The Military Working Mom

Being in the military brings quite a bit of discrete anxiety about how you are expected to portray yourself, or fear of how you are being looked at/judged. Sonya Achara, former Marine and new author of "Remember who you are: my journey to higher consciousness" leads up through her experience of living in that anxiety as a female pregnant marine and how she found herself in situations with a narcissist coworker and spouse which lead her to find a way out and discover her true strength and power. In her words, she is now "limitless".

What is spoiling your kiddos too much? I personally am going through a struggle of providing my children when toys that they WILL (and I will) enjoy, balanced with their understanding that they should not develop expectations to receive items from everyone, but when they do they need to be thankful and show gratitude. Listen in to my thoughts and experience recently on the matter...i would LOVE to hear your experience and lessons learned via FB or IG on The Military Working Mom.

What is work-life balance as a single parent? What does that look like, or should there even be a definition? Elle Cox is a soldier in the US Army and an amazing single mom who also has mastered how to build a support system for her family while being fast-tracked in her career. Her secret....doing what is right for HER and not letting others choose for her. Listen in to hear her story and how she sets her mind to focus on her needs for her family while blocking out other distractions.

Have you ever felt like you have 20 different projects going on with 10 more to get started...all while you are thinking what you need to cook for dinner? Welcome to the concept that Women are like Spaghetti and Men are like Waffles. Our ability to multitask can be amazing, but it also may not naturally allow us to focus and be present to focus on our family or just to get things done without starting 10 other things at the same time. Listen in and hear what's going on in my "spaghetti" brain and let me know your thoughts on the topic on The Military Working Mom Facebook or Instagram pages.

Meet cohost #1 Kayla. This amazing woman is prior E and also prior National Guard turned Reservist. She is a military mom and dual-military spouse rocking life both in the civilian sector as a nurse and in the military, but also as a super mom and wife at home.

Let's be honest, before you become friends with someone you need to learn who they are. From where we left off in 2021...let me quickly catch you up on my life's last 4 years in 9 minutes.

Welcome back to the Military Working Mom Podcast! This season is all about "Real Talk" Get ready to chat with my new co-hosts and guests to be entertained and learn how to survive this crazy military life we live.

MEET JANNELLA U.S. Air Force veteran, Dr. Jannell MacAulay has managed human performance under high-stress situations for over two decades. As a military leader and combat pilot, she experienced the same stress, frustration, and fears that leaders and teams in corporate America face daily in their personal and professional lives. Her own personal journey led to earning her Ph.D. with work in the field of strategic health and human performance. With her innovative leadership style, she was the first leader to introduce mindfulness as a proactive performance strategy within the US military. She continues to consult within the DoD, DoJ, and corporate America delivering keynotes, training, and a high-performance mindset training program that she developed with Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks and Dr. Michael Gervais, a high-performance sports psychologist.   JANNELL'S USEFUL TIPSThe Military is a high strain occupation with a focus on being a servant leader. Often in environments that are demanding, we tend to define servant leadership as putting everyone before ourselves. However, Dr. MacAulay's research on high achieving/performing leaders and athletes has proven that there is a necessary place for self-care in successful servant leadership. In the end, you must "fill your cup" to have anything to give. To be a high performing leader and mom you work hard. But to continually work hard at a high pace, you must be properly "trained" to do so. Dr MacAuly's research has concluded there are 3 things you have control over in training: you body, craft and mind. Your mind is the most difficult to conquer, but with practice can help you focus on each task at hand and not be distracted. When you identify that you are having a stress response and about to make an emotional decision or action, "Go to the cloud". This was a commonly used phrase Lt Col MacAulay used to lay the foundation of mindset practice in the workplace. It was a trigger to say when she identified her or one of her coworkers was experiencing a stress response to a current event. Instead of making an emotional response, it cues them to take a step back and reengage.    Being a military woman, dual spouse, mom, etc can bring many obstacles in a military career. When making a decision on any aspect (such as when to start a family) Jannell mentors individuals to ask themselves the following 3 questions. As life progresses, constantly reengage with these questions as they may change over time.  1. What do I value? 2. What gives me purpose? 3. How do I define success? CONNECT WITH JANNELLEMAIL: contact@jannellmacaulay.com PHONE: (707) 806-0080 WEBSITE: https://jannellmacaulay.com/  FB: @DrJannellMacAulay IG: @MacAulayjc TWITTER: @JannellMacAulay  

  Full Episode Notes are located at: www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode053 

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Spread the word!   Breastmilk transportation will not only help give babies the best for of nutrition.  But it will also help with the service woman's QoL and perhaps even increase retention rates! Take this survey!   We have created this unofficial survey to gather more data that cannot be captured by military systems.  please help and send it to any service woman who has had a child while on orders. Click HERE to take the 2 minutes survey Full Episode Notes are located at: www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode052 MILITARY WOMEN EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT: We may still be working the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR) change to include official reimbursement for breastmilk transportation, BUT in the mean time we have secured an EXLUSIVE discount through the #1 breastmilk transportation company, Milk Stork, who has graciously offered all DoD women FREE shipping on their order as well as a round-down to the nearest $5!. They offer a patented cooling technology that keeps your milk at temp for 72 hours once the bag is activated to ensure your milk does not spoil. They also offer BOTH shipping boxes and carry on bags in case you wish to travel with your breastmilk rather than ship it! 

Full Episode Notes are located at www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode051

Full episode notes are located at  www.TheMilitaryWorkingMom.com/episode050

View Full Episode Notes At www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode049   MEET MARIAMaria heals trauma by breaking its cycles. Through parent coaching, she empowers parents, caregivers, and educators to curb a child's challenging behavior and deeply connect while tending to their own needs through self-care.  Maria considers herself a veteran of trauma as she and her family immigrated to the US from Moscow Russia because of religious persecution.   At 8 years old, she could not comprehend what was going on so it was a difficult transition due to a language barrier, living in close quarters with her family and grandparents, and rough family relations.  She says during that time, the family was in "survival mode" and didn’t take time to process feelings.   Today she takes her knowledge and experience to help serve people through hard times and adopt necessary skills to overcome traumatic situations.   CONTACT MARIAWebsite: http://www.RestorativeParentCoaching.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-natapov/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maria.natapov Twitter: @MariaNatapov  

Full episode notes are located at www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode048   MEET AMYAmy Slater is a mom of two sets of twins, a personal trainer for over 20 years, a Fellow of Applied Functional Science, a practitioner of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition, and a passionate health coach for moms. Amy is the creator of the Resilient Mama Method that helps Moms end dieting and get strong so they can feel confident in their body.  Her focus is on moms who have school-age children and are just struggling to feel like their “whole self”. Moms need support to get to the root cause of their symptoms, not another band-aid, and Amy’s Resilient Mama Method gets to the root cause and builds moms up. Using, food, personalized supplementation and movement, moms achieve a new level of resilience! Amy lives in North Carolina with her husband, her two boys and two girls, and golden lab, Judge. 

Full episode notes are located at www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode047   Elisabeth is a motherhood and lifestyle blogger on Instagram and can be found @ElisabethBerwick sharing stories and experiences of what it’s like to be an active duty mother in the Air Force.

Full  Episode Notes are located at www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode046

Full Episode Notes are located at www.themilitaryworkingmom.com/episode045

How to Reintroduce Physical Activity After Birth (featuring Lori Cooper)

Full episode notes are located at www.TheMilitaryWorkingMom.com/episode043    LEARN MORE WITH ASHLEYAshley's Online Course (with SOPs): Freedom Moms FB: @TheFreedomMoms

TIPS FROM DR. PROULXYou are your own advocate to get the care you need. Your PCM doesn't always know exactly what you need unless you speak their language, so here are a few tips to move the process along or skip it entirely!  1. When you go to your PCM for something, write down the top 3 things you want to achieve from the appointment. You are in control of the outcome. 2. Research the medical term of what you think is going on. If you speak their language, they won't have to guess what is going on.  3. If you believe you need to see a specialist, you don't necessarily have to see a PCM. Contact the specialist you want (make sure they take TriCare) and have their staff get the referral from your PCM. Its their job!