Striving for MORE

Sharing my mindset shift to love the skin I'm in because it's HARD AF --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/strivingformore/support

My friend Melissa and I start discussing the journey of a decade in wellness industry and how we ruined our mindsets and bodies around how we looked, ate and lived. We are unpacking a lot and it's not been an easy process to break up with a lot of things we learned and lived. Hopefully our discussion helps you if you feel “broken” like we have in our bodies ❤️ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/strivingformore/support

We've had a lot of changes lately so just rambling about those as we close out the year here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/strivingformore/support

Today I sat down with my amazing family doctor and discussed how my HPV completely cleared doing an experimental treatment. I won't lie, it was scary going against the normal treatment of a LEEP but I knew if this worked, that I could be a voice for other women healing HPV. The LEEP has side effects a lot of doctors don't discuss and we go into a few of them in this episode. If you're local to Chattanooga, TN, I see Dr. Hitchcock at Hitchcock MD. You can also find him at @hitchcock.md on IG --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/strivingformore/support

Today we talked about who and who not to take relationship advice from. If you have a positive “take away” please tag us on social and let us know, or leave a review. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/strivingformore/support

Quick hello, what we've been up to and more. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/strivingformore/support

A conversation with my friend Jenna, on a topic we both never knew we'd have a story to talk on. We both lost a family member to mental health in August of 2021. We had a conversation over details about our stories we've never discussed and wanted to share our hearts and raw thoughts to talk about places we think we can do better as a society. We would love your thoughts on this topic, along with your tips and stories to be shared on social media. The more we talk, the more people we can save. We need YOU in this world, you are loved and wanted. You can find Jenna at @jennachoosingjoy --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Leaving 6 figures to start over. It's been the biggest weeks with leaving my company after 9 years to start from the ground up in a place that already feels like home with a fresh perspective, 9 years of experience, my husband on my side and a goal to help so many families get a financial boost. We discuss the why and discuss how excited we are to hit the ground running with our new team in February. With a culture we get to shape as husband and wife. Thanks for all your love and support thus far! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

In 2017 we made the decision to pull our kids from our Catholic school and bring them home to homeschool. We had no idea what we were doing but knew we were done with the BS and politics of school. It turned out to be a huge blessing and opened so many doors for us to take charge of our lives and what we could do. We use Seton Catholic for the curriculum and you'll hear we aren't traditional with homeschooling because Jordan is in charge whereas it's usually moms leading the schooling. We do what's best for our unique family and we encourage you to do the same, always remember you can change your mind at any moment, which is beautiful. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Jordan and I had a more vulnerable chat today. We talked about finances, which I feel is heavy on a lot of hearts. Men carry financial pressures that are sometimes hidden behind the tough guy facade. We've gotten our butts handed to us in the stock market lately so we talked about how it feels to lose, but also how we're getting back up and how we went back to the drawing board. I hope this hits a cord and helps one of you today. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Today we just randomly started talking about marriage, and giving each other respect. We had an incident this week that really opened my eyes to take what Jordan says more serious, even if it doesn't feel serious to me. Maybe you need this chat today for your marriage, and hopefully we allow you to see that we don't have it all together and you don't need to either. Chances are you're doing better at this married life than you thought! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Jordan said it best when we pulled this topic from the jar. “How did people act vs how should they have acted” on our pregnancy announcements. We talked about the topic of kids, how the world views them and why we now don't look for outside approval on our family or family size. You are capable of raising your family! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Today we dove into a conversation on keeping kids safe in 2022, we talked everything from online safety to sleepovers. The world isn't what it was when we were kids, and just being aware we think is key. We don't know if we're doing it right, parenting is a constant learning lesson and we just hope to be leading our 6 kids well. Let us know any tips you have for kids safety, we'd love to hear your thoughts after you hear ours! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Today we bit off more than we can chew in an episode about family travel. That's a BIG topic, so if you want a more specific part of travel or a location we visited in depth, let us know. Hopefully some of our tips for travel help y'all out!! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Today we chatted about our journey with faith. For Jordan it lightly started in childhood and for Allie it didn't start until adulthood. We pray that our stories help inspire you to continue on your own faith journey or to take the steps to begin one for your own family. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Today we chat about differences in our relationship and how we've stopped focusing on them because all it does is cause issues that don't need to be there. If you haven't done the 5 love languages we highly suggest it. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

This episode we talked about the ups and downs of parenting. I want to say this first; parenting is hard, no matter one kid, or 10. We only know what we know at this moment. Adding more kids seems scary but as with everything in life you grow and adapt. We hope this chat helps you find your groove in parenting, whatever season you are in ❤️ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Today we dove into how to compromise on big decisions. I swear it always goes back to having conversations. So often I feel like we create an entire narrative in our head and cause so much stress and fear over the what ifs. Sometimes just talking takes care of all of that toxic narrative building

Today we dove into navigating postpartum when it's coupled with anxiety and depression. What's wild is you never know when it will happen, it skipped around after my babies and some seasons were worse than others. If you're struggling, you're not alone. Speak out about it, talk to your doctor and know that you will be okay.

