you're saying that's how you identify.
- 38:43Like you've said oh, I'm unorganized, I'm a mess.
- 38:46All of these things.
- 38:47And it's but are you or are you just.
- 38:50You know what I mean?
- 38:51Yeah.
- 38:51Are you just playing that role?
- 38:51Are you just playing that role?
- 38:53Okay, so I'm gonna read off a couple things.
- 38:55Do you think that you are a leader?
- 38:57Was that a role that you play?
- 38:59I, yes.
- 38:59It definitely used to be.
- 39:01Used to be, yes.
- 39:02Yes.
- 39:02But you don't think you are anymore?
- 39:03I would say, again, that's something over the last five-ish years that I don't feel I feel, I find myself craving collaborative.
- 39:14Situations more than leader situations.
- 39:17I used to be, I was captain of everything that I've ever been on, like that was always a role that I loved, like leading and being in charge or like the point person of something.
- 39:26But as I've aged, I find myself just, I don't wanna, I don't want it to be all on me.
- 39:32So I think that's a good example Yeah.
- 39:34Of how roles change.
- 39:35Yes.
- 39:36And that how it's like a season.
- 39:38Yes.
- 39:38And it's not really the identity.
- 39:41Oh, you are?
- 39:41Yes.
- 39:42Yes.
- 39:43Or external you're like, maybe other people saw me as a leader, so I took that role on, here's another one.
- 39:50Okay.
- 39:50Were you the good girl when you were growing up?
- 39:53Yeah, I would.
- 39:54I would say I'm like the eldest daughter.
- 39:56I was never really like a troublemaker or anything, so I do think that I was like more of a rule follower for sure.
- 40:04What about you?
- 40:07Did I even need to, mom, do we even need to ask I that shocks me.
- 40:12But I really wasn't a bad girl.
- 40:14Yeah.
- 40:14But I certainly wasn't a good girl.
- 40:16Okay.
- 40:17No, that's I, okay.
- 40:18I think that checks I was a rule.
- 40:20I was a rule tester.
- 40:20Okay.
- 40:21Okay.
- 40:21I was a rule tester.
- 40:22Yeah.
- 40:22I was definitely like a rule follower.
- 40:24Also track like not, yeah.
- 40:26Like not doing things in line, makes me anxious.
- 40:29Okay.
- 40:29So those are two things that have stuck with us.
- 40:32Yes.
- 40:32Throughout our whole life.
- 40:33Yes.
- 40:33So don't you think then that.
- 40:34Then goes more to your identity?
- 40:36Yeah, probably.
- 40:37And less of just a temporary role.
- 40:39Yeah.
- 40:39I guess we can say as we were approaching the big four, oh, if they're still on brand, then that's probably who we are.
- 40:45When we were on vacation this last week, Ava is 46 and a half inches and all the rides are for 48 inches and everybody else in the family is 48 inches.
- 40:53So I was like, Ave, come over here.
- 40:54Let me put your hair in a top Knotch.
- 40:55Yeah, that'll give you two inches.
- 40:56Yeah, you can go on the ride with us.
- 40:58And Nick is shaking his head no.
- 40:59Me.
- 40:59Yeah, Nick's the one because he's the rule follower.
- 41:01He's me.
- 41:02Yeah.
- 41:02I'd be like no.
- 41:04And Ava was like, mom, I cannot lie.
- 41:06Are you kidding me?
- 41:07Dead mom wants me to lie.
- 41:08And I am like, fine.
- 41:09Then sit out.
- 41:10I don't know what to tell you.
- 41:11Yep.
- 41:11Bending the rules is still breaking the rules.
- 41:15Okay.
- 41:16So the next one is, yeah, were you rule follower?
- 41:18A rule negotiator?
- 41:19Yeah.
- 41:19No, I was a rule follower I think.
- 41:20I think.
- 41:20Okay.
- 41:21Are you the peacekeeper in your family?
- 41:24Yeah, I definitely think someone could go to me and I'm like a I'm like a see both sides type of person.
- 41:32Like I'm not so heated, I think you can sway me.
