In this episode Angela Schwartz, writer, tutor and momma, joins Laura Greco on SuperPower Mommas in a lively and vulnerable discussion about learning self love through being a momma. Angela graduated from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has written for newspapers and trade publications. What she enjoys most is her creative writings and has been featured in literary journals and online magazines. Currently, while raising her son and tutoring 2 days a week, she is exploring the mandatory requirements that come with being a momma to include such topics of self care, forgiveness and kindness towards yourself. And then she shares these rich topics and more in her blog, Moms Coffee is Cold. You will fall in love with her delightful expressions that are honest and vulnerable and truly loving. So I encourage you to join us. We are so grateful to have you listen in.

Hello and welcome. You’re listening to SuperPower Mommas, and I’m Laura Greco, your host. I’m so excited because today we’re going to be talking about Learning Self-Love Through Motherhood. I have with me Angela Schwartz who is a mom, a writer, and an English tutor. 

After graduating from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Angela wrote for newspapers and trade publications, but creative writing is her passion and has been featured in literary genres and online magazines. Her two-year-old son keeps her very busy and also helps to keep her material fresh, where Angela writes about motherhood on her blogsite, which you’ve got to check out. It’s called mamascoffeeiscold.com. She most recently has been exploring the mandatory requirements that comes with motherhood. That includes self-care, forgiveness and kindness towards herself and others. I’m very excited to be speaking with you about Learning Self-Love Through Motherhood. Welcome to the show, Angela.

I think my superpower is being able to put meaning into everyday occurrences, and then being able to put them into words.

Hi. Thank you so much. It’s so awesome to be on your show Laura.

I’m really pleased that you’re here. I got to meet you through a mutual friend, I’ll just tell everyone, and really was delighted to have a conversation with you. I especially loved going through your blog site, and yeah, reading your clips in there about different things that go on while you’re navigating mom-hood. That’s really exciting. We’ll start off the show, of course, with our usual question, which is, what is your Super-momma Power? 

I thought a lot about this. I think my superpower is being able to put meaning into everyday occurrences, and then being able to put them into words. A lot of the times, I actually just wrote about this on my blog, a lot of the times, I’ll go to this forum with my son when I’m feeling completely overwhelmed or just not myself, just off. I find when I go there, I find that I’m able to come out of my mind a little bit because other things are happening still.

I can see like the cows need to be fed, other mothers are sitting there eating ice cream. There’s other things outside of my head going on there. It’s really helpful just to look around and be like, “Oh, Oh, that’s right. I don’t have to live there all the time. I can go and see other things and find peace in the very small things that are still going on.”

I know.

While I’m there, I get to pick up different things I’m looking at and just slow down. And then my creative mind starts to pick up other things that I can write about while I’m doing those other things.

That’s really beautiful.

Thanks.

Yeah, because I see this as, first of all, we’ve gotten so busy in life with so many things that we take in from the phones and the television, the internet, computer, right?

Yeah. 

All of this outside stimulation is so much more than centuries ago, and yet it’s going back to nature. Going back to the real things like, “Where do we get our food?” But then, you are taking it a step further because you’re not just viewing it, but you’re also assimilating it and creating an awareness for the rest of us. Love that.

Thank you. It’s amazing how much information that we all gather every single day, every hour. You just keep reading things and keep collecting things in your head, and I just, sometimes I need like a brain dump. Just leave it all somewhere and dump it onto the page. Just get rid of some of that extra information we all take in all this time.

Yeah. Yeah. How do you see the superpower that you have, this beautiful creative ability to not only see what you see, but also write about it? How does that help you, for example, as a mom of this little two-year-old, a busy little guy? Right? 

Oh yeah. Writing in particular helps me slow down. There are good days and there are bad days of writing, but if I keep up a habit, it helps a lot. It helps me remember who I am first. I’m a mother, like all the time, of course, but I have to remember who I am as a person. That helps me kind of remove myself a little bit and take the time I need to, I guess, to process what’s happened that week or that day. Yeah, and just to help me gather myself again, which in turn helps my son, because if I’m not me, he doesn’t get the good version of myself. It’s a good break to take for myself so I can help him too.

Yeah. I always say that moms taking space for herself is not a luxury. It’s actually a mandatory part of the work that you’re doing as a mother.

Oh, absolutely. 

I love that you also share this, taking that space., What I tell moms I work with and help them to come to appreciate that you’re really a person first, and then you wear hats. You’re a daughter, you’re a wife, you’re a mom, maybe… You’re tutoring also, right, and you write. All those things are a result of you being you. Right?

Yeah. 

So if that core is missing, if you’ve lost that awareness, you can’t really show up in any of your other jobs.

Absolutely.

I recently learned about this amazing thing, which is that you ask for help.

Right thing for you, so that’s beautiful, very beautiful. Let me ask you, now, you are working a bit as well as blogging and raising a two-year-old. How are you doing with your time or care? Like, how are you dealing with all that?

It’s tricky. I recently learned about this amazing thing, which is that you ask for help.

Good thinking.

It’s hard to do because I don’t like doing that. It means being vulnerable and admitting that I can’t do everything by myself, nor do I have to. I don’t have to control everything, and it helps my son too. I don’t need to be the sole face he sees every second. Yeah, it means asking my husband for this writing time. It means stepping away for a second, if only for a minute. Sometimes it even means leaning on like Dora and Daniel Tiger to help me out on the television for 10 minutes. Just sit for a second, or back away if I’m getting overwhelmed.

Time management has been something. I’m still learning, I’m a rookie in this game, but I’m definitely learning how to make sure time works for me instead of me running around and being nuts. 

All of that you do reveal in the blogs that you write, and I love them. Remember I was telling you before we got on the recording, you’re writing about real serious challenges, and yet you are able to also convey the “And.” The, “And we’re doing this, and…” there’s more to the story than just the challenge. And I love that. Tell everyone where they can find you, and then we’re going to take a quick break. 

Sure. My blog is called momscoffeeiscold.com. I have the same name on my Facebook page also.

So easy to find you. That is so great. We’ve been talking with Angela Schwartz on the topic of Learning Self-Love Through Motherhood. We’ll be right back. You’re listening to SuperPower Mommas.

To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.