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You took the bath, went for the walk, said the prayer... and you still feel depleted. Sterling Jaquith explains why: when you trash-talk yourself all day, every bit of self-care pours into a cup full of holes. Plus the day a new friend saw her unfinished basement, and she chose not to poke a single hole. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why being mean to yourself all day drains you emotionally and physically Needle holes and pencil holes: the small digs vs. the big attacks on your vocation Metallica in a Renaissance museum: a beautiful life with a terrible soundtrack What Sterling did when a friend saw her concrete-floored basement EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] Why your self-care isn't working [02:30] The soundtrack of a mom's morning [05:00] The red cup and the holes [08:00] Metallica in the museum [10:00] The friend who saw the basement [14:00] The Advent planning workshop LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com

Mother Teresa wore whatever shoes were left until her feet were deformed, and Catholic moms often share that story like it's a calling for all of us. Sterling Jaquith, Rita Johnson (Health and Hormones) and Denise Jelinek (Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit) talk honestly about why caring for yourself isn't vanity, why your kids are watching how you do it, and how it can become a form of worship. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why we put off self-care: choosing habits from woundedness instead of praying about them, and believing lies like "I don't have time" Authentic self-care: knowing your needs, meeting them, and how you talk to yourself Mother Teresa's shoes and a dorm-room mattress: why another woman's calling isn't yours Your kids are a mirror, and how caring for yourself honors the God who made you EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] About the Back on Track workshop [02:00] Meet Rita, Sterling and Denise (and the one self-care habit each of us struggles with) [10:00] Why we keep putting it off: discernment and lies [15:00] Authentic self-care and the "either/or" lie [20:00] Mother Teresa's shoes, sacrifice vs. self-neglect, and comparison [28:00] Self-care as worship, and what we hope you take away LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Back on Track workshop with Rita, Sterling and Denise (3 days, $39, recordings available if you join late): https://healthandhormones.org/back-on-track/

I just got back from two weeks away (the Fulton Sheen conference in St. Louis and then France with my 15-year-old daughter) and I brought two big things with me to pray about in some very holy places. I asked for clarity every single day, and I kept thinking He'd surely talk to me on the 10-hour flight home, because airplanes are where I so often hear Him. He didn't. When I crawled into bed at 11:30 that night I was surprised and honestly a little embarrassed. Then a sentence came to me that may have been a gift from the Holy Spirit: if He didn't tell me, I don't need to know today. I'm sharing what I do when God is quiet, the three little lies I caught in my own head on the way home, and one question I'd love for you to ask about whatever is weighing on you right now. What if you already have everything you need today? WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why God being quiet about your question might simply mean you don't need to know today, not that you're blocking His voice How "I have everything I need today" can be true next to a negative bank account, a hard diagnosis, or a child who's struggling God gives us no grace for our imaginary problems, so the hours we spend worrying about things that never happen are hours we don't get back The three stories I told myself when I came home without an answer, and how quickly they fell apart once I called them lies Why you can handle watching someone you love feel disappointed, even when it feels like they were counting on you Why I believe our prayers are a real currency, even the simple ones EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Home after two weeks away: the Fulton Sheen conference in St. Louis and France with my daughter [04:00] – Bringing two big questions to holy places, and waiting for God to speak on the flight home [08:00] – "If He didn't tell me, I don't need to know" and a deeper level of surrender [12:00] – You have everything you need today, even in the big hard things [15:00] – The embarrassment, my husband's question, and the three lies I caught [18:00] – What if God said "you don't need that today"? Being present for the little things [20:00] – One Million Rosaries, the three-day workshop, and Party Like a Saint [24:00] – Why our prayers matter more than we think LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: One Million Rosaries Challenge (free, join any time, a prize given away every day): https://onemillionrosaries.com Three-day workshop with Rita Johnson on sleep, energy, and hormones, me on house systems, and Denise Jelinek on food and emotional self-care ($39, replays included): https://healthandhormones.org/back-on-track/ Party Like a Saint (All Saints Day party goods): https://www.partylikeasaint.com/ CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

