If I could do things over as a mom...

there are some things I'd change.

I got a question on my Instagram the other day and as I replied to the question, it felt like an amazing opportunity to dive into it a bit deeper here.

When I got the question, I time-traveled back through my different lives and thought about the solo traveling I did after my divorce. I was in my late twenties/early thirties and on my own sort of eat-pray-love adventure.

I thought back to their earlier years when I was so deep in survival that I didn’t take that time for myself, traveling wasn’t an option during earlier seasons of my life, financially.

I was sitting at a coffee shop with MJ and we were talking about kids and technology, I told him there were so many things - technology included - that I wish I would have done differently as a parent. I wondered if I’d ever get the opportunity to raise another child.

I thought about the question from social media and told him, “I think I want to do a Substack post about the things I wish I would have done differently as a mom along with the things I wouldn’t change.” He encouraged me, saying it would probably be really helpful for moms to hear.

So, here we are.

I give myself a little grace as I go into this. I got pregnant when I was 18 years old with a boy that I should have run from, in hindsight. In exchange for staying, I got two daughters, which I’ll be forever grateful for.

I didn’t know anything about being a mom and when I look back at those early years, I think I was so deep in survival mode that I just went one day at a time, doing the best I knew how to do. I think that’s what all of our parents did.

I’ve told my close friends and MJ that if I ever got the opportunity to be a new mom again, I think there are so many things I’d do differently.