- 41:35Where like I can understand your point of view.
- 41:37I can understand someone else points of view.
- 41:39Yeah.
- 41:39Yeah.
- 41:39Sure.
- 41:39What about you?
- 41:41I feel like you're opinionated.
- 41:43I'm very opinionated.
- 41:44Yeah.
- 41:45But I think that I am a peacekeeper though.
- 41:47Yeah.
- 41:47Even, but not a peace like pleaser.
- 41:50But I do think that I have opinions on things and I might share of those.
- 41:55Yes.
- 41:55Yes.
- 41:56All here's another one.
- 41:57Were you the funny one, the cute one, or the smart one?
- 42:00If you had to be one?
- 42:02I was the, probably the cute one.
- 42:03The cute one.
- 42:04Yeah.
- 42:05I definitely wasn't like the smarty pants of the group.
- 42:09I was always, I always would say I was like more of the posh spice.
- 42:12I liked my outfits, like people would wanna copy my outfits.
- 42:15Like it, I feel like it really, and that's the influencer role was like always how I was, Yeah.
- 42:20So that's maybe still part of your identity then?
- 42:22Yeah.
- 42:23'cause it's still who you are today.
- 42:24Yeah.
- 42:24Yeah.
- 42:25Like I think people go to me and, they, that's what I'm, that's what I'm good for, what would you say for me, wait, what were the options?
- 42:33The funny one, the cute one or the smart one.
- 42:35I'm thinking of you like back in the day, I would say that you were probably the funny one.
- 42:38Yeah, I think I still am.
- 42:40Yeah.
- 42:40Like I think, yeah, I think I'm funny.
- 42:41You're okay.
- 42:43I think that because you're like the one that says it like you're like you say it.
- 42:47You don't think like you just say whatever you want.
- 42:50Oh yeah.
- 42:50My husband really loves when I do that.
- 42:53Why do you need the balance?
- 42:54You need the balance talk right now.
- 42:56It's funny.
- 42:58Funny because you sad You're the funny one.
- 42:59Yeah, but you're also the cute one too.
- 43:01I think I was always the funny one.
- 43:03Like the jokester.
- 43:04The jokester, yeah.
- 43:05I think, I always hide behind humor.
- 43:07Yeah.
- 43:08Okay.
- 43:09The overachiever or the under the radar kid.
- 43:14I would say overachiever because I was always like, involved in a lot of things.
- 43:19So again, not from like a book standpoint, like not from academics, but I was always involved in a lot of things and like I always wanted to be like front and center of those things.
- 43:29Okay.
- 43:30So it probably gave the perception that I was an overachiever.
- 43:33Okay.
- 43:34So what about now?
- 43:35Do you feel like that's still you?
- 43:36I do think that that's like, I have high expectations of myself.
- 43:40My expectations of myself are through the roof and a lot of my issues actually stem from when I don't hit those things.
- 43:48Okay.
- 43:49So were you always trying to earn your gold star?
- 43:51For sure.
- 43:52Like I would always want a gold star.
- 43:53What about you?
- 43:54No.
- 43:54I don't care about the Gold Star.
- 43:55Yeah.
- 43:56I love a Gold Star.
- 43:57I'd wear it.
- 43:57I'm happy without it.
- 43:58Yeah, I'm happy without it.
- 44:00I'd rather somebody else do the work.
- 44:02Yeah.
- 44:02And just go along with it.
- 44:03No, I love a recognition of something.
- 44:06Okay.
- 44:07Okay, so you, so I probably know the answer to this one.
- 44:10You feel like everything had to be perfect?
- 44:12A hundred percent.
- 44:13Yeah.
- 44:13And that also is, yeah, leads true for today.
- 44:16Okay, here's a good one.
- 44:18Did you hide parts of yourself to fit into your assigned role?
- 44:21For sure.
- 44:22I would.
- 44:23Especially, not so much when I was younger.
- 44:26Because I think when I was like in high school and college, I really knew who I was at that point.
- 44:32I, again, I think a lot of the roles that I played were part of my personality, so I just rode those, but comfortably like I danced.
