I’m a busy mom of 4 kids. I would look at the piles of laundry, and dishes. Then, I would think, “My dream has to wait. Maybe someday.” And I would hop in the mom minivan and drive someone to a lesson or drive the carpool to school. I put my idea on the back burner. Life happened.
I have humbly accepted that I am doing this. I feel like this podcast has been directed by God. The Lord asks us to do hard things!
Almost 6 years ago I wanted to start a blog. I wanted to have a place where moms could come to and feel inspired and feel uplifted. To know that it's okay to have life be as crazy as it is. And in that crazy life, we can still smile be happy from it.
In August 2019, I was talking to a friend. She said, “Diana, you should start a podcast.” Yes! This podcast has been in my mind for over 5 years!
One day, I had an experience that made me so happy, so joyful. More joyful than I have felt in a long time.
I felt God smiling down on me that day.
I felt him tell me that all moms should feel this happy. We should all feel this joy. Then it hit me. I needed the name of my website and podcast to Mamas Living Happy.
Mamas, keep holding on to your goals. Hold on to your dreams! I know how it is to be in the thick of babies and toddlers and to lose yourself in motherhood. There is hope!
You may have ever felt that you wanted to do something more. Maybe you were like me, and you wanted to share your message, but didn’t know how where to start. If that is you, please contact me. I’ve found a community of amazing people who are walking me through this every step of the way and I love it!
Thanks for listening today. Please, share this with a mama who might need to be uplifted today.
Here we go ... episode 2! Today I’ll talk about why I’m starting a podcast.
I have humbly accepted that I am doing this. I’m super excited, but totally humbled. I feel like this podcast and everything that I am doing has been directed by God.
People who knew me 15 or 20 years ago, knew I was a good person. But, I am a completely different person now. God has given me a new direction in my life and this podcast is only the smallest piece of it.
I have been nervous because I have anxiety. You are going to laugh, but I did a Facebook live the other day. It took me two days to muster up enough courage to do it.
I always feel like people will see me as the person I was. The awkward teenager who had braces and coke-bottle glasses. Remember those? My glasses were so thick!
I was in the awkward teenager stage for so many years. I have been humbled that the Lord is asking me to do this because I was never really popular. I was not a cheerleader. In fact, I’ve only done a cartwheel once in my entire life. I was never on a soccer team and I’m not very coordinated.
But, the Lord asks us to do hard things!
I used to tell myself the most cruel things. Things that I wouldn’t even tell my worst enemy.
I would tell myself I was fat.
My glasses were too ugly.
My clothes were frumpy.
I would tell myself I wasn’t a very good mom.
I told myself so many mean things.
But, what were my kids learning from me? Do I want my kids to tell things like that to themselves? No way.
In the past 18 months, I have come alive!
I have learned my true value and worth.
This is the greatest time to spread goodness and we are right in the middle of it!
I feel like Heavenly Father has been leading me and guiding me all along the way. I feel like he's been preparing me for this for a very, very long time. Preparing this podcast and website in my mind.
Almost 6 years ago I wanted to start a blog. Now, I have always been interested in social media. This was going to be different than a cooking blog or a fashion blog.
I wanted to have a place where moms could come to. Where they could feel inspired and feel uplifted. I wanted a place where moms could learn from each other and know that it's okay to be a mom. To know that it's okay to have life be as crazy as it is. And in that crazy life, we can still smile be happy from it.
There was a time in my life where I was really depressed and I didn't realize it until I came out of the depression. I know there are other moms who feel the same way I did.
So as I started to think about this blog, the idea came to me to have a blog where moms could come to and they could learn from other moms. Where moms could share stories about trials that they are going through. Moms doing hard things.
But they also came out of those trials. Who came out of the trials and are sharing light and goodness, even though they went through dark times.
I wanted a place, like a forum, where moms could come too and they could be uplifted by each other. But how do you build that into a website? Oh my gosh, can you imagine trying to build a website with that? Can you imagine the coding that you would need to go into that? Holy cow! That would take so long. And, I’m a busy mom of 4 kids. I would look at the piles of laundry, and dishes. Then, I would think, “My dream has to wait. Maybe someday.” And I would hop in the mom minivan and drive someone to a lesson or drive the carpool to school.
So it has been in my mind for the past 5.5 years. I have thought about doing this so many times. Thoughts of what I wanted this to be. And putting it on the back burner. I had other priorities, so that's what I did.
