So much happened!

So much has happened this month already. I was invited to be a guest on a podcast called Quiet Connections. We actually recorded the episode months ago, but it was finally released on August 24th. You can scroll all the way to the bottom to watch or listen to the episode.

I was also invited to speak at the Kassy’s Kause Maternal Mental Health Summit on August 21st, and it was a HUGE success! I’ll also have the recording of my presentation at the bottom of this article.

Quiet Connections

I wasn’t nervous about the podcast. That one was easy for me. Having a one-on-one conversation is something I could do all day, and I actually find it much more comfortable than talking to a whole room full of people.

The host made it incredibly easy too. She asked me questions that might be difficult for some people to answer, but that is kind of where I thrive. Saying the hard things is my superpower.

Quiet Connections focuses on bringing perinatal and postpartum complications into the light. They share real stories so other people can have information and awareness they may not have had otherwise, and I believe there is tremendous value in that. Sometimes hearing someone else’s story gives us language for something we didn’t know how to explain ourselves. Sometimes it simply makes us realize, I’m not the only one.

Then I Had to Get on a Stage...

The Maternal Mental Health Summit was a completely different story. 😂 I was SUPER nervous. Standing on that stage looking out at the audience, I swear my entire body was sweating uncontrollably.

I really wanted a good recording of my presentation, so I decided to record it with my phone and use my wireless microphone. I was determined not to forget anything, so I set everything up early. The microphone was plugged into my phone, the microphone itself was clipped onto my lapel, and all I had to do when I got onstage was turn it on.

Guess what I forgot to do?

TURN. ON. THE. MICROPHONE. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I was so busy getting my computer, iPad, slides, and everything else situated that I completely forgot. Which meant I walked away from the summit with a beautiful recording of my entire presentation... in complete silence.

I was so mad at myself! But it is what it is. I plan on having many more speaking gigs, so I’m considering this one of those lessons I apparently needed to learn the hard way. 😆

The message was still worth sharing, so I recorded a voiceover afterward. Does my voice perfectly line up with the video? Absolutely not. Are there a few awkward pauses because Voiceover Cat occasionally talked faster than Stage Cat? Yep. But that’s okay. The message is still valid.

The Maternal Mental Health Summit

The summit was hosted by Kassy’s Kause, founded by Sue Aguayo, an organization dedicated to bringing awareness and support to maternal mental health. There were speakers from clinics, hospitals, insurance companies, and other areas of maternal healthcare sharing information and resources I genuinely would not have known existed otherwise.

Several speakers also shared their own personal experiences, and something struck me as I listened to everyone. There was a similarity running through so many of our talks. It wasn’t only that we were speaking from experience. It was that we were willing to be vulnerable about those experiences.

Instead of vulnerability making the messages weaker, it made them more powerful. There were stories of pain, survival, resilience, healing, and hope told by people who had actually lived them. Those are the kinds of people I want to meet more of.

It also reminded me why I keep telling my own story. Not because my experience is the answer for somebody else, but because sometimes one person being willing to say the hard thing gives somebody else permission to say theirs.

Make It Sayable

My presentation was called Make It Sayable. I talked about pregnancy loss, postpartum depression, identity, partners, communication, and why telling someone to “speak up” is only half of the conversation.

Because we also have to become people they feel safe speaking to.

I talked about how to H.E.A.R. someone when they finally tell us the hard thing: Hear. Explore. Acknowledge. Respond. I also talked about something I call Generational Permission, what might happen if we begin creating families where difficult feelings and experiences are allowed to be spoken instead of hidden.

Because maybe we can give the next generation something different to inherit.

Make the hard things sayable now, so the next generation doesn’t have to learn silence first.

Below, you’ll find both my Quiet Connections podcast episode and the recording of my Make It Sayable presentation. And remember my little microphone disclaimer when you watch. 😂 The audio is a voiceover, so there will be places where my voice and the video don’t quite match, along with a few pauses where I had to wait for Stage Cat to catch up with Voiceover Cat.

Enjoy the podcast and the speech. More than anything, I hope something in them makes you think, makes you feel, or gives you language for something you’ve been wanting to say.

Thank you for being here. 🖤

(The links in the buttons will take you to more ways to listen and the videos will take you to YouTube.)