Episode 8: Back to School, Not Back to Survival Mode

You don't have to control the chaos. You just have to hold your corner.

The kids got a fresh start. The school got a fresh start. Nobody handed one to you.

And every year, back-to-school season has a way of doing the same thing: the calendar fills up... and mom disappears.

In this episode, Emily names the September Slide — the way overwhelmed moms slowly lose their routines, health goals, quiet time, and connection to themselves when the school year gets loud.

But this year, we're doing it differently.

You do not have to control the whole storm. You just have to decide what part of your life the storm does not get to take.

Emily shares what this season actually looks like in her own home — competitive gymnastics, t-ball, homework, therapies, activities, business, school, health appointments, and everything in between — and why she's stopped waiting for a calm week to finally take care of herself.

Because there is no calm week coming to save us.

There is only the decision to keep one part of the season with your name on it.

In this episode:

→ Why the school-year routine often pushes moms back into survival mode
→ The “September Slide” — and why it is not a discipline problem
→ Why you cannot keep solving an overloaded system by deleting yourself from it
→ How to choose one school-year anchor that can survive a hard day
→ Why “if it only works on a good day, it’s not a corner — it’s a wish”
→ How to create a backup plan before the schedule gets chaotic
→ What it looks like to hold your corner without needing the whole day to go right

THIS WEEK’S PERMISSION SLIP:
You have permission to keep one corner of this season for yourself — and protect it like it matters. Because it does.

THE CHALLENGE:
Choose one school-year anchor that keeps you connected to yourself. Then choose its backup spot for the days when life inevitably interrupts it.

Your reminder:

This can move. It does not disappear.

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NEXT EPISODE:
Balance was never about everything being equal. Sometimes life tilts — next week, we're talking about how to stay grounded when it does.

