Episode 99: Life seasons may shake us but don’t have to break us!

The Be THAT Mom Movement Podcast: Protecting kids in a digital world

Its been a while since I recorded an episode, because life was trying to shake me an break me, but I'm back to bring you more episodes!

Download my free Parenting in the Digital Age Resource guide! CLICK HERE or go to this link: https://www.dollydenson.com/digitalresources and be sure to opt in to my email list to be the first to know when my Be THAT Mom Movement Method course, your toolkit and roadmap for all things digital when raising kids today, is released!!

FREE DOWNLOAD: Tips for using Bark + Digital Resources

FREE DOWNLOAD: Digital Resources

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DIGITAL RESOURCE TOOLS:

Grab your Troomi phone today! Click here or use code BETHATMOM at https://troomi.com/ to grab $30 off your kid’s Troomi phone!

BARK subscription CLICK HERE (Use code BETHATMOM for 20% off & 7 day free trial)

Pinwheel phone CLICK HERE (use code BETHATMOMTEN for a discount!)

Gabb phone CLICK HERE (use code BETHATMOM for a discount)

Tick Talk Watch CLICK HERE (use code BETHATMOM for a discount)

Stay connected with the Be THAT Mom Movement on social media via instagram https://www.instagram.com/the_bethatmommovement

Align Your Life Wellness LLC: Consult options can be found here: https://www.bit.ly/alignoptions

MOM WELLNESS TOOLS:

Fit Club info: Being THAT mom isn’t easy, so prioritizing our own wellness is so important! Get tips and tools plus support to help you simplify and align your health/wellness through fitness & nutrition tools that will get you results and to be strong and energetic for your kids! For more info on these tools & the Align Your Life Fit Club, CLICK HERE!!

MOM HUSTLE TOOLS:

Kajabi: The best platform to run your business with all the things in one place! CLICK HERE

Functional Medicine University: CLICK HERE

Health/Wellness Partner opportunity!! Focus on your own wellness through fitness/nutrition while inviting a few friends to join you and/or build your own brand as a wellness advocate with BODi: Email me at [e-mail] for more info!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND LINKS: https://www.linktr.ee/dollydenson

Full Transcription:

Speaker 1: (00:00)

Hello? Hello. Is this thing on? Yes, it is Dolly and I am the host of this Be That Mom Movement podcast and I am back to bring you some more episodes. It has literally been way too long, I think over a year since my last episode and I have gone back and forth about whether or not to record more episodes, go in a different direction, start another podcast. But I do think I have a lot to offer you still as a parent raising a kid in the digital age. And so I am gonna fire this thing back up. Stay tuned.

Speaker 2: (00:36)

Welcome to your source for tips, tools and support to help you be that mom that is tuned in and proactive for yourself, your family, and for the wild ride of raising kids in this digital age. Inspired by a mother's love with a relatable real life. Proud to be that mom Flare. This is the Be That Mom Movement with your host Dolly Denson. So

Speaker 1: (01:03)

Yes,

Speaker 1: (01:03)

I am back to record more episodes. A lot has happened in my life and I'm gonna update you on a few things on our short little episode today. But um, just wanted to fire this back up and bring some more information to you. Lots and lots of things have changed in my life in the past year, year and a half. Some of you know some of that history. If you've listened to some of my last episodes, really rough times to go through in several aspects. And first of which I wanna mention is that my husband and I sold our house and we are living in an RV right now. We're stationary near his parents, but we decided that all the kids were outta the house and we didn't want the big huge house And all that came with it and trying to be honest about looking towards our future and what we want for ourselves and just decided that we were gonna downsize.

Speaker 1: (01:55)

There were some days that I thought we were super crazy as we went through this process. It did take us um, nine months, a little bit longer to sell the house, but ultimately now it has been, what has it been five months since we sold and started living in the rv. And there have been hiccups, there have been things we haven't anticipated that have been a little bit hard, but there's also been good things and my husband and I spending more quality time together and really seeing that we can live with much less and still be comfortable. So it's quite amazing to go from a four bedroom, three bath house to , a little bitty rv and our RV's not one of the smallest, it's, I think it's 35 or 38 feet, something like that set up nice so that we can live in it and have some comfort and that sort of thing.