Getting kids out the door is a banana circus. That's what I told my daughter in the driveway the other morning, after somebody forgot a lunch and we had to turn around and come back. It's going to be a circus no matter what I do, because children bring chaos and no amount of systems fixes that. The only reason we're never late to school is that I just start the circus earlier than other people do. So this episode is about being on time when you have kids, and underneath that it's really about how you adopt a new identity without beating yourself up to get there. I tell you where my own on-time thing came from (a vow I made in my heart as a little girl, which was woundedness), what it looked like to heal that and still genuinely like being on time, and then the actual mechanics: five minutes per kid, the five more minutes nobody budgets for between the front door and driving away, and accounting for the traffic and the train. If you're chronically late, hear me say first that this is not a salvation issue and there is nothing wrong with you. And then if you want this, here's how. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Where a "person who is never late" identity can come from, and the vow I made in my heart as a kid that I later had to go back and heal with Jesus Healing the wound without losing the habit, because being late doesn't have to mean anything about my character or about what I'm communicating to the host The five minutes per kid rule, plus the five minutes almost nobody budgets for between walking out the front door and actually pulling away Why I start telling everyone it's time to go a full 20 minutes before I want to be driving Why I help them find the shoes instead of waiting on them, since being on time matters to me and it doesn't matter to any of them Living with a husband whose identity has nothing to do with being on time (except for mass), when to prime him about parking, and then letting it go How you actually adopt a new identity: decide clearly, ask what a person like this would do, then practice it until your brain says okay, this is who we are Growing from peace instead of from "I'm so terrible," because you're perfectly lovable right now and you can still calmly decide you'd like something different Predictable chaos, the train you can get stuck behind for eight minutes, and bringing order to the parts you actually control EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Growing up with a single mom, the tunnel traffic, and the vow I made about never being late [05:00] – Adding a baby to the timeline, then a three-year-old who can't find shoes, and adjusting for every kid [10:00] – Seeing the on-time thing as woundedness, healing it, and deciding that late doesn't mean anything about me [15:00] – A husband who doesn't care about being on time (except for mass), priming him, and then letting it go [20:00] – How identity actually works, 21 days versus 250 days, and deciding who you want to be [25:00] – The banana circus in the driveway, starting it earlier, the Sandpoint train, and a million roses for Mary LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: One Million Rosaries Challenge (join any time, the rosaries you pray after you sign up still count toward the total): https://onemillionrosaries.com Catholic Mom Calm (where I teach you how to go back to a memory with Jesus and heal it): https://catholicmomcalm.com Restore the Glory podcast with Bob Schuchts, the series on wounds and vows: https://www.restoretheglorypodcast.com/ Atomic Habits by James Clear: https://amzn.to/4hEzeew CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

Here's something I find fascinating. A lot of us are living a balanced life with a brain that's a hot mess in there, and so a life we're actually executing really well ends up feeling terrible. You got everybody fed and you made it to all the things on time, but your mind spent the whole day telling you how far behind you are, and that is what drained the battery. That's not a commitment problem. That's a thinking problem, and honestly it's good news, because you don't have to change your calendar to fix it. So this episode is how I tell the difference, and then exactly what I do when it really is too much. I list everything out (including the meals and the laundry, because you're already committed to those), I put my finger on each one and pray "Lord, what do you want me to know about this?" and then I ask whether the healed version of me takes this on. I also walk you through two real decisions from my own fall, the giant yes I'm so glad I said and the hard no I knew would disappoint people, and what happened after. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why the tired usually comes from your thinking and not from your schedule, because your body runs a physiological stress response all morning and drains the battery before anything has even happened What a balanced life with an unbalanced mind looks like, and the question to ask about yesterday to find out which one you've got Writing down every commitment, with meals and cleaning and clean clothes in big buckets, so your brain can see what it already signed up for Praying over each one with "Lord, what do you want me to know about this?" instead of "do you want me to keep this, yes or no," which boxes him in and leaves no room for a nuanced answer Some commitments are neutral to God, like the Honda Odyssey or the Toyota Sienna, and you can become a saint either way The question I'd never said out loud before: does the healed version of me take this on, or did I say yes out of woundedness What woundedness sounds like ("if I don't do it, no one will do it"), and the genuinely healthy version of that exact same yes Why the pressure to keep a good program alive is coming from your thinking, and being willing to tolerate some disappointment when the answer is no Going to the Lord for the "good job" you're not getting at home... even for cleaning the microwave EPISODE TIMELINE: (estimated at 5-minute marks, no timestamps in the transcript, confirm against audio) [00:00] – The art of saying no, and that includes backing out of things you already said yes to [05:00] – The morning your brain is off to the races, the car, and being tired from your thoughts instead of your day [10:00] – A balanced life and an unbalanced mind, and living the exact same day with a better attitude [15:00] – Listing every commitment out, the buckets you're already signed up for, and receiving what God gives you [20:00] – Praying over each one, neutral commitments, and "does the healed version of me say yes to this?" [25:00] – The giant yes: building a Catholic hybrid homeschool option at the parish over six months [30:00] – The hard no: stepping back from teaching atrium this year, cleaning the microwave, and the three steps together LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Catholic Mom Calm (come learn how to manage your mind with us): https://catholicmomcalm.com One Million Rosaries Challenge (free, all of October, sign up and start a group): https://onemillionrosaries.com CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH:   Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

