This year is my first year as a mum and my first Mother’s Day!

Whilst being a mum is the most rewarding job in the world it is also incredibly challenging. 

Like most small business owners who are pregnant, I thought I would be able to bounce back after having a baby and have time to work on the business. Unfortunately several things went wrong during the birth of my daughter and I'm so incredibly blessed to have a healthy baby girl but my recovery was a very long and hard one.  I found it difficult to even sit down for the first few months and it took me about 6 months to be pain free.  I was also in and out of hospital a few times after my daughter was born so it wasn’t an easy journey.

But I was very lucky to have the support of my husband and my family which I’m so incredibly grateful for.  Also what really helped me was speaking to other mums and hearing their stories and their journey’s.

That’s why in the lead up to Mother’s Day I wanted to interview some amazing Brisbane based Mumma’s who are also small business owners to share their stories and advice for other new mums.  I hope other mum’s reading this know whatever your journey is you are doing amazing and you are not alone ❤️

Sam Hill and Grace Teale are the two beautiful and inspiring Mumma’s behind Empowered Women Collective.  They started Empowered Women Collective to bring like-minded women together to empower and uplift the community by sharing their skills and knowledge of yoga, meditation, mindset and the power of manifestation.  They run workshops in Brisbane each month to help women grow, heal and thrive.  I’ve had the pleasure of attending a few workshops myself and they have brought together such a beautiful community of women who are so incredibly supportive.  Sam is a new mum to Isla who is nearly 11 months old and Grace is Mumma to three beautiful girls whom are 17, 9 and 7.

Tell us a bit about the amazing work you both do at Empowered Women and how it started? 

Sam:  We've always had a friendship filled with authenticity, love and support and we understand that not every woman has this in their life so we wanted to create a safe and uplifting space where women could find the same genuine connections and thrive together. We started Empowered Women Collective in October 2019 and it's since flourished into a beautiful community of amazing women and fully embodies everything we had envisioned ~ authenticity, growth, healing, support and love! We couldn't be more grateful! We run workshops in Brisbane and collaborate with the incredible women in our community to share their knowledge, skills and gifts to help women grow, heal, and thrive!

Tell us a bit about your motherhood journey?

Sam: Life changing! Right from birth. Birthing my little goddess was the most empowering thing I've ever experienced, I came out of it a completely different woman. All the bs was stripped away and so many switches immediately flicked for me. For the first time in my life everything had been put in to perspective, like what truly mattered and what didn't. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders, I no longer cared for the opinions of others, what people thought of me or for any other tedious little unimportant things, all that mattered was this tiny little human in front of me and as long as I was living authentically and being a good role model for her I felt on the right path.

Every day I'm getting to know Isla more while simultaneously feeling like I've known her forever. I also feel like I'm getting to know myself more and more every day and I've learned to go with the flow and be more accepting of myself as well. Isla's giving me a strong feeling of purpose, purpose I didn't realise I was missing before she joined us earth side. 

This journeys been beautiful, empowering, rewarding, challenging and one of the hardest things I've ever done all in one. It's an absolute blessing and I'm incredibly grateful to be Isla's Mum. 

Grace:My mother hood journey started very early on! I always say I was just a baby having a baby! Motherhood is one of those things you think you can prepare yourself for- and in a way you can read books, lean on the advice of others that have come before you.... but when you actually come into it, there's no amount of preparation that 100% covers you 😆 its one of those 'learn on the job' type of situations. However, I consider myself very blessed! I have always had the support of my amazing husband and my wonderful family ❤️ years later my husband and I decided to expand our family of three into a family of five (six if you include the dog!) I won't say it gets easier.... new challenges arise, but you are a little wiser and after a while you find your own unique style of parenting.

What self care tips do you both have for new mums?

Grace: Take time for yourself. This can be very difficult particularly as a first time parent. There's a lot of fear, a lot of worry, a lot of anxiety and a lot of guilt!! But a relaxed mama is a happy mama and children (even babies) feel into that! This is something I only learnt after my third daughter and as a result I started practising yoga to fill my cup and now it is my entire career. Mamas, do whatever lights your fire and fills your cup, because your babies also benefit 🙏🏽

Sam: My self care tip would be to just surrender, be open and go with the flow. That was huge for me, surrendering, letting go of expectations I had on myself and being kind to myself. I think this is so important. Also eating good food and staying hydrated, this has a massive impact on our physical and mental health and as a new Mum, keeping a healthy mind is crucial. 

What was the one thing you couldn't live without as a new Mum?

Grace: My mum! She has been an incredible source of comfort, wisdom, support and knowledge. If it weren't for my mum I wouldn't have three kids! In Eastern communities extended family are the childcare, the baby sitters, the tutors, the cooks, the neighbours (extended families often lived close by) and this is where the saying 'it takes a village' comes from! 

Sam: My baby carrier! Seriously, what a life saver 😆 I don't know what I would have done without it. Isla had terrible silent reflux for almost 10 months and a lot of the time, the only way I could help her sleep was by walking around with her in my pouch ha ha. 

The phrase 'It's takes a village' is something I agree with 100% after becoming a mum.  I've spoken to a lot of new mums that didn't have any support as COVID prevented their families from coming to see them.  Do you have any tips or support groups you used when you were a new mum that you could recommend to other mums?

Sam: I 100% agree with 'it takes a village' as well. I'm super independent and tend not to ask for help which can be at my detriment sometimes but I am lucky enough to have both my Mum, sister and my Mother in law close and happy to help if I need it. I also have several amazing friends who have recently had babies or have small kids so I could chat to them and ask them questions so I'm super grateful for that too. If you don't have a support network there are some amazing little local Facebook groups to connect with like minded Mummas. 

Grace: In our western culture its not often we have that privilege. We have so many pressures from modern society to be all the things, the expectations are so high, its no wonder mothers are burnt out!!! I say seek your tribe! Find a group of like minded women and go where you and your little ones are celebrated! And if you can't find your tribe, then build it 🙏🏽 there are so many platforms you can choose from. Facebook, Meet Up and Eventbrite just to name a few ❤️

Thank you so much Grace and Sam for such amazing advice ❤️

Please check out the @empoweredwomen_co on Instagram and if you are based in Brisbane please check out their upcoming workshops on their website- https://alignwithsam.com/shop/zg8pnxj0uiie0khiupun4mx89rxmfp

Their events are always so much fun and such a great way to meet some incredible like-minded women! I can’t wait to go to another workshop very soon ✨

Teshani xx