Design Your Dream Life With Natalie Bacon

Showing you care about your marriage in the thick of raising kids isn't easy. The logistics of daily life require so much attention that it can feel like nurturing your marriage is last on the list, even though your spouse is likely a top priority. In this episode, you'll learn specific strategies to overcome the stress of parenthood on marriage, so you can show up as the wife you want to be. These tools will help you increase connection with your spouse and feel more empowered to create the marriage you want most. Join Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/245

Self care for moms can seem like an oxymoron with the everyday demands of modern motherhood combined with any additional challenges of the current season. This is why it's so common to want an escape from life to feel rejuvinated. The problem isn't the escape as much as it is what happens when you come back to the same life that created the need for the escape in the first place. In this episode, you'll learn alternative ways to approaching self care as a mom with a full (and seemingly very busy) life so you need fewer escapes and can "fill your own cup" (as the saying goes) from the inside out. You'll discover how rethinking self care during this season of life is imperative to your own happiness and well-being. Join Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/244

When life throws a curve ball and there's a new challenge you're presented with, how do you handle it? If you're like me and most of my clients, the tendency is to look for someone to blame—blame towards someone else, blame towards the world, or blame towards yourself. While, yes, it's true that people need to be held accountable for their actions, we often take this too far, looking for someone to take responsibility for our feelings. We blame other people and the world for how we feel. When we can separate out other people's actions from our feelings, we become empowered. Sometimes, there's isn't someone to blame at all. It's just the way things go. Getting to a place of acceptance can be very powerful for working through challenges with in-laws, in marriage, and more. In this episode, you'll learn the down side of blame and what to do instead so that you can feel better and work through hard times. Join Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/243

Working mom face unique challenges with time, energy, and resources spent between home life, family life, and work life. In this podcast, I explore how "downshifting" and "upshifting" can be a useful and empowering framework to help you live a life aligned with your values and on your terms. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by work and powerless to make changes, this podcast will help you create more work life balance in a unique and different way that no one is talking about right now. Without making downshifting or upshifting a moral issue, but instead making it a personal decision, you can lead a centered life that has space for both your work life and your home life. Tune in to learn how. Join Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/242

As a former type-A lawyer and financial planner turned grounded, present living wife and mom, there's nothing that's been more powerful in my own personal transformation than applying the tools and practices I teach to my own life. These practices help me navigate daily challenges like stress and overwhelm, as well as some of the hardest moments I've ever experienced, including my dad's death. They also are how I've made career changes, stopped yelling, paid off debt, lost 40 pounds, moved across the country (twice), and continue to live into my future. While there is no perfect way to navigate life, these practices and tools have made my life significantly better, happier, and more fulfilling. In this episode you'll learn 15 specific practices I use to help make my life better as a professionally trained advanced life coach. Join Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/241

How do you answer the question, "are you happy?" Where do you look to find this answer? Often, we have a default answer that includes some positives and negatives based on the evidence we look for in our lives. But what if there's a better way? A way that you can find more happiness in your life as a woman, wife, and mom. That's what you'll learn how to do in this podcast episode. You'll learn the difference between joy and happiness, along with strategies to help you bring more of both into your everyday life, regardless of the season you're in right now. If you want to become a happier woman, wife, and mom, tune into this episode to learn how. Join the Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/240

Often, we can't choose our circumstances. Whether it's a health diagnosis, in-law dynamics, struggles our kids are experiencing, or something else, life often deals a hand that you wouldn't choose for yourself. Sometimes, life is just hard. On default, the human brain wants to look externally to solve these challenges by changing other people or what's happening in the world. It goes into "fix it" mode. The problem with this is that it often leaves you feeling miserable and it doesn't work. We can't control what other people say or do, much like we can't control the weather. We can, however, control who want we to be in any circumstance, even the hardest of them. Training your brain to look inward at "who you want to be" in a challenging circumstances is the most useful way to navigate life's hardest times. In this episode, you'll learn the skills to do just that, so you can show up as the empowered woman you want to be. Join Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/239

We all have stories in our minds that our brains construct based on how it chooses to interpret our lives. The stories can be viewed as movies with titles that either help you solve your challenges or are unhelpful and even damaging. If you think your mindset might be working against you instead of helping you, tune into this episode to learn how to reframe (and re-title) the movie playing in your mind through awareness and curiosity. Instead of feeling like you're at the affect of your life, you can navigate challenges in a more empowered way using this practice. Join Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/238

If you want to show up with more purpose in your marriage so you can better navigate challenges and increase connection, this episode provides tools with exactly how to do it. Instead of hoping for your marriage to change on its own, or even worse, expecting your spouse to change, you can be proactive in your marriage so you can change it single handedly. While most people think it takes two people to work on a marriage, that simply isn't true. Just like you work on your health because you care about your body, you can also work on your marriage yourself because you care about it. When you put forth the effort in your marriage, you end up with a marriage better than you could've imagined. In this episode, you get three specific questions to ask yourself to help you become the wife you want to be, regardless of where your marriage is at today. Join the Grow You Membership: https://nataliebacon.com/coaching Follow Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliebaconcoaching/ Sign up for our weekly email, Thursday Inspo: https://nataliebacon.com/subscribe Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/237

Worrying about your kids, marriage, family, home, relationships, work, time, and everything else that encompasses modern motherhood has become part of the culteral norm. But did you know there's another option? It's true. You can learn how to manage your fear-based part of your brain so worry isn't in the driver's seat anymore. In this episode, you'll learn four new tools for reducing worry that leave you feeling more empowered to navigate the challenges of modern day motherhood. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/236

As the mom, there is so much correcting of our kids' behavior that comes with the job. From keeping our kids safe to holding boundaries to teaching, it can feel like we're correcting our kids all day. And yet, when you think about the foundation of the relationship, it's based not on correction, but on connection. In this episode, you'll learn how to focus on connecting with your kids while still being the leader of your family, which requires some correction from time to time. Instead of feeling like you're disconnected from your kids, you'll get specific practices to start using today to increase connection in your family relationships. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/235

We all know that little kids and toddlers have tantrums, but did you know that adults have tantrums, too? It's true. And even though we don't typically call them "tantrums" that's exactly what happens when we feel emotionally dysregulated. Thinking about our own emotional dysregulation in the form of a tantrum is helpful because it connects us to our kids. We can see that it's not them doing something "to us" or "to be bad" but instead is simply an emotional reaction. In this episode, I share my own experience with anger, frustration, and mom tantrums in a way that shows just help helpful bringing awareness to these tantrums can be both for ourselves and for our families. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/234

As moms, we care so much about how we're doing and often wonder "am I a good mom?". We end up comparing ourselves to other moms, thinking we're not good enough, and even worse, looking to our kids happiness to define our value and worth. Instead of using standards that lead to more mom guilt, I share a new way of thinking about what it means to "be a good mom." Instead of feeling like you're failing, not measuring up, always behind, and lacking in some way, you can use mindfulness tools to redefine your value as a mom in a way that feels empowering. Then, you can use this standard to check in and evaluate how you're doing over time. In this episode, I teach a new framework for measuring "good mom" as well as share the specific way I use the framework in my own family. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/233

When your kids behave in a way that you may not want or agree with, it can be easy to assume that they’re doing it on purpose and that it’s personal. It is human nature to take things personally, and it takes conscious effort to change this. This week, I share some examples of children’s behaviors that don’t mean anything at all about you, and what happens when you make it about you. Discover why you can be part of the solution to help your child even if you weren’t part of the cause, and how to identify thoughts that are getting in the way of you showing up as the mom you want to be. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/232

When your body is tired, it is signalling to you that it needs rest. Ignoring its signals can lead to feelings of overwhelm and disempowerment, which make it so much harder to find solutions to your tiredness. This week, I share some examples of thoughts that aren’t helpful and make your experience of feeling tired seem so much worse, and show you how to change the way you think about your experience of feeling tired. Hear some examples of how this shows up in my own life, and some new thoughts you can try that will make a huge difference in your experience of feeling tired. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/231

In order to create the future you want, there has to be room for it, and this requires editing. Editing your life by purging, decluttering, making different choices, and redeciding what you want in your future will add so much to your life. Your home should be working for you, not the other way around, so this week I share an approach to create the necessary space for the future version of you that you want to grow into. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/230

In this episode, I dive into why our children have meltdowns and tantrums and discuss the importance of teaching your kids to feel their feelings. Learn 10 mindset tips to help you deal with your child’s meltdowns and tantrums in a more calm and empowered way and how to use these tips to show up as the mom you want to be. Learn how to have compassion for yourself and your child in a way that connects, validates, and allows for boundaries. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/229

It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you are greeted with a mess in your home, and you might feel the need to "fix" it. But it might surprise you to know that it isn't the mess that is causing you to feel the way you are and have the reaction you have; it's your thoughts about the mess. In this episode, I’m explaining why you feel triggered by a mess and offering another approach to the one you’re currently taking to deal with a mess in your home. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/228

Nobody enjoys fighting with their spouse or disagreeing with their kids or their family, and it can lead to us feeling disconnected. So this week, I’m sharing a simple shift you can make in your daily life that can really help with this. Discover an effective tool for feeling connecting that you can use today, how I apply this tool in my own life and in my roles as a wife and mom, and some examples of where you can use this in your own life. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/227

In this episode, I’m showing you how to navigate the problem of being pulled in various different directions and sharing some questions to ask yourself the next time you feel this way. Learn some mindfulness tools you can use to help manage whatever your mental load is and how to use what I’m teaching you to become the woman, wife, and mom you want to be. Get full show notes and more information here: https://nataliebacon.com/226