I said it kind of offhandedly on a coaching call. "I want to be a blanket of peace in my home." And the moms would not let it go, so I have been sitting with it ever since. Here is what I mean. You have the ability to take your own emotional state and blanket a whole room with it. You already do it. Sometimes what you are laying over the kitchen is frustration or stress or that sharp voice, and sometimes it is calm. The part I want you to hear is that it is yours to choose. This episode is me asking you to stop settling for awareness of your thinking and actually reach for the peace. I walk you through a chaotic Tuesday morning, two kids off to farm school, two girls off to co-op, a thirteen year old presenting in front of the entire community, and what happened when I decided ahead of time that I was going to be so calm that everyone around me calmed down. We talk about Mother Teresa and how far her peaceful light went into a room, why this kind of power is the power women actually want, and how to say "hey, we are not going to do that in this room, okay, love you" instead of the version you are doing now. Plus two announcements I am so excited about. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: What a blanket of peace actually is, and why your emotional state is the thing filling the room whether you picked it or not Humans catch each other's states both directions. Anxiety spreads, and so does calm, grounded and steady Awareness of your thinking is not the finish line. Reaching for peace on purpose is the next level Deciding before the hard morning starts, so that when they walk in frantic you meet them with the voice instead of matching them Why being at peace takes fewer words and less energy, and why it works so much better than snapping The power men chase out in the world, and the very different power a woman has to set the tone of a space Mother Teresa changed the energy of every room she walked into. How far did that light reach, and can mine do that Your mission this week: pick one time of day, one room, one situation where you have been tolerating chaos, and be the calm in it EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Happy fall girl, sweaters and tea, and the phrase the moms would not let go of [05:00] – Blanketing the room with your emotional state, and taking hearts that are troubled and making them feel safe [10:00] – The co-op morning, the thirteen year old presenting, and speaking to them in the grounded voice [15:00] – Forest bear and "hey, we are not going to do that in this room, okay, love you." Dropping the excuses [20:00] – Mother Teresa's golden light, the wins call, and what Catholic Mom Calm is really about [25:00] – Announcement one: the One Million Rosaries Challenge for the month of October [30:00] – Announcement two: the Catholic Mom Calm app is almost here, plus France and a request for prayers LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: One Million Rosaries Challenge (free, all of October, sign up and start a group): https://onemillionrosaries.com   Calm Catholic Kids app (free, and you can track your rosaries in it): https://calmcatholickids.com CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

Anxiety never comes from the Lord. So the second I feel that tightness show up in my chest, I already know something true about myself. I am thinking about my life in a way that God does not want me to think about it. Period. Because if I were thinking about it the way He wants me to, I would be at peace. This episode is one question I want you to start asking faster than you are asking it right now. Not "Lord, take this away," but "Lord, what do you want me to know about this?" About this toddler. About my husband. About my body. About this house. I asked Him something this morning and He said, "You already know. You just doubt what I have already told you." Ooh, burn, Lord. We talk about why we are not reaching for Him sooner (we do not actually believe we could be at peace all the time), the grace you have to ask for before He hands it to you, what Fulton Sheen was doing in basically every talk he ever gave, and why Daniel in the lions' den and Mary at the foot of the cross were both at peace. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: The micro moment prayer: the second you notice tightness, throw your hands up and say "Lord, I invite you into this. Come be with me right now." Why anxiety is information and not a verdict. It tells you your thinking is off, not that your life is off The real reason we do not run to Him faster: we have never met a person who is at peace all the time, so we quietly decided it is not available to us Eight out of ten minutes. You will lose it. The win is how fast you come back Feeling powerless is the worst feeling there is, and being able to stay calm in any situation is one of the most powerful You are not done when you hear the sentence. Your job is to practice it, or your brain will spiral right back in two hours The gifts of the Holy Spirit were designed to be asked for. Wisdom, counsel, knowledge, understanding, fortitude, fear of the Lord. Ask Being at peace does not mean being peaceful. It means receiving. It means "this is okay right now and I can handle it" The surprise pregnancy test, the teenager going through it, the adult child who left the Church. You can be at peace today, in that EPISODE TIMELINE: (estimated at 5-minute marks, no timestamps in the transcript, confirm against audio) [00:00] – Hope when you feel anxious, trapped, stuck or frozen, and inviting the Lord into the micro moment [05:00] – "Lord, what do you want me to know about this?" Why anxiety never comes from Him, and what Mary has to do with our unbelief [10:00] – Eight out of ten minutes, and why staying calm is the most powerful you will ever feel [15:00] – Cheeky Jesus, the sentences He actually gives me, and writing them down so I can practice them [20:00] – My real morning (I do not pray first thing), redirecting my brain, and asking for grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit [25:00] – Fulton Sheen, the beatification, and why all his talks end the same way. At peace is not peaceful. Daniel, Mary, Joseph and the donkey [30:00] – Who I belong to, true freedom, and an invitation to the Catholic Mom Reset LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Join the Catholic Mom Reset: www.catholicmomcalm.com/reset Fulton Sheen beatification, plus the conference with Arthur Brooks the day before (Sterling will have a table, come say hi): www.fultonsheenconference.com/ CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

I am team planning. I am team house systems. We teach it in the membership and it is the very first thing we tackle in the Catholic Mom Reset, because looking at your next 90 days and making a plan is genuinely a gift to your future self. But if you took all of it away tomorrow, dropped me in a different house in a different town with no idea what the next 90 days held, I would be okay. I could walk around and have peace. That is the part I want for you. A lot of women tell me they are type A planners. There is a healthy version of that. There is also a version that gets built in a childhood full of chaos you could not control, or in a home where performing well was how you got love and attention. Both of those grow up into a woman who plans beautifully, and one of them is holding on with an iron grip. This episode is how to tell which one you are running on, the five minute healing work that sets the grip down, and the sentence I said to a mom on a coaching call that changed her whole face.   WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why the plan is not what makes you feel calm (you make a plan, then you think "I have a plan," and the thought is what creates safety in your body) The two childhoods that produce a hyper-planner: chaos you had no control over, and love you had to earn by performing The difference between planning that feels light and playful and planning you believe you cannot survive without Abraham walking up the mountain and the Israelites who never got the itinerary, and what peace looked like for both Tolerating uncertainty is a capacity you can grow, the same way a kid grows from 37 seconds to a minute and a half underwater The five minute memory work I use, sitting in the theater with the Lord while He tells you the truth about what really happened What I told the mom who was afraid that moving every two years would rob her kids of roots and stability EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Why I wanted to do this episode, and why I am solidly team planning and team systems [05:00] – All brains hate uncertainty, the AI conversation nobody can predict, and the skill we can actually grow [10:00] – Your body feels your thinking, not your plan. The Israelites, and Abraham on the mountain [15:00] – The car breaks down. The husband's job might move you. How to answer your own brain [20:00] – Chaos versus performance, the grounded healthy version of you, and asking the Lord what we are doing today [25:00] – Bob Schuchts, inner child work, and revisiting a memory with Jesus in five minutes [30:00] – "You are their mom. You bring roots and stability everywhere you go." Protocols, and week one of the Reset LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: The Catholic Mom Reset (starts Sunday, September 6th, first live call Thursday, September 10th) Bob Schuchts books Brya Hannan book on inner child healing (do one chapter a month, it is deep work) Restore the Glory podcast with Bob Schuchts and Jake Khym Calm Catholic Kids: https://calmcatholickids.com CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

