Mum's The Word! The Parenting Podcast - Learning to Love Yourself Post Pregnancy - with Takkies

Episode Date: April 14, 2024

On This Week's Mum's The Word:Georgia Jones is joined by Nwateko Dinwiddy aka Takkies to chat all about her struggles with moving to a new country while pregnant, the importance of loving your body post-pregnancy & why exercise is vital to a happy life?They'll Discuss:What moving to the UK from South Africa is really like?Why our kids should be taught about money in schools?How loving our bodies post-pregnancy is the best thing we can do?Get In Contact With Us:Do you have a question for us? Get in touch on our Whatsapp, that's 07599927537 or email us at [e-mail] for Listening---A Create Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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C'est facile à utiliser et vous obtenez vos remises par PayPal ou par chèque. L'idée est simple. Les magasins paient Rakuten pour leur envoyer des gens magasinés. Et Rakuten partage l'argent avec vous sous forme de remise. Téléchargez l'application gratuite Rakuten et ne manquez jamais un bon deal. Ou allez sur rakuten.ca pour en avoir plus pour votre argent. C'est R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Hello and welcome back to Mums the Word, the parenting podcast.

I'm Georgia Jones and I'm your host for this week. So I have been home to my parents because I decided I needed to be parented. I needed my mum to look after me for a little bit and goodness me, it was just what I needed. So I'm suggesting to anyone that needs to just tap out for a little while and not have the pressure of being a parent, go back to your mum and dad's house and be looked after. Being a parent, go back to your mum and dad's house and be looked after.

So today's guest on Mum is the Word is Takis, one of my friends actually. She's a mum, a businesswoman, a dancer, an incredible dancer and a fitness instructor. Originally from South Africa, Takis now lives in the UK with her two gorgeous little girls Suri and Sana. She champions body positivity and is just a great all-round role model for mums and women in general. Welcome to the podcast Tackies. Thank you for having me. So lovely to have you here. So me and Tackies are actually with the same management so we know each other very well don't we?'ve been on retreats together we've went to Newquay together yeah we did a bit of a beach stay we did we did it was just fabulous and it was nice and warm wasn't it yeah we had a lovely time we had beers and pizza on the beach didn't we oh yes and a bit of dancing well you were dancing I don't know what I was doing it's not much rhythm in me honestly

Takis is obviously a professional dancer I am the complete opposite of what a professional dancer is which is just not being able to dance whatsoever. So, yeah. And Taki's like, should we dance in this content? No, we shall not. We're not doing that. You're like, let's look pretty, smile, gorgeous. I'll just smile and sit and pose in my beer and pizza.

Thank you. Or hold my head. Yeah. That's why I had a prop. That's why I had a hat. I why I had a hat I needed a prop otherwise I would have just been yeah insanely awkward so for those of you that don't know Taki she's South African don't know if you can tell that in her beautiful beautiful accent but lives in the UK now and you have two lovely daughters Suri and Sana yeah Sana Sana I was

checking I said that right I know exactly what her name is um and how old are the daughters, Suri and Sana. Sana? Sana. I was checking I said that right. I know exactly what her name is. And how old are the girls? So Suri's three and Sana's six. Oh, God. Yeah, because obviously Sana and Cooper, they're the same age, aren't they? Yes, we were pregnant at the same time. We were.

We were. And you are a wonderful working mummy. You run a dance. What is it you run? The dance? So, yes yes and i'm a piano dance class yes on saturdays yes fun super fun social media you are digital content creation i'm a woman's wellness advocate i love cheering on women to just be their best selves yeah social media and actually i don't know that anyone has not seen it. And if you haven't, go on Taki's Instagram.

But you were on the front cover of Women's Health in South Africa, right? Because Taki's is a big deal, a very big deal in South Africa. Thanks. I always think to myself, like, because you are actually very famous out there. I mean, no disrespect to you here, but probably more famous in South Africa than you are in England. Yeah. I think I had a struggle moving to a different country and not being quite as well known. Was it difficult for you?

It was so hard. It was literally humble beginnings. I mean, I moved to the UK and it was like, who's this girl? Sorry, who are you? I had to knock on doors again. I had to start from scratch, which I didn't mind because I love a good challenge. However, I was pregnant at the time. So I was like, can the work just come?

You know, I'm pregnant. And also it was COVID. So it was a weird time. But also at the same time, I had to work because that's the type of person I am. If I'm not working, I go crazy. I can't just sit and do nothing all day. So I had to knock. But luckily, I had a few people who were like, hey, your content yeah let's do something you know um so I did a few of those

and then Max found me Max found you Max is our manager um and he obviously was scrolling me oh Max is brilliant internet and found you like hello I like you let's take you on exactly I was like how did you find me I'm all the way from Africa. I've barely been in the UK for a year. And you found me. But yeah, that was awesome. And the moment Max found me, I was like, I can breathe. However, when he first reached out, he had no website. He had no footprint.

