June 17, 2025 • 15 mins
Have you ever been asked if you have too much on your plate? In this episode I'm talking the woman who feels pulled in multiple directions while others question her capacity to handle it all.
When someone asks "isn't that a lot?" – whether about starting a business while raising children, pursuing education alongside your career, or juggling multiple creative projects – it can trigger a spiral of self-doubt. Through personal experience and heartfelt guidance, we explore why these questions often come from a place of love, yet still manage to shake our confidence in our chosen direction.
The truth? Not everyone will understand your unique journey – and they don't need to. Your capacity, your timing, your dreams – they belong to you alone. They're yours.
Thank you so much for listening in! If anything in this episode resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend or on social media.
And don't forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me get the word out.
Follow and chat with me on Instagram:
Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast
Personal account - @thrive.empowered
Sending you light and love always!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
Mother On this podcast.
We're scared for our truth, butthat fear is what fuels us to
truly live in it.
You're in the right place ifyou feel like you're stuck in
survivor mode and you're readyto step into who you were truly
(00:20):
meant to be.
I'll share resources and toolsI use daily to help you in your
journey towards a healthiermindset and to break the wheel
of survival.
The journey may not be easy,but you won't have to face it
alone.
I'm a mama of three, healingday by day from past trauma, and
I'm on a mission to build alife I've always dreamed of but
(00:42):
never thought was possible.
So, love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey, loves, welcome back toanother episode of the Thrive
Like a Mother podcast Today,y'all of the Thrive Like a
(01:06):
Mother podcast today, y'all.
Today, I'm talking to the womanwho feels like you are being
pulled in so many differentdirections.
I'm talking to the woman who,like me, or similar to me, you
are multi-passionate.
Sometimes, when you aremulti-passionate, you can start
to second guess yourself becauseof an opinion that someone else
(01:28):
shared about the season thatyou're in and what you're doing.
So this episode, y'all this oneis a reminder, and I say it
often, I've said it oftenthroughout this season,
throughout this entire year, andit's going to continue.
Your path is your path, yourpath is your path, your pace is
your pace, your process all ofthat is yours, and so we're
(01:55):
getting some tough love.
Today.
No one, no one else I don'tcare who it is and we're going
to chat about some of thereasons you might be receiving,
you know, feedback, but no oneelse has to understand what
you're doing in this season oflife, the many passions that you
have.
(02:16):
No one has to understand all ofthem for it to be valid, for it
to be still the thing that youneed to be going for, or the
things that you need to be goingfor, or the things that you
need to be working towards.
And so let's have some realtalk.
Let's have some real talk.
People are going to haveopinions about what you should
(02:37):
or shouldn't be doing in aspecific season of your life,
and this y'all this goes heavyfor my mamas, who you know, when
you have little ones and maybeyou start to pick up a passion
project, maybe you startbuilding your own business.
Whatever it is that you'redoing, someone, someone is going
(02:59):
to come more than often and saylike, hey, isn't that a lot?
I've heard it, I've heard it somany times.
Y'all.
A lot of the times, thoseopinions, they're not coming
from a place of you know,they're not coming from a bad
(03:20):
place, they're coming from aplace of love, a place of
concern for you, like in yourwell-being, really coming from a
point of trying to protect you,right.
But even if it is well-meaningmost of the times, most of the
times it is but it can still behard to listen and absorb that
(03:42):
because if you're workingtowards your goals, right, and
you're doing the things, andsuddenly someone asks you is
that too much?
Immediately in your head, youask yourself to respond right.
But then that starts to get thedoubt to start creeping into
(04:03):
what you've been doing to yourpurpose, your path, and you
start to question yourself,especially if it is coming from
someone who you know loves youand you know it's not coming
from a place of ill will.
You know that it's someone thatreally does want the best for
you.
It's hard to hear that reallydoes want the best for you.
(04:25):
It's hard to hear that.
So I want to give you some waysto kind of navigate through
that and truly understand, like,what you do with that
information Because, like I said, it can start to go left.
You can start to doubt your pathand your purpose and start to
think maybe I am doing too much.
Like I've been there, you aretalking to a very
multi-passionate woman.
(04:46):
Y'all know I talk about it onthe podcast the many things that
I work towards that.
I feel like all of it is stillworking together towards my
purpose and my path.
But sometimes someone lookingoutside, looking in, can look at
it and say, wow, that's a lot,you know.
Or the question I've gotten alot is like how do you manage it
(05:08):
all?
How can you possibly do it all?
And so, like you hear thecomment, you hear the question
and you're spiraling right.
Am I doing it wrong?