"People love change. They just hate transition." I heard Matthew Kelly teach that years ago and I think about it every single August. Because right now I'm getting a hundred emails from the school, two of my boys walked out today in socks with giant holes in the heels, and there's a lunchbox in this house that will not zip. If your body is fritzing out over start dates and supply lists and shoe sizes, nothing has gone wrong. You're not in the change yet. You're in the transition, and I want to give you the exact words to say to your own brain while you're standing in the middle of it. Plus a summer update: our little red golden retriever, the sickness that took my husband down, walking in 87 degrees on purpose, 200 Fulton Sheen rosaries, and the press-on nails I just ordered off an internet ad. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why change and transition are two different things, and why the yucky feeling belongs to the transition and not to your decision What to tell your brain when it starts second-guessing (the feeling is bad, so the choice must be wrong) and why that's backwards Who you are in a transition is not who you're going to be, whether that's back-to-school or pregnancy or a move you didn't choose The two weeks plus two weeks rhythm I use: get ready, live it, evaluate at the end of the day, tweak, then settle into the change Giving equal air time, because your brain will spend all day on what could go wrong and about nine seconds on what you're excited about The folder-and-calendar hack that keeps the school email avalanche from hanging over you every hour of the day Looking for what was good in a hard season, even when the good thing is just the timing of it EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Mid-August, the nesting itch, and going from wild open summer to ordered fall [05:00] – Annie Avonlea, a sickness that hit everyone one at a time, and what was actually good about it [10:00] – Walking in the heat on purpose, France prep, and giving equal air time to the excitement [15:00] – Making Fulton Sheen rosaries, why moms need work that gets finished, and yes, the press-on nails [20:00] – "People love change. They just hate transition." The emails, the socks, the lunchbox that won't zip [25:00] – Talking to your brain in the transition, and the four weeks it actually takes to settle [30:00] – The email folder hack, and having peace today in the middle of all of it LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Join the Catholic Mom Reset: www.catholicmomcalm.com/reset Calm Catholic Kids: https://calmcatholickids.com Fulton Sheen beatification conference: https://fultonsheenconference.com/ CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

Almost everything you believe about your kids' schooling is an opinion, not a fact — and most of those opinions are quietly manufacturing stress in your body. In this episode, I walk you through why your feelings about school come from your thinking, how I choose school for my six kids with detachment (we're doing three different things this year), and the one trick I use to stop emotionally processing problems that haven't happened yet. Whether you've got toddlers, a struggling nine-year-old, or a high schooler who bit off more than she can chew, I want you to notice how you're showing up — because the more stressed you are about their education, the worse you show up for them. I'll show you how to trade the tightness for problem-solving energy, hope, and peace. Sterling Jaquith. WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE: Why "well-educated" is impossible to define — and how AI is about to make general knowledge plus the ability to ask good questions matter more than the drills we stress over The difference between thoughts that just feel good ("my kid speaks Spanish!") and thoughts that are actually true How to sit in the discomfort of watching your child struggle without deciding something has gone wrong My favorite trick: refusing to emotionally process a made-up future problem (yes, even the diocese one) How to tell yourself the best possible story about whatever schooling you've chosen — including reframing public school as mission territory EPISODE TIMELINE: (estimated — confirm against audio) [00:00] – Why I finally made an episode about school, and the guilt episode I'll link for homeschoolers [06:00] – Your feelings about school come from your thinking, and "well-educated" can't be defined [13:00] – How AI changes education, the Roman Empire example, and feel-good thoughts vs. true ones [20:00] – Choosing school with detachment: my six kids, three different approaches this year [27:00] – The struggling-in-math example, and coaching a mom worried her high achiever over-committed [34:00] – "I'll process it if it happens," modeling peace, and reframing public school as mission territory LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED:   The May episode on homeschool "how far did we get" guilt: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/schooling-guilt-and-stress/id1542253372?i=1000656369341 CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

