HI! I’M GABBY. WELCOME TO MOM MAKES JOY!
There’s a quote from George Bernard Shaw that I love, and it goes like this: “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
But when you’re a juggling the chaos of all your responsibilities as a mom, how do you even find time to do this?
My mission at MMJ is to to help moms create a life of calm so that they have time to create themselves and a life they love.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
I started writing Mom Makes Joy in the summer of 2013 under the name Essentially Eclectic. What started as simply a way to keep in touch with friends and family after a cross-country move to Boston soon became an eclectic mix of craft and DIY creations that I shared with readers like you.
And then something changed.
Becoming a mother was a scary leap for me, not only because of my chronic illness and my struggles with anxiety, but because I suddenly felt like my life was missing a sense of direction and purpose. Those feelings of aimlessness were magnified when I became a stay-at-home-mom and found myself wondering Am I doing this right? Am I doing this well? How do I keep it all together? What am I accomplishing? Where is my joy? more often than I care to admit.
Don’t get me wrong: I love my family and I adore being a mom. But it wasn’t until I took an intentional approach to my actions, habits, and thought processes that I felt like I was capable of really thriving — as a person and as a mother.
WHAT THIS SITE IS ALL ABOUT
Mom Makes Joy is about helping you get it together…
- It’s about helping you create joy when you’re overwhelmed
- It’s about learning ways to be a mom who does it all…
- And it’s about finding peace in imperfection
- It’s about raising kids with a commitment to gentleness AND firm boundaries
- It’s about taking an evidence-based approach to parenting where you can…
- And it’s about following your motherly instincts
- It’s about discussing the hard parts of being a mom while remaining kind in disagreement
- And it’s about remembering to treat yo’self–because being a mom is hard work!
These things can all be summarized by the 6 core values of the Mom Makes Joy community (in no particular order of importance):
INSTINCTS
JOY
EVIDENCE
EMPATHY
KINDNESS
GENTLENESS
You can learn more about the reasoning behind each of these core values on my FAQs page.
SUBSCRIBE
If any of this resonates with you, you’ll want to be sure to join the Mom Makes Joy community by subscribing below. As this site grows, you will be the first to know about new content and will have access to my library of free resources designed specifically with you in mind. Sign up below!