#MomStrong #BackToSchool #MomBurnout #Motherhood #SelfCareForMoms #HealthyHabits

Transcript

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It's 6 47 in the morning, and you're standing in the kitchen holding somebody else's shoe. One kid can't find her folder, one kid is crying about socks, the lunchbox is open on the counter, empty. There's a form due today that you found out about last night. Somebody else needs a water bottle, somebody needs a snack, somebody suddenly remembers they were supposed to bring something to school that they have not mentioned once until this exact moment. And somewhere between the folder, the socks, and the missing shoe, you catch a reflection in the microwave door, and you think, here we go again. Because you know this season. You've lived this season. This is a season when the calendar fills up and you disappear. The workouts go, the quiet times go, the water bottle you filled for yourself sits untouched on the counter. The promises you made to yourself in August quietly get pushed to October, then January, and then someday. Not this year, mama. This year we're going back to school. We are not going back to survival mode. This is unsolicited permission. The podcast for moms who are done waiting for permission to take care of themselves. Because the only permission you've been waiting for is your own. I'm Emily. Every Tuesday I'll hand you one permission slip to become healthier, stronger, more confident, and to remember the woman you've always been. So take a deep breath, grab your coffee, and let's fix some crowns. Hey mama, welcome back. I'm really glad you're here, especially this week. Because this week I know what your kitchen counter looks like. School supplies lists, signup forms, practice schedules, permission slips, somebody's cleats that suddenly don't fit anymore. August is loud, and somehow September gets louder. So here's this week's permission slip. You have permission to keep one corner of the season for yourself and to protect it like it matters. Because not the entire day, not some perfect routine, not a schedule where everything goes according to plan. One corner, one thing that has your name on it, and today I want to show you why protecting that one corner matters so much. Listen what happens this time of year, because I don't think we talk about it enough. Every August, moms make these quiet promises. Once school starts, I'll get back into my routine. Once the kids are on a schedule, I'll start working out again. I'll finally have more structure. I'll get back to taking care of myself. And then September arrives, and somehow the exact opposite happens. Not because you're lazy, not because you don't care, not because you're bad at managing your time. It's because back to school season comes with an entire second job, and nobody formally tells the mom she got hired. You become the calendar, the alarm clock, the lunchpacker, the form signer, the carpool driver, the homework checker, the snack supplier, the finder of the missing shoe. You become the person remembering who needs what, where, when, and whether it needs to be washed before Tuesday. And you become the emotional landing pad too. New teachers, new classrooms, new friendships, new expectations, big feelings at pickup, tired kids at bedtime. Everybody else in the house gets a fresh start. New backpack, new class, new schedule, new routine, and mom? Mom gets everybody else's routine stacked on top of everything she was already carrying. Nobody hands a mom a fresh start. The workout, the quiet time, the walk, the book, the prayer time, the 10 minutes you fought so hard to reclaim. And slowly, without making a conscious decision, you slide right back into survival mode. That's what I call the September slide. And here's what I want you to understand. The slide is not a character flaw, it is what happens when an already full life gets another layer added to it, and when you are the easiest thing to remove. But you cannot solve an overloaded system by deleting yourself from it. And when I tell you I understand how loud this season gets, I mean it. Let me tell you what this season looks like in my house. Competitive gymnastics back for Olivia. Three days a week, eight to nine hours in the gym for practice. Alex has t-ball, practices, games, and naturally some of those overlap with gymnastics because apparently children's schedules enjoy a challenge. Olivia has homework every day after school, swim lessons twice a week, play practice starts in September. Alex has speech therapy twice a week. Every morning I'm remembering lunches. Which days Olivia wants me to pack hers. Which days are gym days and tennis shoes have to go to school, medication in the morning, monitoring asthma, backpacks, water bottles, whatever needs to be signed, whatever needs to be packed, whatever somebody suddenly remembers 10 seconds before we need to walk out the door. Then there is dinner, dishes, laundry, cleaning up, packing everything for tomorrow so we can wake up and do the whole thing again. And this is what the mom side of my life looks like. Because while all of this is happening, I'm building a business. I'm writing and marketing this podcast, writing scripts, recording content, marketing my coaching business, writing newsletters. I'm working on my Etsy store and trying to grow those sales. I'm promoting my first book, doing interviews, book signings, while also writing the next one. And I'm doing this all while managing iron deficiency anemia, which means long hours of iron infusions across multiple appointments and living with IIH, a condition that sometimes gets more say over what kind of day I'm going to have than I do. And somewhere inside all of that, I still want to eat, lose weight, move my body, drink enough water, take care of myself, get a shower. So here's what I know going into this school year. There is no calm week coming to save me. There's no magical Tuesday in September where gymnastics gets nobody has homework, T ball disappears, the business runs itself, dinner cooks itself, my body cooperates perfectly, and somebody hands me three uninterrupted hours and says, Okay, Emily, now you can finally take care of yourself. That's not coming. And I think for a long time I was waiting for it anyway. Not consciously, but underneath everything, I kept believing when things