The internet is very loud about AI right now, so I want to tell you exactly where I stand in July of 2026, both personally and as a company, so you can start forming your own opinion. For the most part I'm team AI. I also think it's going to create some genuinely scary things in our society, the same way the internet and smartphones did. Both can be true. My favorite thing about it? It cuts through the noise. Instead of clicking through twenty websites full of pop-ups and people trying to sell me something, I can ask a question and get a clear answer, then ask for the counterarguments too. In this episode I walk through how I use it in real life (skincare, salad dressings, puppy training, fact-checking those sensational ads), the private questions you'd never Google, and exactly where I draw my hard lines. I also pull back the curtain on how Catholic Mom Calm uses AI and where we absolutely don't, so you know what's touched by it and what isn't. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Where I land on AI in July 2026: mostly team AI, and clear-eyed about the harm too My favorite thing about it, cutting through the internet's noise (Google's AI Mode, and always asking "what's the counterargument, and who's making it?") The intimacy-call tip: asking private questions you'd never Google, telling it you're Catholic first, and deleting the thread How I use it at home: skincare picks, homemade salad dressing, a week-by-week puppy plan, and fact-checking those sensational ads Where I draw hard lines: not for prayer, not for religious art, and why real artists and musicians still make our work How Catholic Mom Calm actually uses it (story research, email arcs, financials, coding the app) and where we still won't (design) The Calm Catholic Kids app is out, why I made it "the most boring app ever," and a word on kids, AI, and Pope Leo's letter EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Where I stand on AI in July 2026 [05:00] – Cutting through the noise: Google's AI Mode and asking for both sides [10:00] – The intimacy-call tip, and telling it you're Catholic [15:00] – Skincare, salad dressings, puppy plans, and fact-checking sensational ads [20:00] – Where I draw the line: prayer, religious art, and real artists [25:00] – How Catholic Mom Calm uses AI (and how it doesn't) [30:00] – The app is out, kids and AI, and Pope Leo's letter LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: The Calm Catholic Kids app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calm-catholic-kids/id6768798893 Calm Catholic Kids (buy the collections here, not through the app, so you skip Apple's 30%): https://calmcatholickids.com Xavier Co-op (my new two-and-a-half-day hybrid school launching this fall): https://xaviercoop.com Come to France with me this fall: https://catholicmomcalm.com/france/ My skincare routine:  Cetaphil cream (I get this at costco) Blue Lizard sunscreen TruSkin Face Serum Pope Leo's letter on AI: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html The AI tools I mentioned: ChatGPT, Claude, Google's Gemini (AI Mode), and Grok CHECK OUT MY WORK: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm Mary's Heart, Martha's Order Planner: https://catholicmomcalm.com/planner

It's Friday night, I'm home alone, and I'm recording a completely ridiculous episode. No coaching, no reframe, just me wanting to talk to someone about episode one of the new Elle Woods show on Amazon Prime. My husband took the kids to the beach, I opened Prime, and this little show whisked me right back to being a '90s Seattle grunge girl. Fair warning: this one is pure nostalgia. If you grew up in the '90s, went to concerts, lived anywhere near the Pacific Northwest, or ever dyed a strip in your hair and thought it was the coolest thing ever (it was not, but it was to me), come sit with me for a few minutes. And if that's not you, skip this one. I promise next week's episode gets deep and coachy again. WHAT I COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why the show is a love letter to 40-year-old women who grew up on Legally Blonde (and why they nailed it) The soundtrack, the plaid, the hoodies, the one girl with an umbrella, and how perfectly they captured '90s Seattle grunge My own Seattle years, from Capitol Hill to Green Lake, walking my puppies and running my dog-training business The clique-and-judge culture of '90s high school, and my honest confession about who I would have been to a new girl like Elle Why I love that the show's characters are positive and kind, and what that stirred up in me as a parent now A little window into the me you might not know: concerts, green Doc Martens, and starting a web design company at 17 LINKS AND RESOURCES: Come to France with me https://catholicmomcalm.com/france/ Calm Catholic Kids (Summer of Kindness stories free now, Collections 4 and 5 coming soon): https://calmcatholickids.com CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

I just got back from driving six kids and two dogs (including an eight-week-old puppy) from northern Idaho to northern Wisconsin, and the trip left me with a takeaway I didn't expect. I am so in love with my ordinary, day-to-day life. Watching cousins become friends and swimming and puppy chaos was wonderful, and it made me more grateful than ever for the life I've built at home. So in this episode I'm going to make the case, hard, that you can enjoy your day-to-day life too. I take on the obvious objection head-on ("sure, Sterling, but you're in an easier phase now") and explain why it isn't the property or the ages or the lack of babies making me happy. It's the tools. I walk through calming your body first, opening the messy closet of your thinking, putting what you actually want in the result line, and building rest into your rhythms so you stop living for the next escape. It comes down to rebuilding trust with yourself, and it's available in any season. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why a big, un-relaxing family trip left me more in love with my everyday life than ever The objection I take head-on ("it's easy for you now") and why circumstances aren't what make me happy Calming your body first: the anger thermometer, breathing, and being Dominic the dragon "cooling his fire" so your kids can see it Opening the messy closet of your thinking, popping the comparison bubbles, and redirecting on purpose Putting what you actually want in the result line (like "enjoy the kids in the afternoon"), solved both practically and mentally Building rest into daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly rhythms so you don't feel desperate to escape your life Rebuilding self-trust, why peace and acceptance come before problem-solving, and the great household yo-yo drama EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Home from Idaho to Wisconsin, and falling more in love with daily life [05:00] – "It's easy for you now": the phase objection, and why it's not the circumstances [10:00] – Calming your body first (the thermometer and Dominic the dragon) [14:00] – The messy closet of your thoughts, and popping the comparison bubbles [18:00] – Putting what you want in the result line, and rest built into your rhythms [23:00] – Rebuilding self-trust, peace before problem-solving, and the yo-yo saga [27:00] – Six spots left for France LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Come to France with me this fall (six spots left!: https://catholicmomcalm.com/france/ Catholic Mom Calm membership: https://catholicmomcalm.com/ Calm Catholic Kids (Summer of Kindness stories free until September): https://catholicmomcalm.com/calm-catholic-kids-collection-3-kindness/ CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

