Hi, friends. Courtney here The Renaissance Mama. All right, so it's my birthday and I did something. You got it. I started a podcast. I have to admit, birthdays normally don't really bother me. At the end of the day, a number is just a number. You feel whatever you feel. I don't really care that much about age, but I gotta tell you, there's something about this birthday that was like a slap in the face. All right, I'm just going to say it because even though we haven't met yet, I feel like we're going to be friends. I turned 39. Okay, not a big deal, right? But I think the fact that I'm that close to a really big birthday is what hit me and hard.
But instead of going down the rabbit hole and getting all depressed about something that you have absolutely no control over. I am using this birthday as inspiration. I'm sure like a lot of you, I went into 2020 just ready to rock it. I was so excited for a new decade. I was ready to make huge changes in my life, in the world and everything. And then, of course, the world had different plans for all of us. I spent the rest of 2020 really just surviving, getting by, doing what I had to do. Then 2021 came and I was ready to once again make some changes, but I had to work on myself first. If you know me at all that seems a little strange because it doesn't sound like anything I would be into, but that's really what I did. I took 2021 as a year of just really working on myself, creating some of these amazing projects, which I will share a little bit later. I discovered who I wasand had all these incredible experiences. I also took that time to really just take stock in what I have and what I want for myself and for my family.
I think that's why this 39th birthday is hitting me a little bit hard is after I took stock of all the things that I am incredibly grateful. Like, there are things in my life that I don't even think I could have imagined having as a kid, because I just didn't believe it existed, or I didn't believe I deserved it, or I didn't believe it was something that ever was going to happen to me. I have them and I love them and I'm so super grateful, but I hit the end of 2021, taking that stock, doing that inventory of my life. I turned 39 and I was like, “wait a second, am I going to be where I want to be by 40?” Because as much as I want to say, 40 is just a number and it doesn't matter, it is a milestone. There was always a vision in my head of what I thought 40 would be the kind of person I would be, the things I would be doing. I am so close in so many aspects, which I once again am super grateful for. Is there some way to push that one little piece over so I feel 100% confidentand amazing and successful in my own self and person of who I am when I turn the big four – O. I believe I can do it. So that's what I did. I took 39 as an inspiration, and this is what I'm doing.
I am taking this year to do some of the things that I just haven't done yet that I want to. I'm going to check off boxes. I'm going to get stuff done, and this podcast is going to be amazing. It's going to be special guests. It's going to be what you want, because I want this to be a conversation back and forth. I meant I'm going to do probably a lot of the talking, but I want it to be what you want, because at the end of the day, that is what matters. I want to have your back. I want to connect with you Mamas on some real levels and hope that you walk away, like being a little more inspired by the day. I just recently really fell in love with podcasts, and why I love them so much is that you can enjoy a podcast while doing other things. Things like doing the dishes or driving a longer distance or anything, can just make life a little bit more entertaining because you got a podcast in your ears. And I also don't have to hear my children fight back and forth. I am hoping to bring you some inspiration and give you little AHA moments in your day.
Hopefully that is the kind of podcast you're looking for. Okay, so what this podcast is not going to be. It's probably not going to be too long, because let's be honest, we don't get all the time in the world. We are busy, busy Mamas. As much as I love a good in depth podcast. Sometimes I just don't have time for it. This is not going to be a super long podcast. What else is it not going to be? It's probably not going to be super intense. I'm pretty easygoing. And I just don't know. I don't know if I see that happening here. I mean, we're going to talk about subjects that hit home because I think those sometimes are the subjects that we do really need to talk about, especially moms and especially moms who are busy building businesses or making changes or doing all the things that we do. My kid is here, so they call me right now. That's what this podcast is going to be about. It's going to be about me hiding from my children, trying to record a podcast.