- 44:41I was very comfortable with who I was when I was done with college.
- 44:44I ki and I felt like I went into the real world, I feel like that was when I struggled a little bit.
- 44:50And then when I started my blog, it was like another one of those moments where I like needed a creative outlet.
- 44:56I felt like I went from.
- 44:58Having a lot of fun, dancing, performing, doing all these things to working and working.
- 45:04Yes.
- 45:04I worked at a digital marketing agency, so it was a little bit creative, but it was a lot of like paper pushing, a lot of doing what the brands wanted.
- 45:12It wasn't cre, I didn't feel creatively fulfilled in any way.
- 45:15You weren't getting those?
- 45:16I wasn't getting that.
- 45:17I wasn't getting those hits at all.
- 45:19So when I started my blog, that was actually something I was craving.
- 45:22I wanted to do something creative and so it's just like that's, it's just interesting that's that was that evolution so that other part of you was hidden was hi, was hidden until revealed.
- 45:34And it was revealed through, but then it was also very it, then it then shaped me again.
- 45:41So it was like a push pull.
- 45:42And it happened just again recently?
- 45:44Yes.
- 45:44Through this podcast, through the podcast, which I always said, I feel like the podcast and my beginning start as like a content creator and influencer had they're so parallel and like the, where the needs were coming from.
- 45:57Like I needed this creative thing to fuel me and I needed to do something like outside of what I was doing.
- 46:03Mm-hmm.
- 46:04And that was exactly what the podcast was too.
- 46:06Yeah.
- 46:06And they were like, that far apart, but they the value of that felt the same.
- 46:10Yeah.
- 46:10Yeah.
- 46:11I like this little game.
- 46:12Yeah.
- 46:12I think this is fun.
- 46:13Fun.
- 46:13This is, wait, what was the, the question was did you hide parts of yourself to fit into your assigned role?
- 46:19Do you feel like you've hid parts of yourself to fit into an assigned role?
- 46:23No.
- 46:23No, I don't.
- 46:25I don't think I know how to hide parts of myself.
- 46:27I wish I was like that.
- 46:28I'm too dumb to do that.
- 46:33I wish so badly that I can hide parts of myself.
- 46:36I just can't, I don't, I don't know how to, I do not know how to hold back.
- 46:41I don't know if I, it's not that I, because it's not like I mask them on purpose.
- 46:45It's just that I don't necessarily reveal this.
- 46:48It's not, it's it's not that I like try to do something else or do or replace it with something else.
- 46:54I just am not like a.
- 46:56Everything on the table type of person.
- 46:58Hold your cards.
- 46:58I'm like an onion where I, yeah.
- 47:00Like I feel like you, you know who I am after you spend a good amount of time with me.
- 47:05Like you'll know all the things, but I'm not gonna reveal all the cards.
- 47:09You gotta work for it.
- 47:10You gotta work for it.
- 47:10You gotta work for it.
- 47:11If anybody has ever been in the presence of me and they're hiding something, I am relentless.
- 47:17Christina asked, I'm relentless.
- 47:19So many questions.
- 47:20Sometimes I'm like, I'm fine.
- 47:22Sometimes you don't.
- 47:23My friends don't tell me and I'm like, it is obvious.
- 47:26She knows.
- 47:26She'll call you afterwards.
- 47:27Can you just tell me so we can work through this?
- 47:32I know.
- 47:32You'll feel so much better.
- 47:35Get it out there.
- 47:36I know.
- 47:36I've always been like that though, that I know.
- 47:38And you're surrounded by a lot of onions.
- 47:40I always have had a sixth sense about me.
- 47:43Yeah.
- 47:43Like I just, I cannot help it.
- 47:45It is who I am.
- 47:45Yeah.
- 47:46And I'm surrounded by a bunch of onions.
- 47:47My husband still has his peel on, like I'm still working on him.
- 47:52I haven't teared up yet.
- 47:54I'm very strong, but I know, isn't it funny, like opposites do attract, they really do.
