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If you’ve ever felt stretched between motherhood, work, home, relationships, and the countless responsibilities of modern life, you’re not alone. Many of us spend our days racing from one obligation to the next, only to end the day feeling exhausted, distracted, and wondering whether we’ve spent ourselves on what matters most.

This site was created for mothers who long for something different. Something with more meaning. A life that feels less distracted and more aligned with the person we most want to be.

Not a perfect life. Not a perfectly organized home. Not a color-coded schedule where everything always goes according to plan. Though those things are nice sometimes.

This is a place for women who want their time and energy to reflect their deepest values. A place to learn how to build a life that feels meaningful, intentional, and whole—even in the midst of full calendars and ordinary responsibilities.

Here, you’ll find helpful guides for examining your own life values, productivity tips for managing home and work, and a community of other mothers who are building their best lives one day and one choice at a time.

One of the hardest truths I’ve had to learn is that we cannot do everything. Our time, energy, and attention are limited. Every “yes” is also a “no” to something else. But while we cannot have everything, we can thoughtfully choose the life we want to build, one decision at a time.

I created this site after years of reading, researching, experimenting, and learning what it means to live well as a working mother. Some lessons came from books and research. Some lessons came from other mothers navigating this journey, too. Other lessons came through my own successes, mistakes, and daily work of raising a family while pursuing a career. My hope is that what I’ve learned will encourage and equip you on your own journey.

Below you’ll find some of the most helpful places to begin, along with practical resources to support you as you seek to build a life that reflects what matters most.

Welcome to This Above All: Motherhood. I’m glad you’re here.

Steps toward an Intentional Life

Throughout this website, I have created resources to help you create an intentional life. Below are some of the key steps that you can follow to start building a more meaningful, more abundant life as a working mother.

Step 1: Know Where You Are

Before making new routines or buying a new planner, spend a week simply paying attention.

Notice:

• Where your time goes
• What gives you energy
• What drains you
• Which moments leave you feeling fulfilled

I suggest tracking your time and energy through the week and begin reflecting upon the life you want to lead. My Life by Design workbook provides a 25-page guide, complete with 75 reflection questions, for thinking about your life now.

Suggested Resource:

• Life by Design: A Workbook for Tracking, Dreaming, and Planning a Beautiful Life

Step 2: Clarify What Matters Most

Many of us spend our days responding to urgent needs without ever asking what deserves our best attention. Some say they value family above all else, but then they spend the evenings distracted and exhausted. Then those evenings turn into weeks, and then months, and then years. Those evenings become our lives.

Spend some time reflecting on the life you most want. The life that excites you. The one that has you jumping out of bed to start each new day.

Determining what you most want also helps to clarify what you do not want, or, at least, what you don’t want above all else.

Once you understand your values and goals, it becomes easier to determine what to do with the 1440 minutes of each day.

Suggested Articles:

• Living Now: Escaping the Trap of Productivity and Living for Today
• The Problem with Borrowed Definitions of Success
• Stepping over the Threshold: Prioritizing our Values even When We’re Late

Step 3: Build Your Life One Piece at a Time

Once you know your priorities and your values, you can begin making practical changes.

Common areas to analyze and restructure include

• Morning routines
• Meal planning
• Home management
• Work boundaries
• Rest
• Exercise
• Family rhythms
• Simplifying possessions

Choose one area at a time to focus on and try to build a better life through small changes to your routines and habits. Small changes, according to James Clear in Atomic Habits, will make a huge impact over time as each new change shifts your life 1% better.

Suggested Articles:

• Self-Care for Moms: Building a Life You Don’t Need a Vacation From
• 3 Powerful Ways to Remain Calm – And Even Thrive – When the Chaos Seems to Reign

Step 4: Keep Growing

Intentional living isn’t something you finish. It’s something you analyze each day, finding small ways to become more present, more engaged, and more purposeful as you adapt to the seasons of life.

As seasons change, your schedule, children, work, and responsibilities will change too.

Come back often for new ideas, encouragement, and practical tools.

Suggested Articles:

• What a Game of Four-Square Taught Me About Motherhood

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

Ralph Waldo Emerson