web01.fireside.fm Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:35:18 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Fighting For Joy - Episodes Tagged with “Motherhood” https://fightingforjoypodcast.fireside.fm/tags/motherhood Fri, 12 May 2023 18:00:00 -0500 Life in this broken world is hard, but there is joy and hope to be found. en-us episodic A conversational podcast on hope in a broken world. Jodi Blick Life in this broken world is hard, but there is joy and hope to be found. no Grief, loss, joy, faith, hope Jodi Blick Fightingforjoypodcast@gmail.com Episode 63: Fighting for Joy through the “Both/And” of Mother’s Day: Five Practical Ways to Approach the Day https://fightingforjoypodcast.fireside.fm/63 5907abd2-13c4-45ca-88bc-428a4ce527d0 Fri, 12 May 2023 18:00:00 -0500 Jodi Blick full 5 Jodi Blick 33:32 no The question I’ve been hearing a lot this week has been, “What are you doing for Mother’s Day?” For many of us, in fact probably most of us, Mother’s Day is a “both/and” day that holds a wide range of emotions. Celebration AND tears. Joy AND sadness. It’s definitely become another conflicting day for me in grief. My son Jackson, the one who made me a mom 26 years ago, has been in heaven now for almost 10 years - so this is my 9th Mother’s Day without him. AND/ALSO, I have 3 amazing kids and a wonderful son-in-law who ARE still here and who want to celebrate. This will also be my 3rd Mother’s Day without my own mom. So yes, on Mother’s Day, I grieve Jackson, and my mom, and can feel pretty tender…AND, at the same time, my heart is so happy that I still have Justine, Will, Turner, and Grace here and rejoice in the privilege of being their mom. Both/and. On this episode I want to share 5 practical ways to approach the “both/and” of Mother’s Day. These are tools that I personally implement and I can give testimony that they'll help you fight for joy (and hopefully find it!) this weekend. grief journey, Mother's Day, motherhood, child loss, miscarriage, adoption, foster care, abortion, prodigal, adult children, fighting for joy, faith, hope, God's love, service, community, friendship, hope in grief, parenting, death of a loved one, both/and, gratitude, church, courage, death, cancer, Bible, Zephaniah, Romans, 1 John The question I’ve been hearing a lot this week has been, “What are you doing for Mother’s Day?” For many of us, in fact probably most of us, Mother’s Day is a “both/and” day that holds a wide range of emotions. Celebration AND tears. Joy AND sadness.

It’s definitely become another conflicting day for me in grief. My son Jackson, the one who made me a mom 26 years ago, has been in heaven now for almost 10 years - so this is my 9th Mother’s Day without him. AND/ALSO, I have 3 amazing kids and a wonderful son-in-law who ARE still here and who want to celebrate.

This will also be my 3rd Mother’s Day without my own mom. So yes, on Mother’s Day, I grieve Jackson, and my mom, and can feel pretty tender…AND, at the same time, my heart is so happy that I still have Justine, Will, Turner, and Grace here and rejoice in the privilege of being their mom. Both/and.

On this episode I want to share 5 practical ways to approach the “both/and” of Mother’s Day. These are tools that I personally implement and I can give testimony that they'll help you fight for joy (and hopefully find it!) this weekend.

]]> The question I’ve been hearing a lot this week has been, “What are you doing for Mother’s Day?” For many of us, in fact probably most of us, Mother’s Day is a “both/and” day that holds a wide range of emotions. Celebration AND tears. Joy AND sadness.

It’s definitely become another conflicting day for me in grief. My son Jackson, the one who made me a mom 26 years ago, has been in heaven now for almost 10 years - so this is my 9th Mother’s Day without him. AND/ALSO, I have 3 amazing kids and a wonderful son-in-law who ARE still here and who want to celebrate.

This will also be my 3rd Mother’s Day without my own mom. So yes, on Mother’s Day, I grieve Jackson, and my mom, and can feel pretty tender…AND, at the same time, my heart is so happy that I still have Justine, Will, Turner, and Grace here and rejoice in the privilege of being their mom. Both/and.

On this episode I want to share 5 practical ways to approach the “both/and” of Mother’s Day. These are tools that I personally implement and I can give testimony that they'll help you fight for joy (and hopefully find it!) this weekend.