- 48:00You need, because if I was an onion too, there would be No, no, we would have no conversation.
- 48:05Conversation at all.
- 48:07So we need it.
- 48:08So at your core Yeah.
- 48:10You are an onion.
- 48:11I'm an onion.
- 48:12That's what we've learned here.
- 48:13So what am I dunno.
- 48:14What's the, what is the Youre a lumin onion.
- 48:21We're talking metaphorically.
- 48:24A grape.
- 48:25A grape.
- 48:26One layer.
- 48:27Okay.
- 48:28Nothing to peel.
- 48:31Wait, it gets better.
- 48:34A peach.
- 48:34Okay.
- 48:35Sweet.
- 48:36Straightforward, not confusing.
- 48:37Okay.
- 48:38I'm a peach.
- 48:39Okay.
- 48:39I love it.
- 48:40Okay.
- 48:41That's not me.
- 48:43Okay.
- 48:43I'm gonna be a grape.
- 48:44Okay.
- 48:44I was gonna say, I feel like the grape was just like very fitting, so I'm obsessed.
- 48:50Oh, I love it.
- 48:51Love it.
- 48:51Okay.
- 48:52That's great.
- 48:52All right.
- 48:53This is a good one.
- 48:54So the pits will have to tell us who they are.
- 48:57Are you a grape or an onion?
- 48:58I know.
- 48:58We wanna know, are you a grape or an onion?
- 48:59Who do you relate to more?
- 49:01And if you feel like the first couple questions that we asked you were too daunting what do you like?
- 49:07Who were you before you were a mother?
- 49:09Maybe start with these.
- 49:11Yes.
- 49:12Like just the'cause it's a little more fun.
- 49:13I know.
- 49:14And it might help remind you.
- 49:16Yep.
- 49:16And utilize that.
- 49:17You might be the same and you might have changed.
- 49:19Yep.
- 49:19We answered a lot of the same though.
- 49:21We did.
- 49:22I know.
- 49:22That's very interesting.
- 49:23So to that point, it's like your core doesn't lie.
- 49:28Alright, so let's go into our pink spotlight.
- 49:30Yeah, okay, so mine this week, I'll go first.
- 49:33'cause you said you weren't sure what yours was gonna be to you.
- 49:35I don't know what my pink spotlight is yet.
- 49:36Go ahead.
- 49:37You're gonna have to think of something on the fly.
- 49:38You tell me yours and I'll think of something.
- 49:40So we'll go back to the beginning of the episode where I shared that I was going out for like my kind of, it's like one of my bigger nights out of the year, right?
- 49:48And I said by bi by big night out I had a 5:30 PM dinner reservation.
- 49:53So I backstory is that I pack the kids up.
- 49:56And I take everybody down to my parents' house because we go out in my hometown and Raja has stayed behind.
- 50:04So we, I did this before I had kids.
- 50:06So like I would just go down to my parents the night before, stay over, go out.
- 50:09He would come down to Thanksgiving.
- 50:11'cause normally we do Thanksgiving, sometimes we would trade off, but most of the time we've done Thanksgiving with my family at my parents' house.
- 50:17Okay.
- 50:17So he's used to coming down separately the next day.
- 50:21So when we had kids.
- 50:24It became a little bit of a tradition for me to take the kids down.
- 50:27They stay at my parents overnight since they're gonna have to come anyway.
- 50:30And then he would have to get them down alone.
- 50:32And so it just I'll take them down, they'll stay with my parents, and then I'll come back and I'll spend the morning with them, and Raja will meet us the next day.
- 50:40So I pack up all the things.
- 50:42Now I'm grateful.
- 50:43My parents have a ton of stuff at their house, like they are stocked for the kids, but you still need all the things like, so I'm packing like the diapers and the sound machines and like all that stuff.
- 50:53So I am like going through my list like a crazy person.
- 50:57And then I'm like, I need to make sure I have an outfit for this night and then an outfit for tomorrow for Thanksgiving and all my things.
- 51:04And so I get to my parents' house.
- 51:05I'm unpacking all the kids stuff is going in the rooms.
