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In this episode I talk about allowing ourselves to be seen in our process - not as a performance, not as a polished “final version,” but as who we are: human, messy, in motion. I share a story from the ReWilding Motherhood Facilitator Programme, where one of my facilitators-in-training was terrified about leading a session. Instead of trying to hide it, I invited her to name it, to begin with “I’m nervous, I’m going to take a moment to ground, and I invite you to join me.” Not to get rid of the fear, but to model mindful self-compassion by actually living it. Because somewhere along the way, we were taught to show up as the finished article. Polite, polished, perfect. Presentable. Performative. Palatable. Productive. Half a story. We forget that, just like in a maths exam, you get points for showing your workings, even if you don’t get the answer “right.” Children know this. They don’t care about the perfect sandcastle, they care about building it, smashing it, and doing it again. The magic is in the process. Yet as adults, especially women, we’ve been trained to hide our workings, to look neat, behave neatly, speak neatly, and be consumed neatly. But the world doesn’t change when women burn out trying to keep up appearances. It changes because women stop pretending and start telling the f*****g truth. Because someone might not believe they can do something if all they ever see are finished performances. But if they watch you show up with your shaking voice, your messy process, your truth, your honest humanity, they might think: If she can do it like that, maybe I can too. This is an invitation to stop hiding the parts that make you real. To show your workings. To tell the truth. To let yourself be seen as a human in motion, not a product to be presented. Not everything needs to be polished. Not everything needs rehearsing. Not everything needs to be perfect. It just needs to be yours. Come as you are. Show your workings. Let that be enough. and then come tell me what you thought at www.instagram.com/emma.while. And if you enjoyed this episode please do share and tag me.

In this episode I talk about one of the phrases that comes up again and again in my world: don’t let the perfect get in the way of the perfectly good. And I’m laughing because, naturally, it’s one of the things I still have to keep learning. I used to think podcasting meant jingles, editing software, studio microphones, the whole formal performance. Which meant I didn’t record unless the stars aligned: tech working, time available, brain switched on, quiet house, childcare sorted (ha), and zero life happening in the background. In other words…ie, hardly ever. But that’s not how real creativity works. And it’s certainly not how my neurodivergent brain works. If the process feels too complicated, I don’t do it. Not because I don’t care, but because the friction is too high. The faff kills the expression. So now I’m recording this in bed, in my pyjamas, on my phone, not waiting for the “proper” conditions. Because the thing itself wasn’t the problem, it was all the unnecessary extras I thought had to come with it. Perfection, performance, production. All the peripheral b******t that stops the thing from simply existing. And that’s the invitation: Where are you making something harder than it needs to be? Where have you turned a simple desire into a 19-step project plan? Where are you resisting the actual thing because of all the invisible admin surrounding it? Maybe your brain needs shortcuts. Maybe your life needs ease. Maybe “good enough” is the only way the thing gets to happen at all. So here’s the question to sit with: Where are you letting the perfect get in the way of the perfectly good? And what would happen if you let it be easier? Not polished. Not impressive. Not “proper.” Just doable. Right now. In the way that works for you. Perfection can wait. Expression can’t. If this resonates come tell me at www.instagram.com/emma.while

In This week’s dog-walk ramble episode I talk about celebration…not the champagne-clinking, prosecco-fuelled kind, but the quiet, personal kind we’ve never been taught to recognise. The kind that looks like noticing yourself rather than performing an achievement.  Big success? Claps, applause, gold star. Small everyday survival? Nothing. Next. Move on. Do better. We explore why so many of us ( hello straight-A girls, “do it perfectly or don’t bother,” high-functioning mothers, productivity-addicted humans shaped by achievement) only celebrate when there’s something measurable to show for it. Grades, promotions, milestones, awards, outcomes. Somewhere along the way, celebration became conditional, a reward we had to earn.  Which means most of our real lives - the becoming, the tending, the trying, the holding, the tiny shifts no one sees - go completely unacknowledged. I talk about how time blurs into a long, relentless splurge when we don’t pause to mark it, and how weekly endings, small rituals, lunar moments and seasonal punctuation help us actually register that we exist and that we’re moving. Not achieving - moving. There’s a difference. Because what if celebration isn’t for the final product? What if it’s simply for being someone who is growing, composting, shifting, trying again, or just breathing through a day that asked a lot from you? ✨What would you honour if you didn’t have to earn it? ✨How would you celebrate yourself if celebration didn’t need confetti, permission, or proof? ✨What parts of your life are happening beneath the surface right now, quietly becoming, even if no one else can see them? This episode is an invitation to stop waiting for a finish line. To stop outsourcing endings and applause. To give yourself punctuation. To mark your own becoming. To notice your own existence, not as something to justify, but as something worthy of witnessing. Just a stop. pause. breathe. A quiet, private “I’m here.”