Maybe they might be right,maybe I do have a lot on my
plate, or is there somethingthat I'm missing?
Is there something else that Ineed to be doing differently?
(05:28):
And so here are some thingsthat I've learned Take the
feedback when they say it, takeit, listen, receive it and hold
space for it.
Just hold space for it withinyourself.
Don't allow it to start to makeyou start spiraling out, but
(05:48):
get curious.
Get curious If someone's askingyou the question, like it's an
opportunity maybe not toimmediately respond and like
defend yourself, but do getcurious and tune back in within
yourself and say, is this toomuch?
Am I okay?
How is my capacity right now?
(06:09):
How am I feeling?
How's my mindset, how's my mindhealth?
How is my body?
How am I feeling with what Ihave on my plate?
Because guess what your body isgoing on my plate, because
guess what your body is going totell you.
If it is too much, it is goingto tell you loudly sometimes if
(06:30):
you are ignoring it.
And so tune back in with self,listen into your spirit in those
quiet moments and don't feellike you need to immediately
respond moment.
And don't feel like you need toimmediately respond.
Sometimes it's just a you know,hey, is that too much?
(06:50):
Maybe sometimes take a momentand say you know what I'm going
to think about it.
Thanks for you know, thanks forbringing it up right.
Because it is a moment for youto get curious and ask yourself
the question, not in a way todefend against what they've
asked, but to really, reallytune into yourself, and these
are things like tuning in withyou is something that you can do
(07:11):
, often on your own right.
But sometimes, when we getfocused in on goals, sometimes
we forget to ask ourselves, likeif we're doing okay, if this is
too much, if there is anythingthat we need to be doing
differently.
And so sometimes asking thequestion, someone asking you the
question, is actually a gift,because maybe you haven't asked
(07:31):
yourself in a while, maybe youhaven't tuned in with self to
see, like, how you truly aredoing.
Because, truly like at the endof the day, y'all, because truly
like at the end of the day,y'all, you're the one who's
going to know how much is enoughor too much for your plate in
this season.
You're the only one that'sgoing to know that Even the
(08:06):
person asking the question youknow coming at it from a lens of
protection or from, you know, alens of well-being they're
still not going to know exactlywhat is going to be enough or
too much for you in a season,because it's not their plate,
and that's okay.
Sometimes you can feel like youknow something's aligned or not.
Only you can do that, only youcan do that.
Only you know that, only youknow your pace, only you are
(08:29):
able to set your pace, only youcan sense when it's time to
either slow down or speed up.
And that's why y'all I hone inon this message so much about
listening in and tuning inwithin yourself, because it's
only you, it's only you thatknows like what your healing
looks like, what your familyneeds, what you need right now,
(08:50):
what your capacity is right now.
It's only you.
And so here's the truth.
That can be hard to sit withsometimes, but not everyone is
going to understand your patheither, even the ones closest to
you that love you you know themost, who are in it and see you
(09:12):
working towards these goalsevery day.
Sometimes they may notunderstand it, and it's really
like I said, it's because it'snot their plate, it's not their
path, it's because it's yourpath and it's uniquely yours,
and I love that about humanity.
I love that.
We each have our own plates tofill, we each have our own paths
(09:36):
to walk, and sometimes that canget lonely.
But I want you to think of itas from a lens of if they don't
understand, okay, that's fine.
They're walking their own path,they've got their own things on
their plate.
Their sole purpose is not toalways check in with what's
(09:58):
going on on our plate andunderstanding fully what's on
our plate.
We're all walking differentpaths.
We're all walking withdifferent dreams.
We're all walking with our owntiming.
And okay, somebody may notunderstand Maybe it's the
(10:18):
closest person to you, maybe youreally truly want them to
understand Guess what they don'thave to understand to be able
to support you.
They don't Not fully, not fully.
They don't have to understandwhy you said no to an
opportunity or why you said yesto yet another opportunity, or
why you haven't gone back towork yet, why you're keeping
(10:41):
your baby at home while youstart work again.
They don't have to understandwhy you're starting that
business when it feels like yourlife is already so full, with
the kids and the appointmentsand all the things.
That's okay.
It's not your job to explainyour every single move and
(11:02):
really, truly, your job is tokeep walking your path.
It's to keep showing up for you, for your family, for your
growth.
It's for you, right.
It's your job to keep doingthat.
So if you have been listening tothis today and you're in this
space where maybe you'requestioning yourself because of
(11:25):
a question, someone asked youwhether it's that.
Is that too much?
How do you handle it all?
Whatever the question is, it'sokay to take a moment to ask
yourself the question because ofsomeone else's opinion, but
always come back to you, alwayscheck in with your body, check
(11:47):
in with your peace, check inwith your capacity, check in to
see if your spirit is rising orshrinking with your path that
you're on Now.
If you're shrinking, your bodyis loudly telling you that you
need to slow down or we need topivot or we need to something.
Don't ignore that y'all.
Please don't ignore you.
(12:08):
I will be firsthand to tell youthat ignoring it gets you
nowhere, but down for a littlebit longer than maybe if you had
listened that first time.
If your body's telling you tohey, yes, this actually is too
much.
You know it's okay to ask thatquestion y'all, because you will
(12:30):
always know you really, reallydo.
And I want us to start trustingourselves more.
I want us to have that safespace within ourselves to ask
ourselves the question andanswer honestly, like seriously,
answer like okay, yes, thisactually might be too much.
What do I need to do?
(12:51):
What do I need to do so that Ilighten my load?
And so we're going to circleback around.
Not everybody's going to get it.
Not everybody's going to get it.
Let them, let them not get it.
There's my Mel Robbins moment.
If you have not read that bookyet, by the way, y'all, I am
still working my way through itbut let them not understand.
(13:12):
Let them because, again, likeit's not their job, and y'all
thank you.
Let them because, again, likeit's not their job, and y'all
thank you.
Thank you.
Always If you have noticed ashift on the podcast this season
, I have been coming to y'allwith my heart, like every single
episode, and so just thank youto everyone who has been
(13:34):
allowing me to share that withyou just by tuning in to every
episode, has been allowing me toshare that with you just by
tuning in to every episode.
Y'all have no idea how much likethat impacts me and how much it
lets me know keep going.
What you're saying, someone outthere needs to, needs to hear
it and listen in, and so if thisepisode gave you that
(13:55):
permission that you didn't knowyou needed, you needed because
sometimes we need it right.
Sometimes we need to understandthat we don't have to defend
our path to anyone.
Sometimes we need that reminder.
So if you got that today,please share it with either
another mama or another womanwho you know is working towards
(14:17):
some big-ass goals, and they maybe getting some questions from,
maybe the people that they love, or maybe just you know,
strangers even.
Please send this episode tothem, because they may need to
hear it too, and y'all.
So until next time, please keeptrusting your path, keep
(14:37):
listening within time.
Please keep trusting your path,keep listening within and keep
honoring your pace, because it'syours.
Remember, we're going to keepsaying that.
I think that's the theme ofthis season.
It's yours, it's already yours,and let's keep thriving
together.
I'll see y'all on the next one.
Thank you so much for listening.
Love.
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
(15:00):
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it, as always,sending you light and love, and
remember you are worthy, you areenough and you deserve to
thrive.
Hey, love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
Mother On this podcast.
We're scared for our truth, butthat fear is what fuels us to
truly live in it.
You're in the right place ifyou feel like you're stuck in
survivor mode and you're readyto step into who you were truly
(00:20):
meant to be.
I'll share resources and toolsI use daily to help you in your
journey towards a healthiermindset and to break the wheel
of survival.
The journey may not be easy,but you won't have to face it
alone.
I'm a mama of three, healingday by day from past trauma, and
I'm on a mission to build alife I've always dreamed of but
(00:42):
never thought was possible.
So, love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey, loves, welcome back toanother episode of the Thrive
Like a Mother podcast Today,y'all of the Thrive Like a
(01:06):
Mother podcast today, y'all.
Today, I'm talking to the womanwho feels like you are being
pulled in so many differentdirections.
I'm talking to the woman who,like me, or similar to me, you
are multi-passionate.
Sometimes, when you aremulti-passionate, you can start
to second guess yourself becauseof an opinion that someone else
(01:28):
shared about the season thatyou're in and what you're doing.
So this episode, y'all this oneis a reminder, and I say it
often, I've said it oftenthroughout this season,
throughout this entire year, andit's going to continue.
Your path is your path, yourpath is your path, your pace is
your pace, your process all ofthat is yours, and so we're
(01:55):
getting some tough love.
Today.
No one, no one else I don'tcare who it is and we're going
to chat about some of thereasons you might be receiving,
you know, feedback, but no oneelse has to understand what
you're doing in this season oflife, the many passions that you
have.
(02:16):
No one has to understand all ofthem for it to be valid, for it
to be still the thing that youneed to be going for, or the
things that you need to be goingfor, or the things that you
need to be working towards.
And so let's have some realtalk.
Let's have some real talk.