- 51:08And then I go into my old bedroom and I'm unpacking my stuff and I forget my skincare and my makeup.
- 51:16Oh no.
- 51:16Nowhere to be found.
- 51:18Oh no.
- 51:18Are those things.
- 51:19So I'm like.
- 51:21No because I came down without a stitch of makeup on probably four mental breakdowns in the mix.
- 51:28So what did you do?
- 51:29So I call my husband and I'm like, he could bring it also the next day.
- 51:32The, yes he can be bring it the next day.
- 51:34But I was like, first of all, is it there?
- 51:36Am I losing my mind?
- 51:37Is it where I think it is?
- 51:38Yes.
- 51:39It's still on the vanity in the bathroom.
- 51:41So I'm like, fuck so mad.
- 51:43And I say to my mom, I go, mom, I forgot my makeup and my skincare like, can I borrow some stuff?
- 51:50Yeah.
- 51:50Can I have yours?
- 51:51And so I love my mother.
- 51:54I love you, mom.
- 51:55I love you.
- 51:56But I'm, I've been like a, considered a beauty influencer for, 15 years.
- 52:02And I know I've given her a lot of things.
- 52:05And none of those things were.
- 52:08What she was able to offer or to be found.
- 52:10And so she goes, oh, I have, she had a couple of Charlotte Tilbury products, none of which were face makeup.
- 52:16So I, I said, mom, she goes, oh, I don't wear foundation or concealer.
- 52:20I go, oh as I like covering up, like she sounds like 17 like breakouts on my chin.
- 52:26'cause I'm going through all this hormone stuff.
- 52:27I'm like Mom and my.
- 52:30Bags under my eyes are like dark blue.
- 52:32I'm like, mom, I need face makeup.
- 52:34So what I was gonna do was I was gonna go out and buy a bunch of face makeup and then just use, or like CVS use her?
- 52:39Yeah.
- 52:39Something like use her eyeshadow and mascara.
- 52:43And she did have a couple of the essentials, but I called my husband and then I start to panic per usual, which is on brand where then I'm like, you know what, Raja, I'll just drive home and get it.
- 52:53And he's oh yeah, you're gonna drive an hour back.
- 52:56Are you kidding me?
- 52:56You were seriously considering buying.
- 52:58Yeah, because of course I'm insane.
- 53:00So I was like, I'm gonna drive.
- 53:01He's like, there's gonna be traffic.
- 53:03Maybe I can meet you.
- 53:04And then he had the brilliant idea of using Uber.
- 53:07Package, I believe, or Uber Courier.
- 53:09You did not.
- 53:11You did not.
- 53:12We packaged, you used Uber Courier to get your makeup down there.
- 53:15Yeah.
- 53:15How much did that cost you?
- 53:16It was$60.
- 53:22Oh my gosh.
- 53:24Oh my God.
- 53:24You had to look amazing to go with your girlfriend's home.
- 53:27I was like, first of all, if this, what if you ran into somebody from town?
- 53:30I was like, I don't wanna go out.
- 53:31You had to look at best and not.
- 53:32I was like, no, I, this is the one night I was like, I get so excited about this night.
- 53:36It's one of my favorite nights of the year.
- 53:38I want my own makeup.
- 53:39And I feel like there's something to be said about just like having your own shit.
- 53:43And so I was like, I need my skincare and I need my makeup and it's gonna make me feel better.
- 53:48And you know what?
- 53:49It was damn worth every penny.
- 53:51Oh my God.
- 53:52Like it really was because I got it.
- 53:53I felt good.
- 53:54I got my makeup done.
- 53:56I got my face on in 10 minutes.
- 53:57I came down.
- 53:58My mom, my grandma were like, this was what the fuss was about.
- 54:02Everybody was there.
- 54:03I'm like, yes, your mom and your grandma.
- 54:05My mom thought I was a straight lunatic get, and it was like an hour.
- 54:08There was a little traffic, so it was sitting in traffic.
- 54:11I was able to watch it.
- 54:12I was stalking it.