Instead of letting my own perfectionism and procrastination get in the way, I’m uploading this straight from my phone, entirely raw.  It was recorded for my Telegram group for The Catalyst, a free 3 day activation for mums done living on mute and ready for mutiny.  So if you’re not in there, you should probably correct that immediately www.courageandchamomile.com/catalyst. We start Tuesday.  This episode happened because a woman in the group perfectly demonstrated what we all do : she downgraded her dreams without anyone even asking her to.  So in here I talk about nervous system protection, decades of conditioning that taught you to negotiate yourself down before anyone else can. And why allowing all this old programming to keep running the show is keeping us stuck.  This is all stuff we’re not just exploring but excavating at the Catalyst…so I’ll see you there.  Come tell me what landed for you in my DMs on insta @emma.while or ping me an email [email protected]

I had a really crap night with the small last night and so this morning I had a choice...I could choose to let that and the ensuing tiredness infiltrate, colour and control my entire mood and day. OR I could choose a different story. This episode is taken from a ReWilding Live I did inside my free facebook community Rewilding Motherhood and invites you to become aware of what exactly it is you are choosing. What are you missing out on day to day with that choice? ...do you even realise it's a choice? And now that you do, what will you choose instead? Stepping from Victim to Curator mode (by actively making choices that feel good for us instead of falling victim to our circumstances and letting them leak out onto everything else) is  just one of the ways to squeeze more juicy joy out of life that we talk about during The Juicy Joyful Jumpstart and I would love to see you there.  It's a FREE 5 day coaching series with me for an hour a day.  It's for mummies who are ready to shrug off the shoulds and break out of the boxes to live life on their own terms.  Who are ready to start enJOYing rather than enduring their kids, motherhood and life itself.  Who are ready to live more, laugh more and love more.  Who are ready to come ALIVE and stop just living day to day. If you've heard enough and want IN just head here.  If you want to read some more go to www.courageandchamomile.com/juicy As always thanks for listening, thanks for being here.  If you enjoyed this episode please do share or come find me on Instagram to let me know your biggest take away. Mwah x

The other day somebody asked for advice in my free ReWilding Motherhood community...she was looking for advice on how to move through a trigger that she has. The reaction she had in the comments from other members of the community was interesting and so I came in to do a live and explain what triggers actually are and how we might want to deal with them. Since it resonated so much with that audience I also wanted to share here with you...plus a little end note about what happened next. So, if you've ever flown off the handle at something really quite innocent or you find yourself having the same out of control reaction to something somebody does or says (if you're a mum chances are you're nodding right now), then listen in. And then come find me over on instagram or via email [email protected] and let me know what landed for you...was this helpful?  What was your main ah ha?  I LOVE hearing from you! As always thanks for listening and please consider sharing and/or leaving a review if this spoke to you x

I have lost track of the amount of times I've heard "I don't know" from the women I speak to. I don't know is a big red flag for me on several levels, which I go into here. Are you somebody who says "I don't know" a lot? Then listen in! Then come let me know how it landed for you at [email protected], in my free facebook community Rewilding Motherhood, or on Instagram. x

Or is there? For somebody who has a lot of Libra in her chart this is a most curious statement...but hear me out, it's not what you think ;) If you struggle with balance and often feel very much out of it, this is for you. As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts and reflections either by email [email protected], in my free Facebook Community, 'Rewilding Motherhood' or over on Instagram. Emma x

