In honor of Mother's Day, this episode explores the complicated reality of parenting while living with severe mental health challenges. We start by sharing some of the positives of parenting — the moments of love, pride, and joy that keep us going even on the hardest days.

From there, we open up about the very real physical struggles that can come with parenting while battling mental illness: cooking, cleaning, driving, keeping up with appointments, and simply getting through the day. We also talk about the emotional side of parenting — learning emotional regulation and trying to model healthy coping skills while struggling ourselves. We get honest about parenting while dysregulated and how emotionally and physically exhausting it can be.

This conversation also takes a deeper look at how our own childhood experiences and relationships ...