Harvesting U: A Momma Community

Harvesting U is a podcast and a community of mommas striving to live big and love bigger. It's a process of nurturing, practicing, and assessing our skills and talents to live big and love bigger. Friends Aubrey and Theresa created Harvesting U as a supportive and judgment-free network of mommas who help each other to assess and develop our interests, talents, and goals. The podcast is unscripted and unfiltered, and each episode contains a topic that is relatable for today's busy mommas. During this episode, Theresa and Aubrey discuss how Harvesting U developed, how it has affected their lives, and how it can connect with other mommas. We hope you will listen and subscribe to the podcast. And please share your thoughts with us. Learn more about Harvesting U. http://linktr.ee/harvestingu

Feeling under pressure from family, work, friends, home, and community? Yeah, we got that.  Today we're talking about feeling like we're swimming upstream, and how we get through these periods in our adult lives without completely stressing out and hiding under the covers (everyday).  Find out a few techniques for dealing with the overwhelming stress, and find comfort from relatable momma stories about parenting, working, and trying to carve out time for ourselves so we don't lose our sanity and energy to keep on keeping on.  Harvesting U is a process of nurturing, practicing, and assessing our skills and talents to live big and love bigger. Learn more about Harvesting U.

Have you ever thought about your love language? How do you show love? How do you best receive love? Is it through words of affirmation, receiving gifts, quality time, physical touch, or acts of kindess? Knowing your love language helps build a stronger bridge of communication with others, and knowing your partner's love language can help build trust and connectedness.  In this episode, Aubrey and Theresa discuss love languages, how to use that knowlegde to better communicate with kids, and how we can find ways to support them as they grow up. It can be tough to navigate parenthood with teens, as everyone matures at different rates, and not equally in all areas. So what are some of our strategies for helping our kids? Plus, they talk about how the weather affects our moods, heated jackets, and more mom tips.    Harvesting U is a process of nurturing, practicing, and assessing our skills and talents to live big and love bigger. Find out more about Harvesting U with Aubrey and Theresa here.

Our kids are growing up, and asserting independence appropriately and inappropriately (at times). It takes patience and understanding, plus a whole pile of parenting tools and teamwork to get through this challenging years.  As our kids feel like they are grown-up 'enough' to know it all, they also need us in so many ways, too. It's a struggle on both sides.  In this conversation, Aubrey and Theresa talk about a few ways they are dealing with this transition and strategies that are helping make it easier for their kids and themselves as parents.  How are you dealing with your teens? Any advice for parents who haven't started on this 'adventure'?  Harvesting U is a process of nurturing, practicing, and assessing our skills and talents to live big and love bigger. Learn more about Harvesting U.

Some days life can feel like our own personal 'Groundhog Day.' When life becomes mundane, it's time for a change.  How do we bring ourselves back from the mundane? On this episode of Harvesting U, Aubrey and Theresa talk about a few ways they shake off the habitual and create little changes to set a different mood in the everyday. Making easy small changes like what we wear and where we sit everyday, can disrupt the monotony of routine and help bring new inspiration and energy into our worlds.  We also talk about how to set the mood in our homes to reflect those favorite moments and memories, why the sunrise and sunset move humans to wide-eyed silence, and what we can learn from music to design calmer spaces at home. When you feel like you are on the treadmill of the mundane, what do you do to break it up? Talk to us. 

Have you started questioning your hard-worn habits? Trying to figure out how to get closer to your goal life? This conversation is for you.  During this episode of Harvesting U, Aubrey shares the meaning and motivation behind writing 'Broken Open.' It's a guide book to assessing habits, choices, and relationships. While it's not about her life, she includes some examples throughout to keep her readers knowing that she is on the path with them. She even includes a six-week soul self challenge that can help anyone achieve a goal, whether big or small.  Written in a respectful and reflective manner, Aubrey wants this book to be a blueprint for humanity. After years of gathering insights, she found the soul self space that provides her with ease and calmness to get through any challenge set in her path. And she discovered the biggest relationship is her friendship with herself. Listen to this episode to gather a few strategies and insights to help you with your personal challenges, and check out the free Audible sample of 'Broken Open.'

