Stephanie’s Story 💌

Mother’s Day is next week, and we can’t think of a better way than featuring a mom who is juggling multiple roles and balancing multiple priorities, every day.

Our founder Aash had a heart-to-heart chat with Stephanie, a recently divorced, working mom of 2 young kids from Florida, USA.

They spoke about the challenges and experiences of being a single parent, and Stephanie’s way of reaching into her inner strength to get through it all.

Aash: Stephanie, thank you so much for talking to us. We know that you have a lot going on right now, and we appreciate you taking the time out for this.

Tell us what your life was like pre-motherhood. How did things change for you when you became a mom?

Stephanie: To be honest, it’s hard for me to talk about myself without thinking of my ex-husband. We’ve known each other since high school.

I love to travel. We went to a lot of places before having kids.

I worked longer too. I’ve been working in finance since 2011.

I think I carried a lot of the mental load even before becoming a mom. So after I had the kids it only went up.

It’s hard to travel on an airplane with 2 young kids, but we make trips within Florida. Rachel and I are planning to go camping with the kids.

But I think for them, it’s about the small moments. Even walking down the street can be fun if I make it so.

Aash: That’s so true. What really matters is the little bits of time for the little bits of joy.

I remember going from a successful working woman to a struggling working mom. I kept thinking, how is it that I can solve anything at work, and now I’m wearing just one more hat but everything is in the air!

How do you balance working full time with being a single mom to 2 kids?

Stephanie: I am a financial analyst, and I work 5 days a week, 8.30 to 5. I really only have time to work, when I am at work. I know that I could do more, but then I also have to leave at 5 to pick up the kids.

I only get the kids half the time now, so I want to make the most of my time with them.

When they are with me I do all their stuff, especially on weekends, like the soccer games, the dance classes, play dates.

When they’re not with me I do the ‘non-kids’ stuff, like cleaning the house, some financial planning, going to the gym, or hanging out with friends.

I’ve been a financial analyst for 6 years now. So I try to make the most of my time at work. I network with the people I speak to as part of my job, and try to learn a new tool or upskill myself.

As much as I’d like to, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and think about what I really want to do with my life.

Maybe now that the divorce is finalized I might have more time to make a career plan.

Aash: What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a single mother?

Stephanie: Keeping up with everything has been really hard.

The job, the kids, the divorce process, reorganizing my finances. All of this is a lot.

As a single mother, I have an endless amount of things to do. That’s why using the app makes me so happy. I love that the tasks that don’t get done on that day get moved to the next day.

And if it still doesn’t get done, I just move it to the Brain Dump.

Putting all my tasks into the app helps me focus on what I have to do right now, rather than getting overwhelmed by my current situation and going into a downward spiral.

When I check my tasks off, I feel a sense of accomplishment. I would do all this work even without the app, but then I’d feel that I didn’t get anything done, which is not true.

With MAMMA-MIYA every task, even if it’s getting the dishes out, or making coffee, is counted.

It’s really changed my life in terms of acknowledging all that I’m doing, and for being there for my kids.

My favorite part is doing the Gratitude Journal at the end of the day, where I write one small thing I’m grateful for.

When life is a hurricane, MAMMA-MIYA makes me feel like the constant in the chaos.

Aash: I’m so, so happy to hear that. As founders, there’s nothing more fulfilling than hearing moms talk about how the app has changed their lives.

I feel that self-care is as important as being productive. As moms, we’ll always have things to do. Each stage will have its own challenges, its own little hurricanes. And you’ll need to hold yourself, and be centered through all of it, because no one is going to do that for you.

Are you using the app to take care of yourself too? Deep breathing, the gratitude journal, the self-care section?

Stephanie: Yes that’s so right! One of the things I realized when I was married was that I needed to take some time out for myself. I couldn’t just keep giving.

I’m going on a trip to Oregon by myself in 3 weeks. I’ve never been on a trip alone before.

I used to love planning travel, but after kids I’ve had zero time for it.

So now when I’m putting all my tasks into the app, I tell myself that I don’t need to do all of them at one go. I don’t need to book the rental car for my trip right now. But it’s still on my mind, so I should write it down.

Aash: What would you say to other moms who are struggling to manage everything?

Stephanie: As a mom, the day to day itself can be overwhelming.

These 2 things have really helped me:

1. Mindfulness exercises

Even if I do it for 5 or 10 minutes a day, a mindfulness exercise is so powerful. It calms me down when all my thoughts rush in and threaten to overflow. I also do them with the kids.

My daughter’s therapist taught her the 5-finger breathing technique.

The other exercise is a grounding exercise called 5-4-3-2-1. You name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can feel, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste.