The other thing I did for myself inspired by my birthday, and this one is huge for me, is I took a huge risk and I spent a whole lot of money on a course for myself. I believe what that means is I'm betting it all on me. That line comes from one of my favorite musicals right now. The line is from an older man, and he says, you got to bet it all on yourself at least one time. How true is that? Like, as a mom, I'm always the lowest on the totem pole. That's the reality of life for me. If it was my kids 100%, I would put all my money, all my time, all my effort, and betted on them time after time after time. But when it comes to you or something you really want to do or a vision of yourself that you want to create, how many times do you bet on you? And that's so sad, because that's what we should be doing. We should be betting on ourselves. We should be showing our kids like, hey, we got this. We can do this and teach them the same thing that they need to bet on themselves, because that's what you need to do. You can't control so many things, but you can control you. You can control how you react. That is how my 39th birthday has totally inspired me to do this amazing, incredible thing. And I'm so excited to share it with all of you. I'm so excited to see what happens next. Now, don't get me wrong. When I was actually putting my credit card into my computer to pay for this course, I was almost sick to my stomach. You're probably going to learn that I am not the person who spends the most money. In fact, my husband makes fun of me all of the time for being incredibly cheap. But listen, I come by it honestly. My grandfather, who is no longer with us, was an amazing man, and he loved deals like nobody else. He was the original flyer master and circled things. He would go from store to store finding these amazing deals, really probably spending more money on time or gas or anything like that. But he would find a deal. We actually now use his name as a verb when we're trying to find a deal because that's how good he was at it. I have been grown up always looking for that deal, always being pretty thrifty with my money. For years of being home with the kids while building a business and doing all these things, I never took the time to spend money on things that didn't make sense to me because that just wasn't who I am. For me to take this risk, put my money where my mouth is, put it on me, was incredible. But I knew it was the right decision because after I did it, after that nauseous feeling passed me by, I felt good. I felt better than good. I felt so excited and so at peace and so just energy bursting through everything because it was a decision I was supposed to make, and I believe that. And I know it's going to come and create incredible, incredible things, but, yeah, sometimes let that thing that kind of scares whatever out of you be the thing to get you going.
You're probably thinking, why the Renaissance Mama? What do I mean when I say the Renaissance Mama? Okay, I got to tell you, I just think being a mom, you've hit so many seasons of your life as your kids grow and things happen, you become that version of yourself. Every time they grow, you learn a little bit and you change and you grow and you morph and you camouflage into this new version of you may be at the time. I'll give you an example. I swore up and down that I would never let my kids play hockey. This was before I even had kids. I had a nephew who was in competitive hockey and my now husband, we would go and watch him and we would cheer and we would yell and we didn't even know what we were yelling for. But you get really excited in those games. We would cheer and go nuts. And it was amazing. But we always said, this is not the life for us. No, our kids will never play hockey. Even if we have kids, they're not playing hockey. That's not what we see. That's not how we envision our lives. Well, when my now twelve-year-old, but probably eight- or nine-year-old at the time begged me to try hockey, I caved. I did. He joined hockey. Not only did he join hockey, but he loved it so much that he worked incredibly hard to join another team the next year. He met amazing friends. And we met amazing friends all because of hockey. Well, now I've got three boys in competitive hockey. That's right. I pretty much live at the arena now, but I have taken on the role of hockey mom. Yes, you know the one that's mean I'm wearing a hockey mom too with my hockey mom mitts. I got my team Jersey on my hockey sweet legs my Bell that I'm cheering and ringing with. I've got my hockey blanket I even have a seat that goes onto the bench seats to make them comfier because I'm at the arena that much. Yes, I am a hockey mom but that's for now.
I am that Renaissance Mama and I know so many of us are, whether it's because of our work or our kids or our friends or our relationships or whatever we're into, we're able to change and morph and become that version of ourselves. So right now, I'm that hockey Mama and I'm proud to be that hockey Mama. I don't know what I'm going to do next. I'm excited to be what I'm going to do next. I have no idea that that is my vision of the Renaissance Mamma and I am hoping so many of you out there can connect to that and can see yourself. I would actually love to hear that. I would love to hear what's your version right now? What kind of Mama are you right now? Oh, yeah. I'm going to tell you this podcast I mentioned before. It's good conversation. I want it to be interactive. I want you to shout out and let me know things.
Hop onto our Facebook group after you listen to this and let me know what kind of Mama are you right now? And even better if you're a kind of Mama who you thought you'd never be share that because I want to hear it. Okay, my friends I think that's it done. Mic drop first episode is finished. I hope I see you again because this was pretty awesome. Bye for now.
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