Quite simply, Happy Mama: The Guide to Finding Yourself Again is a book about the importance of putting yourself first.
At the beginning of the book, the author, Amy Taylor-Kabbaz, describes her life: a beautiful family, a fulfilling career, and a successful blog that allowed women around the world to connect with what she was saying and feeling.
The problem was that she wasn't everything she'd talked about in her blog, and her career was running her ragged. A little more than halfway through her pregnancy with her third child, she went into early labor and had to stop working so that her son wouldn't be born prematurely. After that life-changing event, she worked on slowing down her life, and began, in earnest, to explore everything that she'd been writing about in her blog.
As she says at the beginning of the book, "I am here to speak to the woman who has entered the world of parenthood and is searching for a way to balance who she used to be with who she is now."
She talks about the key elements of what makes a Happy Mama, including trust, value, and connection. To help moms create a more mindful life, she discusses each element, includes interviews with moms, and then introduces techniques that help moms connect to these topics. For instance, there are journaling exercises that help you discover more joy in your life, whether it's about how you parent or how you relate to others. She also walks you through breathing exercises to help you regain patience after a long day.
Amy was a mom who "had it all" and realized it wasn't what she truly wanted. She really understands what is important to moms, what bothers us and drags us under, and how we can embrace our life. For example, she talks about the preconceptions that women have about birth, and what happens when you can't have the birth you dreamed off.
She also considers what it takes to be a strong mom. At one point in her life, she didn't believe she was a strong mother because she needed an epidural to get through childbirth, and she had a hard time dealing with the sleepless nights when her kids were infants. That sounds pretty familiar! Amy tells you how to tackle that voice in your head — the one that tells you that you are not good enough to be a happy person, let alone a mom — and how to put yourself first! It's something that all moms need to hear.
About the book author: Amy Taylor-Kabbaz is a writer, Mindful Mama coach, and mother to three young children. Her new book, Happy Mama, is available on Amazon and at other online retailers.