People are going to haveopinions about what you should
(02:37):
or shouldn't be doing in aspecific season of your life,
and this y'all this goes heavyfor my mamas, who you know, when
you have little ones and maybeyou start to pick up a passion
project, maybe you startbuilding your own business.
Whatever it is that you'redoing, someone, someone is going
(02:59):
to come more than often and saylike, hey, isn't that a lot?
I've heard it, I've heard it somany times.
Y'all.
A lot of the times, thoseopinions, they're not coming
from a place of you know,they're not coming from a bad
(03:20):
place, they're coming from aplace of love, a place of
concern for you, like in yourwell-being, really coming from a
point of trying to protect you,right.
But even if it is well-meaningmost of the times, most of the
times it is but it can still behard to listen and absorb that
(03:42):
because if you're workingtowards your goals, right, and
you're doing the things, andsuddenly someone asks you is
that too much?
Immediately in your head, youask yourself to respond right.
But then that starts to get thedoubt to start creeping into
(04:03):
what you've been doing to yourpurpose, your path, and you
start to question yourself,especially if it is coming from
someone who you know loves youand you know it's not coming
from a place of ill will.
You know that it's someone thatreally does want the best for
you.
It's hard to hear that reallydoes want the best for you.
(04:25):
It's hard to hear that.
So I want to give you some waysto kind of navigate through
that and truly understand, like,what you do with that
information Because, like I said, it can start to go left.
You can start to doubt your pathand your purpose and start to
think maybe I am doing too much.
Like I've been there, you aretalking to a very
multi-passionate woman.
(04:46):
Y'all know I talk about it onthe podcast the many things that
I work towards that.
I feel like all of it is stillworking together towards my
purpose and my path.
But sometimes someone lookingoutside, looking in, can look at
it and say, wow, that's a lot,you know.
Or the question I've gotten alot is like how do you manage it
(05:08):
all?
How can you possibly do it all?
And so, like you hear thecomment, you hear the question
and you're spiraling right.
Am I doing it wrong?
Maybe they might be right,maybe I do have a lot on my
plate, or is there somethingthat I'm missing?
Is there something else that Ineed to be doing differently?
(05:28):
And so here are some thingsthat I've learned Take the
feedback when they say it, takeit, listen, receive it and hold
space for it.
Just hold space for it withinyourself.
Don't allow it to start to makeyou start spiraling out, but
(05:48):
get curious.
Get curious If someone's askingyou the question, like it's an
opportunity maybe not toimmediately respond and like
defend yourself, but do getcurious and tune back in within
yourself and say, is this toomuch?
Am I okay?
How is my capacity right now?
(06:09):
How am I feeling?
How's my mindset, how's my mindhealth?
How is my body?
How am I feeling with what Ihave on my plate?
Because guess what your body isgoing on my plate, because
guess what your body is going totell you.
If it is too much, it is goingto tell you loudly sometimes if
(06:30):
you are ignoring it.
And so tune back in with self,listen into your spirit in those
quiet moments and don't feellike you need to immediately
respond moment.
And don't feel like you need toimmediately respond.
Sometimes it's just a you know,hey, is that too much?
(06:50):
Maybe sometimes take a momentand say you know what I'm going
to think about it.
Thanks for you know, thanks forbringing it up right.
Because it is a moment for youto get curious and ask yourself
the question, not in a way todefend against what they've
asked, but to really, reallytune into yourself, and these
are things like tuning in withyou is something that you can do
(07:11):
, often on your own right.
But sometimes, when we getfocused in on goals, sometimes
we forget to ask ourselves, likeif we're doing okay, if this is
too much, if there is anythingthat we need to be doing
differently.
And so sometimes asking thequestion, someone asking you the
question, is actually a gift,because maybe you haven't asked
(07:31):
yourself in a while, maybe youhaven't tuned in with self to
see, like, how you truly aredoing.
Because, truly like at the endof the day, y'all, because truly
like at the end of the day,y'all, you're the one who's
going to know how much is enoughor too much for your plate in
this season.
You're the only one that'sgoing to know that Even the
(08:06):
person asking the question youknow coming at it from a lens of
protection or from, you know, alens of well-being they're
still not going to know exactlywhat is going to be enough or
too much for you in a season,because it's not their plate,
and that's okay.
Sometimes you can feel like youknow something's aligned or not.
Only you can do that, only youcan do that.
Only you know that, only youknow your pace, only you are
(08:29):
able to set your pace, only youcan sense when it's time to
either slow down or speed up.
And that's why y'all I hone inon this message so much about
listening in and tuning inwithin yourself, because it's
only you, it's only you thatknows like what your healing
looks like, what your familyneeds, what you need right now,
(08:50):
what your capacity is right now.