- 54:12Uber Courier, I think it's called Uber Courier or Uber Package order food.
- 54:17Yes.
- 54:17It's essentially the same thing from a place that's not close by.
- 54:20Yeah.
- 54:20Can you do, can you use it in that way?
- 54:22I think so.
- 54:23But you need somebody who's on the other side, like my husband had to load the package in.
- 54:28You know what I mean?
- 54:28Like it had to be somebody that was like, oh, I see here you go, and then this is going to someone else.
- 54:33Oh, that's genius.
- 54:34It was my husband's idea.
- 54:35I cannot take credit for it, but if you're in a pinch, if she didn't come up with that, he would've been the uber carrier.
- 54:39Yeah.
- 54:39And my girlfriend actually said, oh, I've actually used that before.
- 54:42It was for a breast pump when she forgot it and needed it.
- 54:45And I was like that's a very valid reason for using this.
- 54:48This is a psychotic one.
- 54:49But same thing.
- 54:50I would've gone to CVS and I would've bought new makeup.
- 54:52No, I was like, for that price.
- 54:54By the time I buy like a couple of things.
- 54:56I'm like, I'd rather just have my own stuff.
- 54:58I'm a nutcase.
- 54:59I know, but I pulled my audience and most of them agreed with me.
- 55:04They thought that they were like, no, you do, you girl, like that'ss fine.
- 55:06The people spoke, they did.
- 55:08So you guys are all as ridiculous as me, but, and there you have it.
- 55:11And there I have it.
- 55:12And I had my makeup and I was.
- 55:14Happy and I had a great night.
- 55:15Oh my God.
- 55:15And I felt like myself and I was able to cover up all the zits on my face, so Oh my God.
- 55:19And now I will be restocking my mom with a bunch of, I'm gonna have an emergency kit and also be like, I don't know how you don't wear face makeup.
- 55:26She's 69.
- 55:27God bless you.
- 55:28I know.
- 55:28My mom doesn't really either.
- 55:30She wears mascara.
- 55:32Yeah.
- 55:32And she wears like a little bit of blush.
- 55:33Yeah, she wears a lipstick, but she doesn't do, and she wears like SPF.
- 55:37Yeah.
- 55:37I was like, she doesn't, I'm so confused.
- 55:39Do anything else on her face?
- 55:40Yeah, I was, I'm like, oh, maybe that's just the stage of life you're in, where you're just, you're feeling good.
- 55:46I'm like, I wake up and I look haggard.
- 55:48Like I need to put my face on.
- 55:51And especially without my skincare, I'm like, if I don't even have my skincare to make me look glowing.
- 55:56Forget it.
- 55:56I was like, I'm not going.
- 55:58I said that and I, my girlfriends were like, you're crazy.
- 56:00Of course.
- 56:00Just who cares?
- 56:01It's just us.
- 56:02I go, it's not about that.
- 56:03It's, you're not.
- 56:04I need to feel good going out.
- 56:06You're not disagreeing about your level of insanity.
- 56:09I know.
- 56:09I'm not.
- 56:09You are in full agreement with them about your level of craziness.
- 56:12However, you will not waver on that.
- 56:14No.
- 56:15You have Colleen Rothchild.
- 56:17Yes.
- 56:17I need it all.
- 56:17Skincare.
- 56:18Your 10 steps.
- 56:19Yep.
- 56:19Yep.
- 56:19You need it all.
- 56:20It's part I it your routine.
- 56:21I need it all.
- 56:22I'm sorry.
- 56:22It's your identity.
- 56:23It is my identity.
- 56:25So yes, I am that dedicated to my makeup and skincare routine.
- 56:30I will link everything I use because I just spent Jesus,$60 to send it along to me, so I like it that much.
- 56:36Oh my.
- 56:36Anyway, what's yours?
- 56:39Okay.
- 56:39I just thought of something.
- 56:40Okay, so we got into Dancing with the Stars this year.
- 56:43Me too.
- 56:44Me and the kids and Nick got really into dancing with.
- 56:46All right.
- 56:46Who's your favorite pro?
