A (belated) year in review!
Happy birthday, Maternal Stress Project + announcements!
First, I want to say THANK YOU.
When I kicked this project off just over a year ago, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I received some helpful nudges to just jump – throw this far-too-big concept out into the universe, ask “does anyone actually find this perspective valuable?” and see where I land.
After a year of writing and collaboration and engagement and connection all stemming from this little corner of the universe, I am happy with and hopeful about my landing spot. In fact, I am starting to see this landing spot as more of a launch pad for the work to come.
So, THANK YOU! Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for reading. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for boosting my confidence that this topic is worth exploring at the ridiculous depth that I do.
An extra thank you to paid subscribers. I have yet to paywall anything over here so if you have clicked that Upgrade to paid button at any point and for any amount, you are my freaking hero. I cannot express how much it means to have your extra support behind this work and the road ahead.
As for the road ahead… woof… I’m not going to sugarcoat how I feel about barreling into a year (or four) that might be a wee bit more stressful for women. And I know that I may need to shift a few things on the solutions side to adjust to the policy headwind we’re heading into. It does feel like this conversation and an actionable reframe of ‘stress’ in the context of women’s health may be more important than ever.
With that in mind, I am going to try a few things out in the coming year…
Webinar! (webinarS?) –
I know I promised this way back in Resilience is *Not* the Key to Stress Reduction, but I am finally doing it!
Join me for a Zoom webinar on stress – the basics on stress physiology and how it all plays into women’s health and the concepts underlying the Maternal Stress Project. We’ll have plenty of time for Q&A too!
Locking this in for January 29nd 9:30amPT/12:30pmET/5:30pmGMT.
My goal with the webinar is 1) to scratch an itch for my educator side – are you following all of this? and 2) try to understand how I might improve the way I roll into more science-heavy discussions – how can I explain this better?
I will record and repost the video for anyone who misses it, but, if you can, please join me. No better way to answer these questions than get some of your lovely faces on Zoom and gauge when they contort in confusion or shift to knowing nods of understanding.
I lean towards making this a regular thing or fire up some kind of “office hours”. I may even bring in different experts when my expertise falls short. Let’s see how many of you actually come to my party first!
Stressor map exploration with YOU!
Personal stories continue to shape the connections between stressors in interesting or unexpected ways. I can honestly say that the stressor map at this point is equally reflective of research AND human experience. When the latter comes first, digging back into the available research almost always confirms how and why these connections exist.
Also, I’m genuinely curious – is this concept actually interesting and applicable for you? And I would LOVE LOVE LOVE your insight on the topics, stressors, connections, solutions I should prioritize as this project grows.
For this, I want to kick off a more casual Zoom get-together series. Inspired by
’s hang-outs, I want to hear your stories, I want to see where your connections factor into your own stress load, and explore solutions (big and small) in your world.Kicking this off in February. Stay tuned!
Audio
Another thing I’m firing up this year – audio (officially).
Since I’m a multitasking, audio enthusiast who tends to consume lots of reading material through my ears, I have always tried to make an audio option available to those who need it and those who prefer it. Until now, the audio just sits on top of each post. Yes, it is me reading the material, not some generated voice and, yes, my audio recording tends to capture allllllll the emotions and rage and nerdy excitement of how I feel about each topic (revisit this one for an example).
Clearly, I am trying to avoid calling this audio accompaniment a podcast because it is not really a podcast podcast, just a more formal way of loading up the audio recordings of posts into the podcast format here on Substack and allowing it to pop up in your podcast feed. Maybe we’ll call it the non-pod? I might even re-record a few past favorites for shits and giggles.
The non-pod will kick off as soon as I work out a few kinks and will be available in your preferred podcast app soon.
Social media
😂😂😂😂
Nope. Not really.
I can’t handle being on too many social platforms and, yes, I definitely count Substack as a one given that Notes is my preferred quick engagement alternative to the hole that used to be Twitter. Follow me there (here?) for shorter musings and reshares of other incredible voices in this space.
I do have a Maternal Stress Project Instagram page that occasionally gets a post or story or a content reshare. Go follow along if that is your preferred platform. Maybe one day, I’ll post a Thread. TBD. Again, I will never ever ever be over at the other one with a dumb, self-serving letter as a name.
You can also follow along on LinkedIn or follow/connect with me directly if this work crosses into your professional life.
I have a low tolerance for surface level quick bites and would rather spend my time deep diving with you all here so (word of warning) most of the things posted on IG and LI are short summaries and links to longer form writing.
Now, for a quick recap!
Yep, I’m jumping on the year-in-review bandwagon… kind of.
Clearly a bit late to this party so this is not a “best performing” or “favorites” list. Just a quick recap of deep dives and themes to get those who are new here up to speed.
So far…
The stressor map has been drawn, updated, and extended:
We’ve started tackling the interconnected nature of:
Breastfeeding/baby feeding decisions:
Abortion bans and abortion access:
Child care, child care, and more child care:
and maternal mental load:
I have had fascinating and stimulating conversations with deep thinkers:
On the language of parenting vs. caregiving with
, , and Dr. Allison Applebaum:
the inevitability of the Black maternal health crisis with Dr.
:
questioning whether pregnancy itself is a stressor with
:
the complexity of gendered mental load with
:
the two sides of parenting + caregiving stress/joy with
:
I have used this space as an outlet for snark
Taking on the language of stress management:
and Mother’s Day gift giving:
I have explored revelations from unexpected sources…
in the form of children’s movies:
and nature documentaries:
Oh, and the U.S. Surgeon General agrees!
While also completely ignoring the gender differences in parental stress load:
Ok, what’s next?
In the coming months, I’m planning to go deeper into how all of this connects back to impacts and opportunities for women’s health, explore birth + birth trauma as a stressor, as well as parenting advice (and non-advice) and maternal identity, I’m also feeling ambitious about finally digging into what we know and don’t know about the physiological changes of perimenopause/menopause and how it collides with the stressors related to this time of life, and more…
What stressors, topics, discussion angles do you want to see here in the next 12 months?