I recently received 2 emails in a very short space of time telling me they didn't appreciate my swearing.  I found both my reaction and my subsequent musings interesting and decided to share in the context of what 'rewilding' as mothers means to me. This episode is taken from a weekly live I do inside my free facebook community group Rewilding Motherhood...come play if you're not already over there. How does this one land with you?  I'd love to know. Hit me up at [email protected] or come see me over on facebook or Instagram. Take care  Emma x

For me the Solstice is like a giant pause & reset button.  A chance to reflect where we've been, where we're at and where we're going next... ...which is only possible if we actually press the bloody pause button and not just rush straight on with our lives, head down, getting through it all. Just Stop. Pause. Breathe.  Take Stock. Listen in to hear how my super simple, flexible & effective Stop Pause Breath tool can serve you at this midway point in the year. The free facebook community I mention, where I go live every Wednesday is the Rewilding Motherhood group...come play! My email if you want to reach out about how I can help you consciously curate a more meaningful second half of the year is [email protected] And my instagram if you want to come let me know how you found the tool, share this episode or just come gang out with me IG style, is here. Thanks for being here, chat again soon x

In this episode I reflect on an invisible box I had built for myself with my morning routine, but hadn't even realised...and how blindingly obvious it and the solution was once I spotted it. I invite you to listen and reflect where or when you might be doing similar and what you might be able to do about it. For more from me come say hello on Instagram, come play inside my free Rewilding Motherhood community OR I'd love you to come join me for the last 'life changing' Juicy Joyful Jumpstart FREE 5 day coaching experience this side of summer by registering at www.courageandchamomile.com/juicy Thanks for being here, see you again soon x

As summer hots up over here in the UK I'm wondering how much of the joy and juice of summer living so many of us are going to miss out on whilst worrying about what we might look like while we do it. In this episode I discuss the cage we've built for ourselves by not wanting to wear the swimsuit and how it's blocking us from accessing our full joy and from squeezing as much juice as possible out of life AND motherhood. I'd love to know how it lands for you so come find me over on instagram or in my free Facebook community Rewilding Motherhood As always, thanks for listening, see you next time x

I'm serious...are you having fun? It's a serious and important question and in this episode I talk about why I care about your answer and what I notice happens with me and my life if I forget to have fun. So if you're finding yourself feeling disconnected, bored, meh, snapping at people...listen in. And if life isn't quite as juicy or joyful as perhaps you'd like it to be then head over to  register for The Juicy Joyful Jumpstart FREE 5 day challenge where I'm going to be chatting ALL about how our joy as mums, women (and humans!) gets blocked AND what we can do about it ...even if that feels impossible right now.  We start May 4th. May the Fourth be with you...and I hadn't even planned that. Other links mentioned: Find me on Instagram Come play in my free Facebook Community Rewilding Motherhood As always thanks so much for listening and if you enjoyed this episode please do share, tag me on insta, come let me know how it landed in the DMs and leave us a review. Chat soon! x

I've taken this episode from a live I did in the Rewilding Motherhood Facebook community a few months ago so firstly, please do excuse the background traffic noise and whatnot. If you can hear past that, the message is a good'un. Which is that...if you want things to change, then something actually needs to change. And the only person who can make the choice to do that, is you. YOU have to work out where you're putting up with something.  Where you're settling. And decide to change it. It's that simple.  And that hard. And if that sounds like such  good idea, but, like, how the actual eff!? Then why not check out my membership group The Mothership, or come find me on Instagram and let's chat, I'm sure I have some tools up my sleeve that just might help

So many of us suffer from feelings of overwhelm so often...and yet we're still so bad at dealing with it. In this episode I explain:  - why I find even the term overwhelm so utterly unhelpful - the most common response I see from us mums when faced with overwhelm - why that response absolutely doesn't work - and what to do instead. Hint...the word 'do' in that last sentence was a total red herring and absolutely part of the problem. In this episode I mention - My brand new free masterclass on this very subject coming soon.  You can register for more info AND receive a special 'stop pause breathe' thank you gift on this link here. - My free Rewilding Motherhood Facebook community where I go live every week - Coming to find me on Instagram as Courage & Chamomile