All those years ago, I even came up with a name. I thought for a long time about what I wanted the name to be. I was driving down the road one day and taking my kids to school. The car was noisy, between the music on the radio, and the kids talking. The sun was coming up, just over the mountains and it was a beautiful sunrise.
I remember that as I was driving, my mind was wandering and I started to think about this website. I had been thinking for weeks what the name should be. And, then it hit me. I remember exactly where I was when the name came to me. I immediately knew that it was what the name I was looking for. As soon as I go out of the parking lot from dropping the kids off at school, I pulled over to the side of the road and checked to see if the website name was available. It was! I cried because I knew it was the right name. I felt like it was inspiration from God.
It’s going to surprise you, that the name was not Mamas Living Happy. It was Mamas Living Healthy. For 5 years, I thought the name of this website I was creating in my mind was Mamas Living Healthy.
I put my blog idea on the back burner. Life happened. Things got in the way. And then one day, nine months ago, in August 2019, I was talking to a friend. She said, “Diana, you should start a podcast.”
I said, “I don’t know how to do that!” But, I as thought about it, I realized that I did want to. She said, “I don’t know exactly what you would talk about, or who you would do it for, but you should start one.” And then the thought came to me that I know what I want to do this podcast on because it was been in my mind for 5 years! And I even have a name for it. Since it was 9 months ago, I tease that this is my 9-month baby I’m going to have.
About three weeks later, I was on my way to church. It was a September day. And we are on our way to get in the car. And it started to rain. Here in Utah, sometimes the rain is really really really warm and that day the rain happened to be really warm. And it started to rain harder. And harder. It was raining so hard and we were going to be late for church. So, we hurried out to the van in the rain. Oh my gosh, it was a downpour. Like a cloudburst. Holy cow there was so much!
We were running out to the car as fast as we could because it was just pouring rain on us. When we got in the car, the windshield wipers were going as fast as they could to get the rain off the windshield. They were not keeping the rain off the windshield. When we got to the church, I parked in the back of the building. My kids hurried and got out of the car and went into the church. They were fast, because it was raining so hard.
As I went to get out, there was a huge puddle right at my car door. It was like 4 inches deep. I knew if I stepped out, my shoes were going to be soaked very quickly. So I decide I'm going to take my shoes off before I went into the church building. I got out of the car.
There I am, in my dress, holding my shoes, standing in a giant puddle with buckets of rain coming down on me. I decided I just had to go puddle jumping! Because there is a giant puddle, full of warm water.
My little daughter was waiting for me, in the rain. You guys! This was the most fun puddle jump I've ever done.
I jumped. I splashed. I was kicking up the water. The rain was falling down on my head. And I was grinning from ear to ear!
I finally went into the church building. You guys! I was dripping wet. My hair was dripping wet. My dress is totally soaked. I had the biggest grin on my face and I sat down. I don’t know if other people noticed I was so wet. I was late and went in as the opening hymn was starting. I know one person did notice my joy, though.
I felt God smiling down on me that day.
I sat there, thinking about how happy I was. I was joyful.
More joyful than I have felt in a long time.
As I sat there smiling, I felt God. I felt his love. I felt him tell me that all moms should feel this happy. We should all feel this joy. Then it hit me. I needed to change the name of my website and podcast to Mamas Living Happy.
Sometimes as a mom, you have these moments of joy. Sometimes you have to be silly or laugh with your kids, or laugh with your husband. Or jump in a puddle in your Sunday best.
We have to create those moments of pure joy so that we can feel God's love for us. I want you to think about the moments of joy you have had in the past. And, look for those moments when Heavenly Father smiles down on you.
We have a little Facebook group called Mamas Living Happy Tribe. I would love for you to share those moments on this Facebook group. So other moms can know and see the hand of God in your life so that they can in turn see it in their own life.
And to help each other keep plugging through because happier times will come.
So, now I have this podcast named Mamas Living Happy. It was a thought I had years ago. An idea that I had to put on the back burner because I was a mama and I didn’t have the time or energy. But, for 5, almost 6 years, I have been thinking about this.
This is what I have been called to do. Heavenly Father has been preparing me, and I am so humbled by this.
I am so thankful that I don’t have to come up with all of this on my own. Creating a podcast and website and everything would be really overwhelming. I have found a community that I can trust and they are helping me every step of the way. So that I can reach my full potential.
I’m really clear about what I want for the rest of my life. It is amazing to have someone there to help me every step of the way.
At the end of each of my podcast episodes, I sum up something from the episode that will help you be a better you.
So here is what I learned that I want to share with you today.
Thanks for listening today. Please, share this with a mama who might need to be uplifted today.