From the Heart with Rachel Brathen

This episode brings us another segment of Ask Rachel, where Rachel takes calls from listeners and answers any questions they have. The inquiries today were so beautiful, and all were connected to the theme of returning home to yourself. How can we navigate heartbreak? When life is incredibly overwhelming, how do we settle down and find peace within ourselves? How do we know we are making decisions for us and not for family or friends?
There are also some pregnancy related questions where Rachel shares helpful tips for first trimester exhaustion and how to convince your husband to have more babies if they aren’t too keen on the idea. Tune in for a thoughtful episode that will help you trust in your body and live according to your own timeline. If you have a question for Rachel, call her at 1-(720) 443-1771.

For the past few weeks, Rachel has found herself in a depleted slump. But now, she has slowly crawled out to see the light again. Feeling more rested and energized, she shares the tweaks and changes she made in her life that brought about this change (Hint: one of them may have been Bad Bunny).
Sometimes we can get so caught up in trying to make things magical and extraordinary, that we turn something that is already good into something that brings us unneeded work, stress, and exhaustion. And then we lose the ability to enjoy it - even if we managed to turn it into something amazing. This episode will remind you how important it is to linger in the good. Sometimes that is exactly what’s needed.

Do mom brains just work differently than dad brains? This is obviously not the case in every family, but in a lot of families - the mother bears the brunt of the mental load. The mother is the one making sure the kids have everything for school, they do all the groceries and list making, they note the things that need fixing and mending and cleaning. So why is that? Do their brains just work differently? Are they just born able to hold everything and multitask endlessly? Or are these dynamics created by society and how family members behave and move throughout their day?

In today’s episode, Rachel unpacks and tries to answer these questions using examples from her own life and family. It’s a big topic, and it can be a controversial one, but maybe there is a way we can share the mental load and rest more. What would happen if moms put it all down? Tune in to explore the intricacies and possibilities.

In today’s episode, Rachel is the type of tired that you feel in your soul, in your bones, and in your identity itself. It’s a feeling that stems from the roles and responsibilities she has in her life right now, but it goes even deeper and older than that - into the trauma she felt as a child and the burdens placed on her back then. Rachel attempts to unpack this experience by sharing specific examples from her own family. 

If you are a woman or a mother, you may understand exactly what she’s talking about. Everywhere you look, women are carrying things. And there is a collective and ancestral feeling of tiredness that comes with it. Is there some rest that needs to be taken now for what could not be rested back then? Rachel shares the one self-care practice she has in her life right now that is helping her through it. If you are feeling tired too, tune into this episode so we can all be in it together.

When you reflect on your personality, why do you think you are the way you are? Is it due to your nature or your experiences? In today’s episode, Rachel reflects on this question with her own personality - much of which she thinks is the result of her childhood. She opens up about codependency and a sense of internal stress and urgency that never seems to leave, no matter how little there is on her to-do list.

On a journey of healing and upheaval, she talks about the therapy she is doing right now, the parenting style she has, and her dynamic with family that all play a role in her codependency and inner motivations. At the end of the day, this episode will remind you that there is time for you - no matter how long it takes you to put all the puzzle pieces of your life together. Tune in for a vulnerable share and open dialogue.