- 56:48Daniella.
- 56:49Oh, she's so cute.
- 56:51I I really always, and they always pair her with big men.
- 56:53Yes.
- 56:53Like big tall men.
- 56:54Yes.
- 56:54I always, I still love Whitney.
- 56:56Whitney was always my, I love Whitney.
- 56:58Oh yeah.
- 56:58She's super cute.
- 56:58But I, Daniella's choreography is I, it's insane.
- 57:02I sobbed with her and Dylan's.
- 57:04Freestyle.
- 57:05I sobbed.
- 57:06Oh, I know.
- 57:06That was incredible.
- 57:07So she's she's just something my, I've always liked Mark Ballas.
- 57:10Oh, I love Mark Ballas.
- 57:11He's got like a cool vibe.
- 57:13Like the tattoo.
- 57:13I would wanna be with Mark Ballas and long hair.
- 57:15And do follow him on Instagram?
- 57:16Yes.
- 57:16He and his wife like sing.
- 57:18Yes.
- 57:18He's just cool.
- 57:20So I think he's my favorite.
- 57:21He would be who I would want the, like I had to be paired with someone.
- 57:24It would be Mark.
- 57:25Same.
- 57:25But then there was like this whole social media uproar because who he was paired with Whitney.
- 57:29Whitney Lovet with Whitney.
- 57:30I didn't, I've never watched Secret Lives of Mormon wives, but apparently she was like the villain on that show.
- 57:34She's the villain.
- 57:35So people were not just not voting for them.
- 57:38People were voting everybody else for everyone else except them.
- 57:41So it was like they were trying to vote them off, like people are so smart.
- 57:45Ew.
- 57:46But anyways, I got really into Dancing with the Stars this year so good.
- 57:49And so did my kids.
- 57:50And they actually, my kids were really into Robert Irwin.
- 57:53They, that was like their favorite.
- 57:54Okay, so he was the one who won.
- 57:57Yep.
- 57:57But it was such a good.
- 58:00It was like, first of all, they said that there were more viewers than the friends finale.
- 58:06That's crazy.
- 58:07Insane.
- 58:07So it really did have a resurgence.
- 58:09I've been watching it since it was been on.
- 58:11'cause I love dancing.
- 58:12I haven't been like a loyal, like I don't watch every single season.
- 58:16Yeah.
- 58:16But the last couple seasons I've been into, and I feel like this season now, I'm like, when is it coming back?
- 58:21I cannot wait.
- 58:22They used, so I've been, I would say I've been a loyal watcher since the beginning.
- 58:25I think I started watching it when I was in college.
- 58:27And I would watch it.
- 58:28It did come out when we in college.
- 58:29Yeah.
- 58:29Because when I was in college and I was doing my clinicals, the older women would watch it, that I was like.
- 58:34Doing clinicals with.
- 58:35Yeah.
- 58:35So I would watch it.
- 58:36So I would have like something to talk with them about.
- 58:38It was so good.
- 58:38And then I got hooked.
- 58:39Hooked.
- 58:40So now I'm hooked.
- 58:41My kids are all hooked.
- 58:42I love it.
- 58:43Nick.
- 58:43Nick is by default hooked.
- 58:44Yeah.
- 58:44And now, yeah, because it's like it's over.
- 58:45And I don't have anything to watch on Tuesday.
- 58:47I know.
- 58:47It's so boring.
- 58:48I feel like now I'm like, what are we gonna do with ourselves?
- 58:51It's like actually said, but I think I wanna take Mila in January.
- 58:54Yes.
- 58:54The tours coming.
- 58:55We're gonna to Mohegan.
- 58:56We're gonna go.
- 58:56Really?
- 58:56Yes.
- 58:57Me and RA are gonna go No way.
- 58:58Way.
- 58:58Because we've gone before.
- 58:59It's not really, did you already get tickets?
- 59:00No, we didn't.
- 59:01But we'll get them together.
- 59:02Let's get them together.
- 59:03But I wanna take Camille because I think she would love it.
- 59:06It is.
- 59:06I don't know.
