THE GOOD ENOUGH MOTHER PODCAST
'Mothering Ourselves Back to Wholeness' Within The Social Construction of Motherhood
February 2021
MOTHERHOOD, MOM GUILT, MOTHERS ANGER, THE BAD MOTHER, CULTURAL TABOOS, PODCAST EPISODE
with author of Motherwhelmed, founder of Revolution From Home Beth Berry
As so many of us are mothering in isolation, without the support or community that we need, this is so often the case - it IS left up to us and us alone.
We are also socialised into taking individual responsibility for what are collective challenges and sold the ‘solutions’ of doing more, buying more, and being ‘better’.
Understanding how and why the social construction of motherhood fails mothers (and our children) and sets us up to experience fatigue, guilt, and disconnection, is the first step to challenging this cultural construction.
But it can be difficult to then take these understandings and create real shifts in our beliefs and practices as women who mother. We can feel ‘stuck’ – especially if working towards such changes is framed in any way as a ‘taking away’ of our children.
Listen up.
As mothers, we shoulder the burden of structural inadequacies but can feel these inadequacies as personal failings – like it is all ‘on us’.
Meet
BEth
Beth Berry is on a mission to liberate modern-day mothers. As a writer, activist, life coach, teacher, and mother of four daughters, she deconstructs disempowering social norms and narratives while supporting and connecting mothers who are fed up with the status quo and ready to live more empowered and joy-filled lives.
Beth has contributed to many publications including Motherly, Mothering Magazine, National Geographic’s Green Living, Pathways to Family Wellness, and A Simple Life. Her work has appeared in Rachel Allan’s book When Business Meets Baby, Motherly’s This Is Motherhood, and the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry Manual for Treatment of Women Experiencing Mood Disorders During Pregnancy and Postpartum. She was a La Leche League leader for years, started a fiber arts school, and studied sustainable agriculture in college.
Beth currently works with clients 1:1, leads retreats in Asheville, NC, the San Juan Islands, and Mexico, and offers a year-long online circle called MotherWorthy that is awakening worthiness in women worldwide.
Enjoy this conversation and please share with anyone who you think would be interested in tuning in