It usually hits right about now. You started summer with high hopes, pushed through the chaotic first couple of weeks, and now you're yelling more, feeling stressed, and wondering what happened to the magical season you pictured. Sterling Jaquith says it's not because you lack a plan. It's your window of tolerance, and summer quietly shrinks it. Drawing on a concept from her book Catholic Mom Calm, Sterling breaks down the two kinds of tolerance: your capacity for one specific stressor (hello, putting sunscreen on unwilling children), and your overall capacity for everything stacked on your plate at once. When you add camps, vacations, sibling fights, heat, and snacks without taking anything off, your ability to cope drops. This episode is the permission slip and the toolkit: expand your tolerance, drop the "shoulds" that are really just social norms, and stop beating yourself up. Because your anger is a stress response, and that is completely changeable. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: The two windows of tolerance: your capacity for one specific stressor, and your overall capacity for everything at once How to expand your tolerance for a single stressor, with breathing and coaching yourself (the sunscreen battle as exhibit A) Why summer shrinks your overall window: you added all the stressors but never took anything off the plate The only real "shoulds" (the catechism and the law), and why most summer obligations are just social norms you're free to decline A gentler, more honest take on screen time, and why slower old shows actually help Instituting a quiet time, feeding and sleeping yourself, and why your anger is a stress response you can change EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – The intolerance of summer, and the window of tolerance from her book [03:00] – Expanding your tolerance for one stressor (the sunscreen battle) [07:00] – Your overall window, and how summer piles on without taking anything off [11:00] – Real shoulds versus social norms (you don't have to bake the birthday cake) [14:00] – A gentler take on screen time and slower shows [16:00] – Quiet time, self-care, and why anger is a changeable stress response LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Catholic Mom Calm (Sterling's book, with the full "window of tolerance" section): https://amzn.to/4oKZRjU Calm Catholic Kids: https://calmcatholickids.com CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

Sterling Jaquith caught herself feeling a very particular brand of summer jealousy. Friends whose parents are stable enough, healthy enough, and trusted enough to take the grandkids for a week or two. And watching that feeling rise was a perfect window into something we all do: we never question why we feel good, but the moment a negative feeling shows up, we start poking at it, and the poking spins into a storm. In this episode Sterling slows the whole thing down so you can see the difference between prayerfully feeling your feelings and indulging in what a friend called "tornado thinking." One is slow, grounded, and resolves. The other is fast, grows as it goes, and turns a bad mood into a bad day into a "bad season." Nobody is doing that to you, and that's actually the good news. You have more control over the weather in your mind than you think. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: The summer jealousy Sterling noticed in herself, and what it was actually about (hint: not the free time) Why we interrogate our negative feelings but never stop to question the happy ones The real difference between feeling your feelings (slow, grounded, done with the Lord) and tornado thinking (fast, growing, catching everything in its path) How a bad mood becomes a bad day becomes a "bad season," and why you control that weather more than you think The three choices in any triggered moment: think about it later, feel it all the way through, or spin How to walk yourself back gently and lovingly, never in an authoritarian "just get it together" voice EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – The summer jealousy Sterling noticed, and why we never question feeling good [04:00] – Tornado thinking versus actually feeling your feelings [08:00] – How a bad mood becomes a bad day becomes a bad season (the weather you forget you control) [12:00] – What feeling your feelings really looks like: slow, named, and sitting with the Lord [16:00] – Why jealousy reveals your unresolved work (Europe versus the grandparents) [18:00] – Calming the storm by speaking to yourself with love LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Calm Catholic Kids: https://calmcatholickids.com CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm