Welcome to the Postpartum University podcast where we support you and your provider in understanding the science, the art, and the sacredness of healing after birth. I’m Maranda Bower, your host, your postpartum nutrition specialist, and homesteading mom with four wild kids. It’s time to get you the holistic, whole-body healing that works.

Hello, my friends. Welcome to one of the last podcast episodes of the season. I cannot believe 2022 is finally closing. And I don’t know about you, but there is something pretty magical about feeling a new year coming. It’s this fresh start, this fresh beginnings that just feels so new to me, like a breath of fresh air. And I don’t know about you again, but I very much need that right now. And I know so many others who are in the position of needing a breath of fresh air as well. And so here it is, the gift of a brand new year. And really, although we get to kind of decide when we’re going to have a fresh restart, whether that’s every day or every month, there is a feeling of everyone, right? There’s a community feeling of this new fresh beginning where we all get to make something new for ourselves.

And so I want to kind of share with you in this podcast episode, the new beginnings. What does that mean? And how do you create that in your life? I mean, because we can honestly talk about new beginnings all we want and have a brand new year upon us. But if we don’t actually do anything differently, then it’s going to continue just as it had been previously. The only thing that really changes is us. We’re the only ones who can change and make a difference and do something to change the trajectory of our life. And so when I am in this position and I do this every single year, it’s super important to me. I just love the energy of the new year and what that brings. But I have a brand new planner, y’all. I have the pen and paper planner. I love it. I cannot live without it. And I sit back and I look at my previous year. I go through my planner of 2022 or whatever year it is. And I just really look through and be like, man, what have I accomplished? What have I failed at? Which I will tell you is quite a bit oftentimes. The learning lessons involved in that. Man, I cannot tell you how much I learn from my quote unquote, failures. And what I what didn’t transpire, I get to look back at my goals and be like, hmm, why was that not completed? Or how did that fall through? Or, you know, obviously, this strategy doesn’t work. And I get to play with that information. And I get to be grateful for that that information. And I don’t sit and come back to, “Well, I’m going to do this instead,” or “I’m going to do that instead.” I actually do my best to kind of just relish in the moment and give myself this ample time to rest on it.

And we don’t talk about this enough. Now if we talk about it in postpartum a little bit, we tell women how incredibly important it is to just rest our bodies and to go with the flow. And that is so necessary, not just for postpartum and for really life in general, but also when you are kind of reevaluating where you are and looking at what is it that I need to do or what is it that I need to create or what do I need to sit with or what do I need to let go? There are so many questions that we can ask ourselves when we are planning this new year. And there’s so many different things that we could create. I was just actually writing a beautiful article for a business magazine. Hallelujah, they asked me to write for them and I did. And it was an incredible article that transpired and What transpired was this need to truly care for ourselves, which sounds so cliche When you say it like that, but really what does it mean to take care of ourselves? It’s not this bubble baths and browsing target alone and although we we definitely need those There’s this other component of nourishing ourselves And I’m not talking about sustenance, although I feel like that is one of the biggest entry points into nourishing ourselves. But I’m talking about nourishment at the soul level.

And so take away all of these goals and all of these tasks that we give ourselves all the time. What is it that is going to nourish you? Like deeply soul nourishing level? That needs to be your top priority when coming into 2023. Forget about all the goals, forget about all the tasks, forget about everything that you didn’t accomplish. Look at how it is that you can truly nourish yourself at that soul level. And that answer is not going to come to you when you are frazzled and exhausted and completely depleted. It’s not going to come to you in that space. So give yourself that ample time to rest and recover from life, from postpartum, from whatever it is from 2022, recover, rest, and then decide what truly, truly nourishes me. When I was writing this article, one of my, my biggest hints was to start doing this with food. Because when you give yourself hearty food that fills your soul and literally provides you with this life and and sustaining nutrients. You create a recipe for this long-term health and well-being. And that isn’t the trendy salads or the smoothies or the protein shakes. Those often cause far more issues.

But rather it comes from this real whole foods. It’s coming straight from the earth and it’s cooked for maximum nutrients. And then when you eat these soul-supporting foods, you connect to the energy it brings your body. You relish that taste. You enjoy every savory bite for how it feels and expresses itself inside you. This opens you to the soul-level nourishment that extends far more than just food. If you can’t nourish yourself with food, I give that any other means of nourishment will fall flat for you. And this is why so many people I feel are so intrigued by nutrition, who desire nutrition and nutrition so much, but they lack the understanding of what it can truly do for our body. So in the new year, we always talk about, oh, I got to lose weight. No, I got I want to work out and I got to eat better, right? Like those are the top three things that we always want in the new year. And if that’s you, that’s great. That’s amazing. But know that this is where it begins at this soul nourishing level. And it won’t ever get there until you start with these basic principles, which first require that rest and rejuvenation and this time to truly reevaluate. Okay, so reevaluate where you are. Take a moment to truly be grateful for all of the lessons in life. If you made it amazing, if you didn’t, also amazing because there’s so much guidance and wisdom that comes through that. And then give yourself ample time to just be.

Sit with me. Sit with yourself, take some time out if you can, hire a babysitter, do whatever you need to have a space, a moment to just be within you and rest and recover from all that 2020 to has brought you, whether good, bad, beautiful, ugly, and everything in between. For me, it’s been a huge mixture of all of the above. and just sit in it. And then from there, decide, and this is the one question, what can I accomplish this new year, whether you’re a mom or someone who works with moms as a professional, like a midwife or a doula, a chiropractor, whatever it is, don’t ask yourself, okay, what can I accomplish, right? Ask yourself. yourself, “What is going to fully and deeply nourish me at the sole level?” It might be painting. It might be going out on walks every single day. It might be having a very important conversation with your partner. It might be something so off the wall that I couldn’t even describe to you in this part. episode. It’s going to be unique. It’s going to be fitting to your needs. But whatever it is, it’s going to come through you after rest. And likely, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, if you are not familiar with ways in which to nurture yourself or your soul, go back to food.

That’s the very beginning. And as I said, if you are not familiar with this soul level of nourishment, I mean, if you don’t nourish yourself with food, you’re never going to feel that. So get back to food because that’s the very beginning. I hope this has been helpful for you and looking at your new year. I know that it’s such a privilege to be… able to just kind of look back and see all of the things and plan out the new year with excitement and vigor and just like a feeling of this is gonna be it right as it is for every single year and I truly hope that’s the case for myself as I hope it’s the case for you but this is how we do it and this is how you get the best out of your new year year. So enjoy that, relish in it, or rest to your heart’s desire moment.

I will tell you, I get this often, well, I feel like I’m just resting too much, or I’ve been tired for days, and I’ve been going to bed early, and I’ve been taking away from my family. And it’s like, oh, just stop. When was the last time you’ve given yourself rest and nourishment? And if that has to extend for two solid weeks, that’s out. fine, given the fact that you probably neglected yourself for a year plus. Of course, your body’s going to need a lot. So if your body needs a lot of rest, it’s okay to give that to yourself. Honor that. It’s okay. You have 1000% permission from me and from every other mom out there who is struggling saying please take that rest. Please take that opportunity. Especially as you’re moving into the new year.

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