I love how the app randomly asks me to breathe deeply when I open it during the day. If I feel like I need it, I take a minute and do it.

2. Try to find the happy in every situation

When we moved out of the house in October, things were so bad. Kids don’t know about adult problems, and I was able to tell them to take the happy things about the house with us.

And that’s how they ended up dancing around the house as we left.

It’s okay to be sad about something and to show the kids that, but it’s also important to show them joy in life.

Stephanie’s Story 💌

Mother’s Day is next week, and we can’t think of a better way than featuring a mom who is juggling multiple roles and balancing multiple priorities, every day.

Our founder Aash had a heart-to-heart chat with Stephanie, a recently divorced, working mom of 2 young kids from Florida, USA.

They spoke about the challenges and experiences of being a single parent, and Stephanie’s way of reaching into her inner strength to get through it all.

Aash: Stephanie, thank you so much for talking to us. We know that you have a lot going on right now, and we appreciate you taking the time out for this.

Tell us what your life was like pre-motherhood. How did things change for you when you became a mom?

Stephanie: To be honest, it’s hard for me to talk about myself without thinking of my ex-husband. We’ve known each other since high school.

I love to travel. We went to a lot of places before having kids.

I worked longer too. I’ve been working in finance since 2011.

It’s hard to travel on an airplane with 2 young kids, but we make trips within Florida. Rachel and I are planning to go camping with the kids.

But I think for them, it’s about the small moments. Even walking down the street can be fun if I make it so.

Aash: That’s so true. What really matters is the little bits of time for the little bits of joy.

I remember going from a successful working woman to a struggling working mom. I kept thinking, how is it that I can solve anything at work, and now I’m wearing just one more hat but everything is in the air!

How do you balance working full time with being a single mom to 2 kids?

Stephanie: I am a financial analyst, and I work 5 days a week, 8.30 to 5. I really only have time to work, when I am at work. I know that I could do more, but then I also have to leave at 5 to pick up the kids.

I only get the kids half the time now, so I want to make the most of my time with them.

When they are with me I do all their stuff, especially on weekends, like the soccer games, the dance classes, play dates.

When they’re not with me I do the ‘non-kids’ stuff, like cleaning the house, some financial planning, going to the gym, or hanging out with friends.

I’ve been a financial analyst for 6 years now. So I try to make the most of my time at work. I network with the people I speak to as part of my job, and try to learn a new tool or upskill myself.

As much as I’d like to, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and think about what I really want to do with my life.

Maybe now that the divorce is finalized I might have more time to make a career plan.

Aash: What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a single mother?

Stephanie: Keeping up with everything has been really hard.

The job, the kids, the divorce process, reorganizing my finances. All of this is a lot.

And if it still doesn’t get done, I just move it to the Brain Dump.

Putting all my tasks into the app helps me focus on what I have to do right now, rather than getting overwhelmed by my current situation and going into a downward spiral.

With MAMMA-MIYA every task, even if it’s getting the dishes out, or making coffee, is counted.

It’s really changed my life in terms of acknowledging all that I’m doing, and for being there for my kids.

My favorite part is doing the Gratitude Journal at the end of the day, where I write one small thing I’m grateful for.

Aash: I’m so, so happy to hear that. As founders, there’s nothing more fulfilling than hearing moms talk about how the app has changed their lives.

I feel that self-care is as important as being productive. As moms, we’ll always have things to do. Each stage will have its own challenges, its own little hurricanes. And you’ll need to hold yourself, and be centered through all of it, because no one is going to do that for you.

Are you using the app to take care of yourself too? Deep breathing, the gratitude journal, the self-care section?

Stephanie: Yes that’s so right! One of the things I realized when I was married was that I needed to take some time out for myself. I couldn’t just keep giving.

I’m going on a trip to Oregon by myself in 3 weeks. I’ve never been on a trip alone before.

I used to love planning travel, but after kids I’ve had zero time for it.

Aash: What would you say to other moms who are struggling to manage everything?

Stephanie: As a mom, the day to day itself can be overwhelming.

These 2 things have really helped me:

1. Mindfulness exercises

Even if I do it for 5 or 10 minutes a day, a mindfulness exercise is so powerful. It calms me down when all my thoughts rush in and threaten to overflow. I also do them with the kids.

My daughter’s therapist taught her the 5-finger breathing technique.

The other exercise is a grounding exercise called 5-4-3-2-1. You name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can feel, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste.

2. Try to find the happy in every situation

When we moved out of the house in October, things were so bad. Kids don’t know about adult problems, and I was able to tell them to take the happy things about the house with us.

And that’s how they ended up dancing around the house as we left.

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