]]> Episode 60: Fighting for Joy in Postpartum https://fightingforjoypodcast.fireside.fm/60 f688d930-913d-4a8a-b762-07d6b42fecbd Tue, 21 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -0600 Jodi Blick full 5 Jodi Blick 52:02 no Today’s episode is with Brooke Kyes, a local teacher and a new mom who said YES to coming on the podcast to have a vulnerable but very important conversation about her postpartum experience. I’ve known Brooke for many years because she and her husband Nathan were longtime, and very good friends of our son Jackson, who passed away almost 10 years ago in June of 2013. They did all kinds of things together growing up and when we went to watch Jackson compete or perform in sports, choir, or band, Brooke and Nathan were usually involved in it too - and our families have been intertwined for many years. It’s been special to watch Jackson’s friends fight for joy like Nathan and Brooke have this past year. I’m excited to share a little bit of their story today through my conversation with Brooke. You’ll hear early on in our conversation that I assumed we were going to be talking mostly about postpartum depression, but, although anxiety and depression CAN be linked in some ways, Brooke’s struggle since welcoming their sweet boy Oakley into the world has been with postpartum anxiety. I learned a lot by listening to her share and realized there are nuances to what women can experience in postpartum. Motherhood is such a steep learning curve and it's no surprise that becoming a new mom would lend itself to either, or both, depression and anxiety! But for Brooke, her natural wiring and history of anxiety led to panic attacks and a darker time of wondering if she could do this "motherhood thing" right and if she would ever be “herself” again. I’m thankful for her openness and I could tell as soon as we got started chatting that this would be an important conversation to get out to all of you. Also, I was planning on releasing this episode in another month or so, but with all of the feedback we are continuing to get from the two perfectionism episodes that Eric and I did a few weeks back, I thought that it would be good to release this one next as there CAN oftentimes be a link between perfectionism and anxiety. I also love that this will follow my episode with Liz Gnagy, another young mom fighting for joy! Similar to that episode, I think ALL of you will find some takeaways in this episode, no matter what season of life you are in. Anxiety affects people of all ages and in all seasons of life. And, the important themes that Brooke and I discuss at the end of our time together are applicable to ALL difficulties in life and are great tools in the fight for joy that I want to keep hitting on in each episode. So I’m glad you are tuning in and would love to hear your thoughts after you listen. postpartum, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, pregnancy, anxiety, depression, motherhood, fighting for joy, new mom, young mom, parenting, christianity, faith, grief, child loss, faith, Nebraska mom, perfectionism Today’s episode is with Brooke Kyes, a local teacher and a new mom who said YES to coming on the podcast to have a vulnerable but very important conversation about her postpartum experience. I’ve known Brooke for many years because she and her husband Nathan were longtime, and very good friends of our son Jackson, who passed away almost 10 years ago in June of 2013. They did all kinds of things together growing up and when we went to watch Jackson compete or perform in sports, choir, or band, Brooke and Nathan were usually involved in it too - and our families have been intertwined for many years. It’s been special to watch Jackson’s friends fight for joy like Nathan and Brooke have this past year. I’m excited to share a little bit of their story today through my conversation with Brooke.

You’ll hear early on in our conversation that I assumed we were going to be talking mostly about postpartum depression, but, although anxiety and depression CAN be linked in some ways, Brooke’s struggle since welcoming their sweet boy Oakley into the world has been with postpartum anxiety. I learned a lot by listening to her share and realized there are nuances to what women can experience in postpartum. Motherhood is such a steep learning curve and it's no surprise that becoming a new mom would lend itself to either, or both, depression and anxiety! But for Brooke, her natural wiring and history of anxiety led to panic attacks and a darker time of wondering if she could do this "motherhood thing" right and if she would ever be “herself” again. I’m thankful for her openness and I could tell as soon as we got started chatting that this would be an important conversation to get out to all of you.

Also, I was planning on releasing this episode in another month or so, but with all of the feedback we are continuing to get from the two perfectionism episodes that Eric and I did a few weeks back, I thought that it would be good to release this one next as there CAN oftentimes be a link between perfectionism and anxiety. I also love that this will follow my episode with Liz Gnagy, another young mom fighting for joy! Similar to that episode, I think ALL of you will find some takeaways in this episode, no matter what season of life you are in. Anxiety affects people of all ages and in all seasons of life. And, the important themes that Brooke and I discuss at the end of our time together are applicable to ALL difficulties in life and are great tools in the fight for joy that I want to keep hitting on in each episode. So I’m glad you are tuning in and would love to hear your thoughts after you listen.

