Hello Reader,
Happy Mother's Day weekend, friend.
This week's episode came to you live from Sedona, Arizona — and it felt like the right place to have a conversation we don't have often enough.
I sat down with my colleague, co-coach, and friend Gillian Faith — healthcare leader, coach, and fellow mom — and we just... talked. About the real stuff. The spinning plates. The relationship that gets the least attention until it starts to crack. The moment your kid gives you completely unfiltered feedback about your parenting. The self-talk you don't even realize you're passing down.
If you are a mom in healthcare — whether you're a nurse practitioner, physician, APP, fellow, administrator, or executive — this one is for you.
The myth of the supermom
Somewhere along the way, many of us picked up a very specific picture of what a "good mom" looks like. The hand-baked cookies. The custom lunchbox note. The ability to be fully present at every practice, every recital, every school event — while also covering your call schedule and running your department.
Gillian and I spent some time unpacking where that picture even came from.
I ask my coaching clients this all the time: "Who gave you this idea about what being a good mom means?"
And people pause. They really pause. Because often, they've never questioned it. They just absorbed it — from their own mothers, from Instagram, from the friend who announced she was doing homemade everything, from the culture of their training program that already demanded perfection in every other area of life.
Here's what I know: we all parent differently. And all of it is important. For some, it's the home-cooked meal. For others, it's being at every practice. For others, it's simply being the one who shows up to listen when the day was hard. None of those is more valid than another.
The question isn't whether you're doing it "right." The question is: whose definition of right are you using — and do you actually agree with it?
The thing we're accidentally teaching them
This was probably the moment in our conversation that sat with me the longest.
Gillian said something I couldn't stop thinking about: our kids are watching how we talk to ourselves.
If we're in a constant state of frenzy — criticizing ourselves, narrating our failures, body-shaming out loud — we are modeling for them that this is just how people treat themselves. Not because we mean to. But because we're doing it right in front of them.
Awareness is the first step. And then — and this is the coaching piece — we can always choose a new path. It's never too late to own it and do something different.
As Gillian said: "It's a new day to be something different."
What actually helps
We didn't leave it theoretical. Here's what Gillian and I came back to, again and again:
Build your tribe. Asking for help is brave. Isolation is one of the most common — and costly — choices healthcare moms make. Even the person who was always the last pickup with you at afterschool care? That might be your person. Find them.
Tend the relationship that comes last. Your partnership — whatever form it takes — needs attention too. Often it's the last to get any, and the first to suffer. The MEDLIFE matrix (which Dr. Lisa Muehlenbein shared at our MedTHRIVING summit) puts this front and center. So does every therapist who has ever existed.
Move your body — in a way that's actually accessible. Not to earn something. Not to hit a mileage goal. Just to prove to yourself that you take care of you. Ten minutes in a hotel room. Twenty minutes on the Peloton. A yoga mat on the floor at 6am. Whatever it is — do it. The reward isn't just physical. It's the quiet signal you send yourself: I matter too.
Right-size your expectations. Shonda Rhimes said it well: succeeding visibly in one area often means something else is imperfect behind the scenes. That's not failure. That's reality. Celebrate the small wins. Stop keeping score by a standard you didn't even consciously choose.
A Mother's Day ask
If there is one gift you could give everyone around you — your kids, your patients, your team — it might just be giving yourself a little grace.
Not because you've earned it by doing enough. But because the version of you who has some grace is better at everything than the version of you running on depletion and self-criticism.
You don't have to be the supermom. You just have to be the one who keeps showing up.
Happy Mother's Day to every healthcare professional who holds that identity — it is no small thing. For those missing their mom and sadness fills this space, know that you are not alone and that grief and love co-exist in beautiful ways. 💛
🎧 Listen to the podcast sneak peek episode below and listen to the full episode on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Podbean, or Amazon Music.
What's inspiring us this week:
First responders. Watching the news is crazy with local tragedies: fires, accidents, natural disasters. Grateful for all our first responders being on shift, professionalism, and taking care of all of us.
The Practice: Celebrating Wins
We get more of what we focus on. The practice of gratitude and celebrating the goodness of life is the first step in changing our brains, mindsets, and circumstances for the better.
It's the simple things. It doesn't require money or flowers or chocolates. It's the small moments of relaxing together, watching a movie together, or doing the mundane. Just glad to be present with my little one.
Stay mindful and keep leading,
Lillian
Founder & CEO
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