calm down, then I'll get consistent. When this season passes, then I'll focus on my health. When I have more time, then I'll work on my goals. When life settles down, then I'll make room for me. But life keeps changing seasons. It doesn't stop being life. So this year I'm asking a different question. Not how do I control all of this because I can't. I'm asking what part of this season am I not willing to lose myself in? That is my corner. Maybe some days it's movement. Maybe it's 10 minutes with my Bible and coffee. Maybe it's sitting down to write. Maybe it's working on this business, this dream, this movement that matters deeply to me. The corner can move, the schedule can change, the whole day can go sideways, but I do not disappear with it. And that is a shift I want you to make this week. Stop waiting for the chaos to calm down and start running your corner of it. You do not have to control the whole storm. You cannot control whether the school sends another form home. You cannot control whether practice gets moved. You cannot control whether a kid wake up sick. You cannot control whether homework suddenly takes an hour. You cannot control every demand this season is going to make on you. But chaos does take away from your ability to choose. You still get to decide what matters enough to protect? What promise am I keeping to myself? What part of my life still gets my name on it? That is your corner. And hear this: a calm week does not prove you can take care of yourself. The real test is what happens when the week gets loud. Anyone can keep a routine when nothing interrupts it. But when the school year gets messy, when the calendar fills up, when everybody wants something, and you still keep one promise to yourself, that is leadership. Not perfection, leadership. You don't have to run the whole storm, you just have to run your corner of it. Okay, let's make this practical. Because I can already hear somebody saying, Emily, this sounds great. But what does this actually look like on a Tuesday? Three things. First, your corner has to be small enough to survive a bad day. Not your fantasy day, not the day when everyone cooperates. A bad day. Ten minutes, fifteen minutes, a short walk, a workout, your Bible and coffee, ten pages of a book, journaling, writing, sitting in your car in silence before pickup. Whatever gives something back to you. And here's the rule. If it only works on a good day, it's not a corner. It's a wish. You need something your real life can actually hold on to. Second, decide where it moves before the day gets to decide for you. Your corner will get interrupted. That is not pessimism. That is September. The appointment will run late. Someone will stay home sick. Practice will move. Homework will take longer. Your energy may disappear. So you decide your backup spot now. If the morning gets taken, where does your corner move? Lunch? After drop-off? Before pickup? After bedtime? This is something we talked about last week. Your needs do not get erased, they get rescheduled. The corner may move, it does not disappear. Third, protect the corner without apologizing for having one. This is where the internal work starts. Because sometimes nobody else is actually telling you that you shouldn't take the time. You are. You're telling yourself I should finish the laundry first. I should answer that email. I should do one more thing. Everybody else needs something. And yes, sometimes everybody else really does need something. But remember what we said last week. Putting yourself on the list does not mean you always come first. It means you no longer automatically come last. So when that guilt shows up, remind yourself this is my corner. I do not need the whole day. I do not need everything to be equal. I need one piece of the season where I do not disappear. Alright, mama. This week's permission slip challenge is two decisions. That's it. Decision one, choose your school year anchor. One thing, 10 to 15 minutes, something that keeps you connected to yourself during this season. Movement, prayer, reading, writing, walk, your coffee outside, working on your dream. Whatever it is, choose it. This is the corner you are protecting. Decision two. Choose the backup spot. When the school year hits your corner, where does it move? Decide before you need the answer. Because a bad day should not get to decide whether you matter. And when your schedule blows up this week, I want you to say, this can move, it does not disappear. That's your practice, not perfection, not rigid discipline, practice. And when you hold your corner even once, come tell us in the crown club. Tell us what your anchor is. Tell us where your backup spot is. Because when one mom says, I protected this today, another mom realizes she can protect something too. So here's what I want you to carry into this week. You do not need control over the entire school year. You do not need perfect mornings. You do not need every practice to run on time. You do not need every dinner planned. You do not need every week to go according to schedule. You need one part of your life that still has your name on it. Hold your corner. Let the calendar shift. Who cares if practice runs late or the laundry piles up? Let the socks disappear into whatever mysterious universe socks apparently live in. Let September be September. You do not disappear with it. You are not going back. Back to school? Yes. Back to homework and practices and lunches and Tuesday night chaos. Absolutely. Back to survival mode? No. Not this year. Because this time you're not waiting for the whole storm to calm down. You're learning how to lead inside of it. If this episode found you standing in the kitchen holding somebody else's shoe, come join us in the Mom Strong Crown Club on Facebook. It's free, it's full of moms navigating the same kind of season, and the link is in the show notes. And next Tuesday, we're finishing this arc with a big one. Because balance was never about everything being equal. Sometimes life is going to tilt. And next week, we're talking about how to stay grounded when it does. Don't miss it. Remember, you never needed anyone else's permission, only your own. Go become the woman you've been missing because your kids aren't watching perfection. They're watching courage. Until next Tuesday, keep fixing your crown. I'll see you then.