Today we dove into NFP. Natural family planning is what we choose for “contraception” and it's a loaded topic but I can't say enough GOOD about women knowing their bodies and cycles. So regardless if you are Catholic and doing NFP or wanting to do it solely to learn your body, this episode covers what it is, why we do it and how we've evolved through our marriage. We aren't experts, we're the Catholic couple who had a baby before marriage so it's a no judgement zone here as always. We view sex completely different then we did when we met. Finally hitting a groove and hope this conversation helps you! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Today Jordan and I discuss navigating being parents in a world that seems to be so divided as of late. It's hard to cover all the topics of the world in one episode so if you want us to dive deeper into a section of this topic, please let us know and we will toss it in the topic bucket. We hope our discussion helps you see that no matter your views on this world, that we are all doing the best we can to parent our kids and it won't look identical and that's okay. Keep your focus on your four walls

Oh parenting. A never ending revolving door of lessons and reminders that we don't know it all. And that's okay, we are imperfect, just like our kids. Today we discuss our different parenting styles, some fall down moments and hopefully you'll take away a bigger or two that makes you feel like you're doing way better at the game of parenting than you give yourself credit for. There is no such thing as a perfect parent, the only perfect parent is the you before kids

Todays topic from the hat was all about our pregnancy losses and how we dealt different as husband vs wife. Honestly this is one of the first times we've even discussed a lot of our 3 losses. It's one that's so different depending on the couple and the circumstances. We are completely different in how we view and feel things. I hope we can give some insight on how we handled it separately but together as a couple. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

This weeks topic was all about making big decisions where we feel like God is leading us. This was more of a question that was asked so we talked a little about having faith and a faithful grind towards everything in life. We've always seen Gods work from the other side of our adventures and truly the best life we've lived has been made when we stop trying to control everything and just walked ahead with God alongside us. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

This weeks topic was another finance one, and throughout it we shared some tips for how we save money as a big family. Especially on cell phone bills, if you're paying more than $25 a line, we need to chat! Let us know savings tips you have for your family, we'd love to learn more! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Oh the fun of marriage and all the conflicts that come along with trying to live with another human being 24/7 (think about how annoying your college roommates got! And now you're supposed to live with this other grown human forever

This weeks topic from the bucket was “how to deal with toxic people” so we dived into how we deal with toxic people and how we've grown thicker skin over the years. We both laugh over the “angry email” I sent early on in our marriage to a toxic family member

As I come up on the one year anniversary of my moms death; I have a lot of emotions. I discuss my first year of the grief journey, diving into therapy, how I spent my adulthood creating boundaries, how freaking awful suicide is and how hard it is living without your mother. It's a lot to unpack and I pray some nuggets of hope are offered up. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

This weeks topic from the hat was “Finances, investing and how to retired early”. Jordan retired last year at 35 so he dives into crucial steps for setting up a budget, being honest about finances, having a certain level of “thrift” and always looking at compounding effects of dollars spent. This is a hefty topic so this week is budget, and emergency fund. Finances and saving money isn't sexy, but financial freedom and retiring early is. Next week we will dive investing. Jordan has a Finance and Fitness monthly group where he shares budgeting advice, investing, and fitness all in one spot. He is available to help you “get your crap together” in all areas! Find him on IG @striving4morewellness --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

This weeks topic from the bucket was “how to keep marriage alive, exciting as parents?” And we dove into it as best we could. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strivingformore/support

Todays topic from the hat was “gender roles” so we dived into what that looks like in our house and a few of the flip flopping seasons we've gone through. We aren't typical and chances are that you aren't either and that is OKAY. Remember your marriage is unique and special, do the best you can with your strengths and weaknesses as a couple.

The first topic that came up was “How do you grow together in marriage? Im in therapy and my husband isn't. It's a stress on our relationship” and we dove into it. Hopefully we added some insights to this topic. Marriage is a loaded topic since it's ever changing as you evolve as a person and a couple.

My favorite teenager is visiting us this week so we chatted all things social media and growing up in this new arena. Gwen has her head on straight and I know you'll love hearing from her. Enjoy this episode and if you have any questions her IG @gwendolyn_6 ❤️

We “tried” our best to sum up our first 14 years together. From meeting in Ohio, dating for 6 months, finding out we were pregnant, becoming parents, getting married to now having 6 kids, Jordan retiring and us moving to Tennessee. Enjoy this mumbled message as we try to work out the kinks of this podcast! Next week we will tackle actual topics from y'all.