Overcoming Avoidance: A Mom Coach's Story of Facing Hard Choices and Mom Guilt

Are you an overwhelmed mom struggling with mom guilt, anxiety, or the pressure to do it all? In this deeply personal episode, JoAnn Crohn, your trusted mom coach, shares the story behind her business downsizing — a journey that parallels the challenges many moms face when avoiding difficult truths. This episode explores the common pitfalls of avoidance that many moms experience: over-functioning, people-pleasing, and pushing through exhaustion without addressing what’s really wrong.This isn’t an episode about procrastination or denial. It’s about the kind of avoidance many moms fall into—the kind that looks like over-functioning, people-pleasing, and trying harder instead of stopping to ask what’s actually wrong.JoAnn shares the behind-the-scenes reality of running No Guilt Mom through changing times, declining revenue, and the intense pressure of wanting to protect her team at all costs—even when it meant sacrificing her own health.You’ll hear:Why avoidance often looks like doing everything instead of doing nothingHow anxiety, headaches, high blood pressure, and exhaustion were her body’s warning signalsThe leadership decision she was terrified to make—and why not making it nearly broke herWhat Internal Family Systems therapy revealed about her “people-pleaser” partWhy courage doesn’t feel calm, confident, or steady—and that’s normalHow facing painful truths can bring relief your nervous system has been begging forJoAnn also walks you through how avoidance shows up in everyday life—money, relationships, parenting, time management—and how naming what you’re really feeling opens the door to better solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices