No Guilt Mom | Overcoming Mom Guilt, Mental Load & Parenting Tips for Moms

If you've ever dealt with mom guilt and found yourself checking your phone to see if you're doing enough, wondering why you care so much what other people think, this episode is for you.

New to No Guilt Mom? Start here: https://www.noguiltmom.com/podcast-2

JoAnn sits down with speaker, entrepreneur, and author Jess Ekstrom (founder of Mic Drop Workshop and author of Making It Without Losing It) for an honest conversation about external validation — including JoAnn's own confession about compulsively checking podcast analytics, and Jess's story of interviewing her great uncle Bernie Madoff about the roots of chasing approval. Together they unpack why other people's opinions matter less than we think, how to tell the difference between feedback worth keeping and feedback worth ignoring, and how moms can stop performing for an audience that isn't even watching.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why chasing external validation kills creativity and motivation (and the "analytics detox" JoAnn is doing with her therapist)

The story behind Jess's uncle Bernie Madoff and the childhood moment that taught him "admiration can be bought"

Jess's "spotlight vs. lighthouse" framework for shifting from seeking approval to serving the people in front of you

The three questions to ask before you let feedback affect you: is it a chorus, is it constructive, and does it have credibility

Why the "bottom of the pile" doesn't exist, and how to stop waiting for permission to enjoy your life

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Making It Without Losing It by Jess Ekstrom

Jess on Instagram

Jess on LinkedIn

Text HYPE to 704-228-9495 for Jess's weekly Monday motivational text

The Happy Mom Reset (free class)

No Guilt Mom Inner Circle

More episodes of the No Guilt Mom Podcast

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New here? Start with our Start Here playlist — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

If you're a people pleaser who can't figure out why you struggle to tell people how you really feel, especially when you're angry or hurt, this episode is for you.

What do you do when someone you love blames you for something that isn't your fault? JoAnn gets vulnerable about a recent conflict where, for the first time in her life, she didn't shrink. She's breaking down the fawn response, what the research actually says about staying quiet, and the exact words to use the next time silence feels safer than the truth.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why the fawn response makes staying silent feel safer, even when it isn't

What research on suppressed feelings actually predicts for your relationships (it's not what you'd guess)

The difference between suppressing a feeling and simply choosing when to say it

A 3-step script for naming what's bothering you without picking a fight

Why setting a boundary and staying in a relationship are not opposites

Resources mentioned in this episode:

JoAnn's previous episode on what her former friendships taught her: Why Mom Friendships Feel So One-Sided

The Body Keeps the Score

The Happy Mom Reset, JoAnn's free class

Ready to figure out where your guilt and people pleasing are running the show in your home? Join the free Happy Mom Reset class.
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Ever snap at your kid and then wonder where that even came from? Dr. Cassidy Freitas, licensed marriage and family therapist and author of Mom Needs a Moment, joins JoAnn to break down what's actually happening in your nervous system in the seconds before you react.

In this episode, you'll learn:

How to catch a "ping," the body, thought, feeling, and behavior signals that show up right before you react

Why calm can actually feel unsafe to your nervous system, and what to do about it

How the "little t" traumas from your own childhood are still shaping your triggers today

A simple phrase to use with your kids that creates space without shutting them out

Why protecting your margin, not optimizing every moment, is what actually calms your nervous system

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Dr. Cassidy Freitas's website

Mom Needs a Moment by Dr. Cassidy Freitas

Dr. Cassidy on Instagram

The Happy Mom Reset, a free class

Ready to stop reacting and start responding? Sign up for The Happy Mom Reset, a free class, and get started today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New here? Start with our Start Here playlist — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

Do you feel a flash of guilt when you're running late, or a flash of irritation when someone else is? Alex Snider, author of Sometimes You Should Be Late: The Quiet Rebellion of Slowing Down, joins the show to unpack why that reaction has almost nothing to do with the minutes on the clock. This conversation cracked something open for JoAnn mid interview, and it might do the same for you.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why your reaction to lateness, yours or someone else's, is rarely about the actual minutes

What "emotional punctuality" means and how it can change the way you measure a good day

The kindness buffer, a simple way to build space into your day so you show up present instead of rushed

Why the thing you didn't cross off your list might have been the most values aligned choice you made all day

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sometimes You Should Be Late by Alex Snider, available now

Take Alex's Late Style Quiz

Book club guide and bonus content for Sometimes You Should Be Late

Alex's Substack, Slow Mindfulness

The No Guilt Mom Inner Circle

Loved this one? Our Inner Circle book club is picking up Sometimes You Should Be Late next. Come join us.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New here? Start with our Start Here playlist — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

You set a boundary at work, and by dinner time you're doing your coworker's project anyway. In this episode, Courtney Cecil, founder of Working Moms Movement and former Fortune 50 culture leader, breaks down why rigid nine to five boundaries backfire and what to do instead when your job keeps rolling downhill into your home life.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why "enough" is never defined for moms, and how that keeps you stuck in overwhelm

Why squishy, flexible boundaries protect you better than rigid ones, and what that actually looks like

The exact question to ask your boss before you say yes to a new project

How to tell when you're absorbing your team's work instead of managing it

Why naming your boundary out loud is the only way anyone will ever respect it

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Courtney Cecil, Working Moms Movement

Follow Courtney on Instagram

Register for the Mom's Setting Boundaries Summit

Courtney is speaking at the Mom's Setting Boundaries Summit. Register free to save your seat.
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