Speaker 1: (02:49)

But definitely different than living in a house but definitely a change that we needed. So that's been the biggest change and that's been the biggest challenge with firing this podcast back up is not having my closet to record in that has sound cut out by the clothes and all of that. And one thing, if you've never been in an RV or lived or traveled in an rv, a lot of times the air conditioning is really loud when it's on. And we are in a very hot state during the summer and we also had a very hot summer. So that was one of the delays from starting this is I'm like, I can't record the podcast when all you can hear is like, I'm like in a winds tunnel when the air conditioning is going. So as of right now, this is middle of October, Texas has some cooler weather.

Speaker 1: (03:39)

I actually have the windows open right now in the rv. I don't have the air conditioning on. It was actually chilly this morning. It was like 43 when I got up. So it was a little chilly in the rv. So that's cut out some of the background noise. But I do have the windows open and sometimes you can hear road noise and different things that are going on at places nearby us. So apologize for that if the microphone does pick that up. Another change that I made was the filter that I put on my microphone. I had to change that out. I couldn't have the big pop filter thing that I had before because I have nowhere to store it. So I stored that and in the process of moving, found some cases to put my microphone in and my headphones in and I've kept them stored in our bedroom.

Speaker 1: (04:25)

Another thing that we've noticed with the RV is when it gets really hot, it's not real well insulated. They're made pretty cheaply. So in the Texas heat been a bit of a challenge. If you have stuff that's like on the edges of the rv, we don't have a lot of shade where we're at. So if you have anything that's like on the edge, it gets hot. And so for the longest time I had put my microphone in my headphones in a certain cabinet that was near the outside of the rv. And one day in the heat of the day I went to getting something outta that cabinet and noticed that they were both hot. So I didn't even know if they were really gonna work. Also didn't know if this new filter for my microphone was gonna work, but it sounds like it's cutting out some of the background noise and making it pretty clear.

Speaker 1: (05:07)

So lots of changes in that regard. And so that was kind of one thing that made me hesitant from starting this up again. But I keep having these things come up where I think I need to share that with people. as I have come off on the other end of raising kids in the digital age, my kids now are 25, 21 and 18. I had to do the math there and we have an empty nest . My youngest is at college and we survived. And I have a lot of insight to tell you about the decisions we made, the the hard road that we inadvertently took because we didn't know better and the beauty that came out of that. And yes, there was beauty that came out of that. So if you're in the thick of raising kids in the digital age, you know, if you've listened to some of my episodes that the digital stuff absolutely does have an influence.

Speaker 1: (06:04)

Sorry for the dogs barking. I do have two little poodles. That's another new thing that came about. Well one of 'em is one of my daughters. But staying with us for the time being right now helping her get through the potty train and all of that. But I have two poodles. Willow is the older one. She is a year and a couple of months. But we got her this month last year when we did get her, we actually were looking for a name, couldn't decide what name we wanted to give and searching different names. And one of the daughters commented on or suggested Willow. And I looked it up, I was looking at the meaning of the name and the meaning of the name is somehow related to freedom. And so once I heard that, I was like, okay, that's her name. . Like it's a given.

Speaker 1: (06:48)

And she is the sweetest dog. She is so chill and so smart. If you don't know poodles, if you don't know the poodle breed, they are absolutely so smart. She and she loves to swim. That's the craziest part. If you follow me on social media, you've seen it. But she wants to go swimming every day. Even now as we're getting colder, she doesn't get in the pool as much when the water's cold. What she does is she chases around the pool vacuum that we turn on and when the pool pumps are on. So , this amazing poodle came into our life a year ago. I wanted a poodle for the longest time I saw her picture. She was the breeder that my oldest daughter got her poodle from. And oh my god, I just fell in love. And you know, you know, having a dog, especially an inside dog, is a responsibility and is a lot of work.

