What if the secret to making progress as a mother wasn't finding more time, but changing what we expect ourselves to achieve with the time and capacity we have?
In this episode of Challenge Your Guilt, I'm joined by Bex Coxshall, co-founder of Mums Who Build, a community supporting mothers who want to pursue their ambitions, build businesses and careers, and create lives that have room for themselves.
Bex has a refreshing perspective on motherhood. Rather than experiencing it as something that has held her back, she describes it as a catalyst for changing her relationship with her body, her career and what matters to her.
We explore her experience of maternal guilt (or rather, her relative lack of it!), the importance of protecting time for ourselves, and how we can keep moving towards our goals without expecting ourselves to perform at our best every single day.
Bex shares a brilliant analogy about training for a marathon. You wouldn't expect to run 20 miles on your first day of training, or beat your personal best every time you head out. Some days you run, some days you walk, some days you build strength, and some days you rest.
So why do we expect ourselves to show up with the same energy, focus and productivity every day when we're also navigating motherhood?
In this conversation, we explore:
- How motherhood can become a catalyst for rediscovering our identity and ambitions.
- The differences between guilt, shame and anxiety, and how these shape our decisions as mothers.
- Why protecting personal time requires boundaries, not just good intentions.
- How to build momentum through small, manageable actions, even when time and energy are limited.
- Why perfectionism and unrealistic expectations can keep us stuck.
- The power of community, accountability and support when we're pursuing our goals alongside motherhood.
This conversation is a reminder that your capability hasn't disappeared just because your capacity is limited. You don't have to do everything, every day, to be making progress.
And sometimes, good enough really is good enough.
Connect with Bex:
Find Mums Who Build on Instagram or visit mumswhobuild.com.
Connect with Belinda:
I'm Belinda Jane Batt, maternal guilt expert, positive psychology coach and author of Challenge Your Guilt. I help mothers who also work outside the home challenge guilt, reclaim capacity and create more room for the lives they want to lead.
Find out more at theflourishingmother.com, explore my book Challenge Your Guilt, or apply for a free introductory call.
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