What happens when being told you’re a good mom feels more like pressure than reassurance?

In this episode of Momming Out Loud, we talk about the complicated role feedback plays in motherhood—how praise can quietly turn into fear, performance, and shame. We explore what it looks like to get curious instead of self-critical, to ask more questions, and to stop letting shame tell the story about who we are as moms.

This conversation is for any parent who’s ever wondered what it means when they’re not doing it “right”—and wants a little more honesty and breathing room in the process.

Connect with us at: mommingoutloudpodcast@gmail.com or on

Instagram at mommingoutloudpod

We would love to hear your stories and suggestions for future episodes!

*Hosts: Ali OConnell and Mollie Birney

What if the hardest part of limited time isn’t how little of it we have—but how afraid we are to choose wrong with the time we get?

In this episode, we talk about time scarcity and the noise that comes up when we try to use small pockets of time “well.” The second-guessing. The pressure. The fear that choosing ourselves might cost someone else.

We explore:

• Building tolerance for choosing the wrong thing—and staying with ourselves anyway
• How internal noise and self-abandonment block our sense of potential
• Why this is different from the idea of “taking care of me so I can take care of you”
• Rooting into relationship with ourselves as the way we contribute to others
• How our children learn self-trust by watching what we tolerate in ourselves

This is a conversation about becoming—not through optimization or sacrifice—but through presence, choice, and repair.

Connect with us at: mommingoutloudpodcast@gmail.com or on

Instagram at mommingoutloudpod

We would love to hear your stories and suggestions for future episodes!

AND, if you are interested in signing up for our Momming Out Loud Circle please email us for more information!

*Hosts: Ali OConnell and Mollie Birney

What is it like to love someone so deeply that their pain lives in your body too?

In this episode of Momming Out Loud, we talk about the moment many mothers quietly think, what have I done?—when our children experience pain and every instinct in us wants to fix it, prevent it, or take it away. We explore the tension between protecting our children and knowing that shielding them from all pain would also rob them of the chance to feel capable, resilient, and whole.

We also talk about what happens when our children witness our pain—how we try to care for them while we’re still finding our own footing, and how motherhood often invites an unexpected reparenting of ourselves. This conversation is about holding both: our resilience and our children’s, our tenderness and our strength, as we navigate the complicated, beautiful work of raising humans while still growing ourselves.

Connect with us at: mommingoutloudpodcast@gmail.com or on

Instagram at mommingoutloudpod

We would love to hear your stories and suggestions for future episodes!

AND, if you are interested in signing up for our Momming Out Loud Circle please email us for more information!

*Hosts: Ali OConnell and Mollie Birney