Speaker 1: (07:38)

But she has fit right in. Like she has always belonged here and just to been the most amazing thing. I've never had a connection to a dog like I do with her. And I love the breed. I love that she's hypoallergenic and doesn't shed is one thing. The other poodle that we have, her name is Juniper and she's my second daughter's poodle and second daughter's working a lot and busy and away from home a lot. So she was being left alone a lot. And so she asked us to keep her for the time being and help get her potty trained and get into more of a routine. So that's what we've been doing and she's been doing great, but sometimes they bark in the background. So if you hear them, just consider it a hello from Willow and Juniper . So back to what I was saying about the digital influence.

Speaker 1: (08:23)

If you've listened to me from the beginning, this is gonna sound like so redundant in the thing that I've said over and over, but the digital imprint on our children absolutely has an influence. It is there if we're allowing our children to have any digital devices, have social media, that sort of thing. And it doesn't have to be that they have social media, like it can just be you're giving a device. But if we can provide guidance and pull back when we need to, you can come out on the other end doing well . And my family is proof of that. So I don't regret for a second the decisions that we made. And I'm just here to pass some of that along to you. Other things that have happened in our life, some of you know the history. I did an episode I believe, talking about how one of my gaps in episodes was because of being terminated from my job for not getting the, you know what?

Speaker 1: (09:13)

And I had a legal case going and that resolved in September and it resolved by them shutting down my side and my due process, very crooked process, very much controlled by them on the other side, my former employer and very pathetic in America. I won't go into much more details about that right now, but just understand I didn't lose, they never gave me a chance to bring the facts and my version of the story, they only allowed their version. They forced arbitration and they hired the arbitrator. He's pathetically on a top neutral arbitrator list, but yet didn't allow me to have my day. The lawyer that represented the other side, she actually has a podcast where she talks about how important it is for employers to have a conversation with their employees when they're granting accommodations in, in considering a religious exemption while she defended my employer.

Speaker 1: (10:12)

That gave me no conversation, gave me no reasonable accommodation. So this sort of thing really, really bugs me. 'cause I'm huge about alignment and my business, my health side of my business is called align Your Life Wellness. It's all about aligning your daily choices, your beliefs, your habits with where you want to go for your future. So I think it's sad and pathetic that we have people in America that are defending the practice that we saw, you know, roll out to America. I mean, if you're the person that wanted to get this injection and you did well with it, great kudos to you. But we have the freedom of choice in America and when we let the health freedom that we have go, then that's it. game over. Because the pharmaceutical industry, the health insurance industry, everything, all these corporations, all the three letter agencies, they truly are in bed together.

Speaker 1: (11:06)

It's not for a greater good. There are so many things about the pharmaceutical industry and about things that medical doctors prescribe to patients then this day and age that are harming health. There's so much that is not addressed, that's deeper root issues, that is harming health. And so if we have people defending this practice and this former employer of mine has gotten away with doing what they did to me while I am $20,000 plus out another brick in the wall, I think it's pathetic beyond reason that we have Americans walking around in America defending this practice from the supervisor that I had that implemented firing me to every single person that is a played a part in silencing me and not giving me due process. I think they're all pathetic and I think they lack discernment. They lack a connection to their gut and they truly don't deserve the freedoms that they are given because they are Americans.

Speaker 1: (12:04)

As you can tell, this is really a highly emotional topic for me and very frustrating because I worked hard. I have a pure heart and I have a right to my religious beliefs and I have a right to make the choices that I made. And no means no, I shouldn't have to ask permission. I didn't grant that they be able to make my medical decisions by choosing to take a paycheck from them. So I think it's sad and pathetic. This lawyer, this arbitrator, the supervisor that fired me, everybody involved that didn't turn in their resignation and leave, which a lot of people did, all of them pathetic. So that's all I'll say about that. And I apologize for going off on a little rant with that, but very, it has been a very difficult year because of that and all that I've faced. The next thing that I want to mention is just that you know that I have health and wellness side of things.