- 59:07I just, I loved the show.
- 59:08I thought it was such a, so good.
- 59:09And I love how they figure it out.
- 59:11Like people consume stuff like through TikTok and social media.
- 59:15So they've woven those two world together.
- 59:17And the songs now, it's the songs are from like, everything just seems very current.
- 59:21Like they, they kept up with the time.
- 59:22I mean The freestyle.
- 59:23Did you see Whitney's freestyle that she did with call her Daddy?
- 59:26Yes.
- 59:26Yes.
- 59:26Did you see that?
- 59:27Yes.
- 59:27Of that was, of course, I couldn't wait.
- 59:29I was like waiting for the episode 8:00 PM to come out eight.
- 59:31I was like, I can't wait to see this.
- 59:32Yeah.
- 59:32And it was phenomenal.
- 59:34Yeah.
- 59:34So that was my pink spotlight, dancing with the stars.
- 59:36Oh, I love it.
- 59:36And if you don't watch it, go back and watch it.
- 59:38It's so good.
- 59:39I wanna, like the music this season was so good.
- 59:41Everything was so good.
- 59:42And I love that.
- 59:42And I love that the pros have really become like, they are like, they're stars.
- 59:48They're celebrities, they're stars.
- 59:49Yeah.
- 59:49Like they are, they're who I watch it for.
- 59:51Yeah.
- 59:51Like it's just incredible.
- 59:53I know.
- 59:53And I follow all of them.
- 59:54And now my algorithm is like all of them just dancing all the time.
- 59:57And that's what I've been saying where I'm just like, ugh.
- 1:00:00Like I feel like I'm just missing that so much.
- 1:00:02Yeah.
- 1:00:02And it's so good.
- 1:00:03And I'm not a dancer, so I can't appreciate obviously like the technique or all the other things that you, I'm sure your trained eye is too, but it's I love it.
- 1:00:11It's great.
- 1:00:11I do too.
- 1:00:11That's a good one.
- 1:00:12Yeah.
- 1:00:12It's something fun to watch with the kids.
- 1:00:15And Nick and I just finished watching last night, all Her Fault.
- 1:00:19Okay.
- 1:00:19I That's on our list.
- 1:00:20I heard that, that's pretty stressful though.
- 1:00:22Do I need that anxiety in my life?
- 1:00:24No it, no, it's not.
- 1:00:26Okay.
- 1:00:26The plot is that like a child gets abducted, however, exactly.
- 1:00:30However, it's not.
- 1:00:32It's not that.
- 1:00:33Okay.
- 1:00:33And I'll say that.
- 1:00:33Okay.
- 1:00:33It's not that.
- 1:00:34And I'll say that.
- 1:00:34Okay.
- 1:00:34It's the plot.
- 1:00:35It is such a nail biter to the very last second of the last episode.
- 1:00:39Okay.
- 1:00:40It's really good.
- 1:00:41It is not one of those shows where like a child gets abducted and that's the show.
- 1:00:45Okay.
- 1:00:45There's so much, there's so much more to, its really good.
- 1:00:48And we just started watching.
- 1:00:49'cause the same thing like now that our Tuesdays, I'm like, sorry.
- 1:00:52What are we gonna watch?
- 1:00:53'cause Raj was into it too.
- 1:00:54He loved it.
- 1:00:54We started watching the be I think it's The Beast in me with Claire Danes.
- 1:00:57Or it's something like, Ooh, beast, something.
- 1:00:59Is that Netflix?
- 1:01:00It's on Netflix.
- 1:01:00Okay.
- 1:01:00Maybe we'll watch that next.
- 1:01:01We only watched the first episode and that was really good too.
- 1:01:04That's good.
- 1:01:04Yeah.
- 1:01:04All right.
- 1:01:04Maybe now we'll flip flop.
- 1:01:05Okay.
- 1:01:06And all righty.
- 1:01:08Yeah.
- 1:01:09That's it.
- 1:01:09And so we will be back with you guys next week.
- 1:01:11Have a good week.
- 1:01:12Bye bye.