It's only you.
And so here's the truth.
That can be hard to sit withsometimes, but not everyone is
going to understand your patheither, even the ones closest to
you that love you you know themost, who are in it and see you
(09:12):
working towards these goalsevery day.
Sometimes they may notunderstand it, and it's really
like I said, it's because it'snot their plate, it's not their
path, it's because it's yourpath and it's uniquely yours,
and I love that about humanity.
I love that.
We each have our own plates tofill, we each have our own paths
(09:36):
to walk, and sometimes that canget lonely.
But I want you to think of itas from a lens of if they don't
understand, okay, that's fine.
They're walking their own path,they've got their own things on
their plate.
Their sole purpose is not toalways check in with what's
(09:58):
going on on our plate andunderstanding fully what's on
our plate.
We're all walking differentpaths.
We're all walking withdifferent dreams.
We're all walking with our owntiming.
And okay, somebody may notunderstand Maybe it's the
(10:18):
closest person to you, maybe youreally truly want them to
understand Guess what they don'thave to understand to be able
to support you.
They don't Not fully, not fully.
They don't have to understandwhy you said no to an
opportunity or why you said yesto yet another opportunity, or
why you haven't gone back towork yet, why you're keeping
(10:41):
your baby at home while youstart work again.
They don't have to understandwhy you're starting that
business when it feels like yourlife is already so full, with
the kids and the appointmentsand all the things.
That's okay.
It's not your job to explainyour every single move and
(11:02):
really, truly, your job is tokeep walking your path.
It's to keep showing up for you, for your family, for your
growth.
It's for you, right.
It's your job to keep doingthat.
So if you have been listening tothis today and you're in this
space where maybe you'requestioning yourself because of
(11:25):
a question, someone asked youwhether it's that.
Is that too much?
How do you handle it all?
Whatever the question is, it'sokay to take a moment to ask
yourself the question because ofsomeone else's opinion, but
always come back to you, alwayscheck in with your body, check
(11:47):
in with your peace, check inwith your capacity, check in to
see if your spirit is rising orshrinking with your path that
you're on Now.
If you're shrinking, your bodyis loudly telling you that you
need to slow down or we need topivot or we need to something.
Don't ignore that y'all.
Please don't ignore you.
(12:08):
I will be firsthand to tell youthat ignoring it gets you
nowhere, but down for a littlebit longer than maybe if you had
listened that first time.
If your body's telling you tohey, yes, this actually is too
much.
You know it's okay to ask thatquestion y'all, because you will
(12:30):
always know you really, reallydo.
And I want us to start trustingourselves more.
I want us to have that safespace within ourselves to ask
ourselves the question andanswer honestly, like seriously,
answer like okay, yes, thisactually might be too much.
What do I need to do?
(12:51):
What do I need to do so that Ilighten my load?
And so we're going to circleback around.
Not everybody's going to get it.
Not everybody's going to get it.
Let them, let them not get it.
There's my Mel Robbins moment.
If you have not read that bookyet, by the way, y'all, I am
still working my way through itbut let them not understand.
(13:12):
Let them because, again, likeit's not their job, and y'all
thank you.
Let them because, again, likeit's not their job, and y'all
thank you.
Thank you.
Always If you have noticed ashift on the podcast this season
, I have been coming to y'allwith my heart, like every single
episode, and so just thank youto everyone who has been
(13:34):
allowing me to share that withyou just by tuning in to every
episode, has been allowing me toshare that with you just by
tuning in to every episode.
Y'all have no idea how much likethat impacts me and how much it
lets me know keep going.
What you're saying, someone outthere needs to, needs to hear
it and listen in, and so if thisepisode gave you that
(13:55):
permission that you didn't knowyou needed, you needed because
sometimes we need it right.
Sometimes we need to understandthat we don't have to defend
our path to anyone.
Sometimes we need that reminder.
So if you got that today,please share it with either
another mama or another womanwho you know is working towards
(14:17):
some big-ass goals, and they maybe getting some questions from,
maybe the people that they love, or maybe just you know,
strangers even.
Please send this episode tothem, because they may need to
hear it too, and y'all.
So until next time, please keeptrusting your path, keep
(14:37):
listening within time.
Please keep trusting your path,keep listening within and keep
honoring your pace, because it'syours.
Remember, we're going to keepsaying that.
I think that's the theme ofthis season.
It's yours, it's already yours,and let's keep thriving
together.
I'll see y'all on the next one.
Thank you so much for listening.
Love.
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
(15:00):
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it, as always,sending you light and love, and
remember you are worthy, you areenough and you deserve to
thrive.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.