Are you finding it harder to avoid the drama lately? Seems like it's everywhere--at the grocery store, on airplanes, at school meetings, on social media, within extended families, and even with our own kids. How can we protect our good mood and stay centered when there is so much conflict and drama out there? Aubrey and Theresa share a few strategies to dealing with the drama, and ways to navigate the tension surrounding hyped-up conflict. And they discuss how they are defusing the teenager drama and connecting with their teen boys even when there is resistance. How do you deal with the drama? What keeps you centered when encountering conflict? Share with us in the comments below. Live big and love bigger,

Being a supportive partner isn't always easy. It takes patience, effort, intention, and action to be supportive and allow our loved ones the space to support us back, too.  In this conversation, Aubrey and Theresa are talking about how we've learned lessons along the way of becoming supportive partners through many years of changes and evolutions of our needs, our family structures, and our quirks. Becoming a good partner means giving our loved one the space to become who they desire and supporting their goals. From dump trucks to dance studios and kids to chaos, we've had many large and small challenges and new experiences along the way in our relationships. We share what we've learned with honesty and humor, and we hope what we share helps you.  We talk with another busy momma, Diane Korman Numark, who owns a barre studio in Rodondo Beach, California, about how she and her husband support each other through their adventures. Her husband is running for mayor, they have two school-aged children, and she is an Emmy-Award-Winning producer from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Volunteerism and community service are a big part of who they are as a family, too.  What are ways you support your partner? How do you communicate your needs and share your goals? We'd love to learn from your experiences, too. Share with us. 

Meet Rebecca. She is an extraordinary Momma. We're spotlighting her as a momma who goes way beyond the ordinary in her day-to-day momming.  As a mom of three, it may look like she is doing the typical momma work that we all are familiar. But, she has a big extra on her plate as one of her children has special needs. With Autism, ADHD, and Sturge-Weber syndrome, her daughter also experiences regular seizures which caused her to drown in a pool. She was revived and Rebecca's mission for a service dog has just been made a reality with a dog from 4 Paws for Ability.  Join us to meet Rebecca, learn her story, get inspired from how she makes it all happen, and meet the family's new service dog during this Harvesting U conversation.

Digging in is all about finding the patience and courage to make ‘it' happen.  But how can we trudge through the tough stuff?  In this conversation, Aubrey and Theresa get real about the challenges they face and how they dig in to find strength, understanding, and commitment to try their best to flourish through the rough spots of being a momma, a partner, and a friend.  How do we deal with those 5 seconds of shame when we are at our worst? Whether no one is looking or if it's caught on camera, how do we navigate those unsettling feelings of being caught short of who we want to be? Instead of taking an easy road, we're digging in and dealing with the tough stuff that life is throwing at us.  Theresa takes us through some real-life challenges of raising a child with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). While it's been a struggle at times, she has learned so much about giving the gift of understanding, and being able to put herself in her son's shoes to see the world in a very different way than what's natural to her. And today, she's grateful that he's thriving.  We find strength in our bonds with our tribe, and we are better because of your support.  We'd love to hear your thoughts about this Harvesting U conversation.  And check out more conversations and Quick Bites of inspiration https://linktr.ee/harvestingu Aubrey and Theresa share a new conversation about real momma life every Wednesday at 8pmET.

Purpose can be a trigger word for a lot of people, as it's difficult to truly know our purpose in life. But living in daily purpose through intention is a realistic goal and attainable.  A daily intention can be super simple like drink more water, check in with my partner, put my phone away when I'm talking with a friend, go for a walk after dinner, or let myself off the hook for not being more 'ready' for an event or a holiday celebration. In this episode, momma-friends Aubrey and Theresa reflect on how to create intentions, how to motivate ourselves to reach our goals, how they intentionally connect with their kids through honesty, engagement in their activities, silliness, and being fully present, and how to pick ourselves up when we don't meet our own intentions.  As Aubrey often says, "I'm perfectly imperfect." We hope you gain insights, strategies, and inspriation from our conversation about making intentions.  "My intention for today is... to live big & love bigger."

