Murielle Fellous: Single Mom Doing It All

View photos and more details here. \r\n\r\nMurielle Fellous bounced back after a depression while raising three teenagers as a single mom and living with Hepatitis B. Originally born and raised in France, she founded the "Single Moms Doing It All" coaching practice and podcast. \r\nMuriel grew up near Paris, raised to be “very proper.” For example, she was trained not to speak too loudly on the subway and to be very polite. When Murielle was 18, she went to college in Israel and experienced freedom for the first time in her life. She met her ex-husband there, and moved to the United States with him. \r\nMurielle learned to be more direct and less proper, preparing her for what she would have to face as a single mom later in life. She got divorced about 15 years ago when her youngest was 2. “I had to be the everything for my kids…the financial support, the emotional support, and it's still like that today.”\r\nUnfortunately things became more difficult when Murielle contracted hepatitis B. When her youngest two became teens, everything went crazy in her life. She dreamt her daughter was going to end up dead in the street. She slowly spiraled into depression. Then one night she woke up in tears, feeling the power within herself that assisted her to heal.\r\n“Suddenly I was able to admit that I don't like my life…it was like almost an abomination, to say something like that. In my head it made me a bad mother.”\r\nShe realized that the fact she didn't like her life, yet also loved her kids, didn't negate each other.\r\n“That opened the door to freedom, because I let go of the shame and the self-judgment, and I started healing.”\r\nShe doubled down on self-care practices, which are the tools she now gives her clients. Murielle knows the pain and worry of being a single parent and doesn’t want anyone to go through what she experienced.\r\nSelf-doubt has been the most challenging thing about being a single parent. She has also struggled in not having a partner to bounce ideas off of in parenting challenges. \r\nThe biggest blessing of being a single mom is the freedom to do whatever you want and not have to negotiate. Also, she has developed an incredible bond with her kids.\r\nI asked Murielle what advice she has for single moms with teens. “Don't take things personally. Don't, because you're going to get hurt, and when you get hurt, your stress center is on alert and your body is preparing for fight or flight…you can't find your own inner resources. You're all emotion and you're like fire.”\r\nMurielle suggests having a mantra, telling yourself it’s not personal, they're growing, they're pushing the limits…and love is under all that.\r\nMuriel is proud of herself for going for her dream, even though it’s not easy being a single mom, having a day job, and starting her business on the side.\r\n“ When my one of my daughters had to do a project in high school, and they were talking about the American Dream and success, my daughter picked me. She said, 'you're an immigrant and you were on your own and you inspired me because you still went for it.'”\r\nShe has a podcast, provides one-on-one and group coaching, and also has a free “Get Back to Peace Kit for Moms,” which includes a meditation and visualization and a tapping session, an emotional freedom technique to calm yourself down after an argument so you can come back to your senses and to your centered place. \r\n\r\nNext week, I launch my new podcast: Companies That Care!\r\n