Ways to Build Community In Your Season with Mariah Friend

Welcome! In This Season is a podcast dedicated to the community of Motherhood Minute and a way to continue the conversations we have in this space. Please consider supporting this project and future projects that help mothers build community!

In this episode, I interview

Mariah Friend

from The Barefoot Beat about building community in motherhood for the series Nurturing Spaces. We explore the importance of acknowledging grief and allowing ourselves to feel multiple things at one time. This conversation emphasizes the importance of consistency and pacing oneself when building new relationships.

“That's really how people begin to be more vulnerable with each other. It's how you get to those kind of more quality relationships. So when I'm focusing on, okay, what do I have capacity for, you know, energy wise or time wise when I'm building community, I'm really kind of looking at that longer trajectory.”

Mariah Friend

This conversation went down a few unexpected turns (mostly because I let it!). Mariah helps us look at the following:

• We can learn to hold paradoxes and embrace complexity

• Benefits to consider mental and physical seasons when building a community

• Incorporate practices like regular phone calls or monthly activities

• Build relationships outside of motherhood

• Focus on consistency and pacing when building trust

If you are ready to hear more from Mariah, sign up for her newsletter at

Heartbeats

You can also find her on social media @ thebarefootbeat

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Questions Chanel asked in the episode:

1. Thank you for joining me in this space, Mariah. Could you give our listeners a bit of background about who you are, where you live, and the work you do?

2. Today we are talking about specific ways in which we can build community in our current seasons. Why do you think it’s so important to consider what mental or physical season we are in when it comes to our expectations of building a motherhood community?

3. What are some practices we can incorporate into whatever season of life we are in that will help us find community in motherhood?

4. Do you have any final thoughts on helping the mothers in this space learn how to build or sustain community in motherhood?

5. What is one thing you would like to “set down” and one thing you would like to “pick up” in life in this current season? For example, I’m learning to set down bitterness and pick up gratitude.

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