How do we find our holiday joy? And what do we aren't feeling the holiday magic? No matter the challenges facing us, our Harvesting U mojo is to keep calm, and look for new ways that fit within the parameters of finance, time, resources, and pandemic restrictions.  Not everything has to be perfect and if it doesn't feel right, don't force a holiday tradition. It's not the action that makes the holiday, it's the intention and connection that fills us up.  Join us for our honest conversation about the holidays in this episode of Harvesting U podcast. Let's put inspiration into intentional action, and keep harvesting you.  Live big and love bigger  Aubrey & Theresa

It's not easy raising a challenging kid. Sometimes it takes extra patience and a few handy strategies to find our way as parents through the murky waters of behavioral issues and frustrating meltdowns over seemingly everyday events.  In this episode, Theresa shares her momma journey raising a tough child whose behavior has led to many-a-phone-call from school and a long list of interventions and attempts to navigate a way through it. While knowing that the world won't bend to her son's strong will, she had to find a way to give him the tools he needed to understand the world and be his best. It's been a struggle and heartbreaking at times, but it's gone from several hours a week of therapists and an inability to remain in a regular classroom with peers to a thriving teen who has earned a gold medal at the Junior Olympics, a black belt in karate, stand-up performances at a local improv club, and straight As in middle school. While those successes are truly his, the ways we've learned to parent through the behavioral issues has given him the space and confidence to pursue and earn those goals.   We need to find our way as parents to give our kids the ability to be their best and thrive as independent people.  Tune into this episode of Harvesting U with Theresa and Aubrey, and subscribe to hear a new episode every Wednesday at 8pmET.

Co-hosts Aubrey and Theresa are getting real about severe illness and sharing what we do to manage the everyday, navigate surprises that bring us to our knees, and continue to find strength to endure and harvest our positivity and love through it all. We recorded this episode shortly after Theresa suffered an attack, and stopped breathing while driving home from dropping her son off at school. This is real life, and we hope our honest discussion helps you.  Tune in for new episodes of Harvesting U on YouTube or BlogTalkRadio on Wednesdays at 8pmET.

How can we spot conditional love? And what can we do about it? Are you dreading a Thanksgiving get-together? Maybe it's time for a gut-check on conditional love. In this Harvesting U podcast, Theresa and Aubrey have an honest unfiltered conversation about unconditional love and share personal stories that are both heart-filling and heartbreaking.  “Anything that is a struggle to your mental health, you do not have to do. You do not have to engage in.” Unconditional love isn't always perfect. We all have bad days when negative energy distorts what we do and how we feel. Find out how to spot condititional love, how to nurture unconditional love, and what to do when a conditional relationship doesn't feel right.  Harvesting U: Nourishing momma joy through honest discussions and intentional acts of and kindness. Live big & love bigger.   

Have you ever had an anxiety hangover?

On today's episode, we're talking about how to be a supportive friend. Showing up and being supportive is essential in authentic friendships. But how do we know how to be supportive, and what are the warning signs when it's time to pull back from a friendship that isn't working? And how can we be a supportive momma and help our kids navigate their relationships? Theresa and Aubrey breakdown the essentials of supportive friendships, why supporting each other on social media may not be enough, finding balance in friendships that feel comfortable to you, how to show we care during the tough times, and how to assess your friendships for real.  Not every friendship lasts forever, and not every person is a good fit for us in every stage of our lives. And sometimes it's hard to navigate the rocky roads of friendships when we've been friends for a long time. Both Aubrey and Theresa are grateful for nourishing friendships they've enjoyed since childhood, they've had friendships that have faded, and other relationships that have simmered for a while and come back stronger than ever.  Tune into this honest conversation about friendship, and check in with the friends who fill you up and consider their suggestions for how to show that you care beyond social media. Tune in and connect with Aubrey and Theresa on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter @harvestingU. What would you like us to talk about next? Share your #momlife stories, successes, and dilemmas. We'd love to hear from you! Live big & love bigger, Aubrey & Theresa HarvestingU

On today's episode, we're talking about what it's like becoming a mom, what it's like to be a momma, and why creating a tribe of supportive friends is important. A support network is essential in any momma's life. Whether you are a married mom, single mom, divorced mom, working mom, stay-at-home mom, new mom, caregiver mom, step-mom, grandma, auntie, single dad who fills that momma role, or just thinking about becoming a mom, a network of supportive family and friends can make a huge difference in how big we can live. Having suport and being supportive allows all of us to create and manifest our dreams for ourselves and nourish our children's dreams.  But, not everyone has a built-in network of family who is available and able to show up for us. Sometimes we have to create our tribe. Choose those who show up for you, and show up for them in return.  So what is a momma? Is there a difference between being a mom and being a momma? How do you know how to create a tribe? How can we better parent our kids? We're talking abuot what it means to be a momma, raising teen boys, why starting that tribe early is important, dealing with kids and screen time, and navigating parenthood during the pandemic.  Tune in and connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter @harvestingU. We'd love to hear from you! Aubrey & Theresa