]]> Today’s episode is with Brooke Kyes, a local teacher and a new mom who said YES to coming on the podcast to have a vulnerable but very important conversation about her postpartum experience. I’ve known Brooke for many years because she and her husband Nathan were longtime, and very good friends of our son Jackson, who passed away almost 10 years ago in June of 2013. They did all kinds of things together growing up and when we went to watch Jackson compete or perform in sports, choir, or band, Brooke and Nathan were usually involved in it too - and our families have been intertwined for many years. It’s been special to watch Jackson’s friends fight for joy like Nathan and Brooke have this past year. I’m excited to share a little bit of their story today through my conversation with Brooke.

You’ll hear early on in our conversation that I assumed we were going to be talking mostly about postpartum depression, but, although anxiety and depression CAN be linked in some ways, Brooke’s struggle since welcoming their sweet boy Oakley into the world has been with postpartum anxiety. I learned a lot by listening to her share and realized there are nuances to what women can experience in postpartum. Motherhood is such a steep learning curve and it's no surprise that becoming a new mom would lend itself to either, or both, depression and anxiety! But for Brooke, her natural wiring and history of anxiety led to panic attacks and a darker time of wondering if she could do this "motherhood thing" right and if she would ever be “herself” again. I’m thankful for her openness and I could tell as soon as we got started chatting that this would be an important conversation to get out to all of you.

Also, I was planning on releasing this episode in another month or so, but with all of the feedback we are continuing to get from the two perfectionism episodes that Eric and I did a few weeks back, I thought that it would be good to release this one next as there CAN oftentimes be a link between perfectionism and anxiety. I also love that this will follow my episode with Liz Gnagy, another young mom fighting for joy! Similar to that episode, I think ALL of you will find some takeaways in this episode, no matter what season of life you are in. Anxiety affects people of all ages and in all seasons of life. And, the important themes that Brooke and I discuss at the end of our time together are applicable to ALL difficulties in life and are great tools in the fight for joy that I want to keep hitting on in each episode. So I’m glad you are tuning in and would love to hear your thoughts after you listen.

]]> Episode 59: Fighting for Joy in a Home Full of Little Ones https://fightingforjoypodcast.fireside.fm/59 4145b7a5-cb52-4e35-bf09-86268de5365a Tue, 07 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -0600 Jodi Blick full 5 Jodi Blick 50:40 no Liz Gnagy and I met when she was a college student and I was a young mom with a house full of little ones - I think our kids were 8, 7, 5, & 4, or something like that. Now, I'm an empty nester and SHE is the busy, young mom! I've loved staying connected with her over the years and admire the ways that she has grown in her faith and keeps fighting for joy. I know she will bring a perspective that many of you can relate to. With 5 little kids, Liz brings a lot to the table in regards to what can tend to steal joy and how to fight for joy in a full, active home like theirs. I appreciated all of the practical things that she shared and I’m sure you’ll have some takeaways. I'm so grateful that God brought Liz into my life all those years ago - and I'm excited to introduce her to you today! motherhood, parenting, fighting for joy, community, young moms, christianity, homeschooling, homeschool mom, friendship, Nebraska, hope, joy, faith, spiritual disciplines Liz Gnagy and I met when she was a college student and I was a young mom with a house full of little ones - I think our kids were 8, 7, 5, & 4, or something like that. Now, I'm an empty nester and SHE is the busy, young mom! I've loved staying connected with her over the years and admire the ways that she has grown in her faith and keeps fighting for joy. I know she will bring a perspective that many of you can relate to. With 5 little kids, Liz brings a lot to the table in regards to what can tend to steal joy and how to fight for joy in a full, active home like theirs. I appreciated all of the practical things that she shared and I’m sure you’ll have some takeaways. I'm so grateful that God brought Liz into my life all those years ago - and I'm excited to introduce her to you today!

]]> Liz Gnagy and I met when she was a college student and I was a young mom with a house full of little ones - I think our kids were 8, 7, 5, & 4, or something like that. Now, I'm an empty nester and SHE is the busy, young mom! I've loved staying connected with her over the years and admire the ways that she has grown in her faith and keeps fighting for joy. I know she will bring a perspective that many of you can relate to. With 5 little kids, Liz brings a lot to the table in regards to what can tend to steal joy and how to fight for joy in a full, active home like theirs. I appreciated all of the practical things that she shared and I’m sure you’ll have some takeaways. I'm so grateful that God brought Liz into my life all those years ago - and I'm excited to introduce her to you today!

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