Speaker 1: (12:56)

My business called Align Your Life Wellness. I've done health coaching for years in the last three years. I have been working hard at learning more root cause, holistic health type approaches, and just finished a functional medicine practitioner certification. I have learned in the past two years how to do functional blood chemistry, can run multiple functional labs like a Dutch test, hair, tissue, mineral analysis tests, organic acids tests, those sorts of things. And then I also am launching consults where I do bio resident scans, which are highly, highly insightful and a great way to kind of look at things from another perspective, to help you to dig deeper, get to root cause issues, help your body to balance and be in a state of ease. So that is another part of what I do. And that was just my little pitch there. But the reason I bring that up here on the podcast is that I want to do, I've thought a lot about this, like either launching another podcast that's more health related or just doing some pop off episodes that just give you some tips for navigating this.

Speaker 1: (13:58)

And the reason why I think it could be pertinent for the podcast is because for me personally, having a foundation of habits, the main things, you know, moving your body purposefully, eating good, drinking water, those sorts of things helped me so much through my hard days. And if you've watched some of or listened to some of my episodes previously, I felt that that was a place where I, I had me , I had something to do when it was my hard days with raising the kids. And then it also became a place where I had some boundaries around that. And it helped me to have me, you know, to not lose me in motherhood. And then as I came to the empty nest, I feel like at least for me personally, that I've handled the empty nest better because I have my own foundation of things that are important to me, my own interest in things.

Speaker 1: (14:48)

I didn't give it all away to motherhood, if that makes sense. And then some more of the digging deeper things. And these things I talked about with functional blood chemistry and being a functional medicine practitioner and all of that. Those things I think are the wave of the future for health. I think that our old system, that what I call the mainstream system, is going to crumble to some degree. I think it has a place for acute issues and emergencies. But so many people come to me telling me they no longer trust their doctor. And you know, they want to look at this from another perspective. And the way that functional medicine comes to your health is to dig deeper into root causes. And then there's another thing under functional medicine called foundational medicine, which my focus on that as well is basically taking toxins away, looking at pathogens that are there and removing things, adding things in that may be depleted because of those things.

Speaker 1: (15:44)

Lowering your toxic load, reducing your exposure to things. And as you do those things, the body rebalances itself. So it's not a diagnose and treat type approach, it's more of let's see what's going on with your body and then let's provide some support to get the things out that are causing issues and to add things in that have been depleted and then see how things are recheck things and just kind of go from there. So highly, highly important to, for us to kind of switch and moved in that direction instead of always looking for a pill to cure every ill because so many of those are harmful. So I think they have a place in certain conditions and when we have certain issues, but we put too much faith in medical doctors and pharmaceuticals for health. They do not promote health and some of them actually cause harm and make things worse for you.

Speaker 1: (16:37)

And I'll leave it at that for this episode. And but considering doing some pop out episodes related to that sort of thing, or I might eventually launch another podcast if there's not a lot of interest on this one. So all of that being said, I'm excited to be back. I hope that you are excited to hear some more episodes. I'll probably try to keep most of these short and sweet because you're a busy mom and you're doing your thing and don't have a ton of time for stuff like this. I do still recommend things like Bart and Pinwheel, the pinwheel phone, Tru Me phone, gab phone, and and watch the TikTok watch all those things that I've talked about in the past. I still think they're all excellent things and my discount codes still work for them. So check those out in the show notes if you're interested in grabbing any of those.

Speaker 1: (17:20)

And then the course that I have talked about multiple times and never got published, I have it all ready to go, but I had a couple of modules at the end that I hadn't finished, which I think I have an idea what I'm gonna do for those and then I need to get that out into the world. I was just stuck on getting a sales page and then getting it published and then you know, everything under the sun fell apart for me in every realm of my life, in the past couple of years. So all that being said, excited to be here here. Hope that you are too, and I will chat with you next time.

Speaker 2: (17:55)

Thanks for tuning in. Being that mom isn't easy, but together we can be that mom strong. Don't forget to leave a review, connect on social and join Dolly's free community till next time.