I was like, who's this man? No thanks. He just started his company as well, hadn't he? So you were a bit like, this does not feel safe. Nope. And I think I ignored the first email. And then he came back again and he had like signed 16 people. And I looked at all the talent and I was like, now we're talking.

And I signed. And I didn't even meet him because it was COVID. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I think it was just a conversation I had with him. He was so honest and just so raw about his story and his situation and I was like for me this is real and I would rather sign with someone who's real honest and hardworking yeah and yeah that's why I signed with him and ever since then I've been working you have been good yeah and I mean I've worked with so many amazing brands yeah and I now feel like I'm in a place where

okay now I can you know kind of almost feel like my old working self again yeah even though obviously it's two different countries but I feel so much better about being in the UK and working yeah and you feel like you can I think when you start like actually seeing the benefits of working then you feel like you can just relax a little bit more as well when you've got kids yeah the pressure to make sure you are providing and you have you know enough money to give them the life that you want to give them exactly and not only that like for my girls i want them to know what hard work is i don't want them to think money falls from trees they even know like if i have to leave the house i'm like girlfriend mama's going to work because the spread is not going to buy itself yeah you

know that's exactly what i say to cooper like if i was like oh mommy do you have to go to work because the spread is not going to bite so yeah you know that's exactly what i said to cooper like everybody's like oh mommy do you have to go to work i'm like well do you want nice things and do you want a roof over your head and do you want food on your plate because if you do then yes mommy does need to go to work and that's like that's just life and that's what we have to do and it's the perfect age to introduce it now so that as they get older they'll wonder like i don't know go sell cookies in the corner of the street or i don't know or make maybe not in england maybe oh you guys want to do that yeah you can boast up on the corner of the street have your cookies do your chips oh yeah you can just sell to whoever walks past i think we just be moved on by the police here they'd be like you haven't got a license for this like bye get out of here i don't care if you're six no that's crazy

so you have to buy a building before you can sign anything. Yeah, you've got to have a street license. You've got to have a seller's permit. That's wild. I mean, I wish they did that, yeah, because there wouldn't be so many people begging on the street. Oh, I know, I know. I believe in job creation and, you know,

making money for yourself in the most creative ways. Yeah, yeah. God, yeah, like little lemonade stance yeah well i have actually i don't know what you whether you do this with the girls because your girls are on you you show their faces and they're in your campaign sometimes same as coops is with me and um i started actually paying him a little bit of money yeah so when he does like you know helps me with a shoe i'll say to him like you know you obviously deserve to be paid for this so I'll pay you a little bit and it go in your piggy bank you can save it or

you can spend it on some lego or you know whatever I always wonder whether people think that's a bit strange but I think it's like quite a good way of teaching him that you know you have to work and then you get money you just get it yeah oh I believe in that I mean even with the girls so even things like I'm doing little chores around the house I'm like if you do chores and you know help mama out I'll put something in your little piggy bank and they like get straight into it because they want to make something to buy what they like yeah exactly and even like with saving I'm teaching them about saving I'm sure you're doing the same yeah I think it's the perfect age to do it and I don't know for you but for me growing up I didn't

really have that I mean I did have that concept of having a piggy bank but I think I wasn't like taught from an early age to save money or this is how money works I was a last born I got what I asked for so right yeah it's quite spoiled how many is there of you it's just two of us and I have an older brother right um and he's five years older than me so I got like and you're the girl yeah because you're the girl as well like the youngest exactly yeah girls get everything exactly so I didn't have that but I think the older I got I was like no you know what I want to switch it up for my girls I want them to know from a young age because also with schools yeah I don't think they really teach that right no I mean honestly I think that this should be one of the main subjects taught in school fight like finance

it how to deal with your finances like I remember when I first started earning and dad was like oh don't forget you know you've got to put a certain amount away for tax i was like what's tax i didn't even know what tax was and he was like oh well and i was like what they take our money i was like what this is not fair and why am i not why am i not prepared for this and i remember it was such a shock and i was like why are they teaching us like about i don't know trigonometry i don't want to know that i need to know how to do my tax return that's what i need to know how to do it's life skills yeah they made it maybe they do do that in school now i don't know because obviously our kids aren't there yeah they still age yeah they do because i mean in school i didn't have that no no we didn't we did have a little thing where you could go in so it was like like once, I can't remember how often,

and we all had our little bank account booklets. Okay. And it was for a bank called Yorkshire Bank. I don't know whether it's still going. And we would go in and you could deposit your money. So you'd hand your money over and they would put it into a bank for you. Oh, that's brilliant. Yeah.

So I remember, I don't know if anyone else, any listeners had that. But yeah, we had that when we were growing up. I just remembered that. I wonder if they still have it because that's brilliant it's a good idea yeah and you could take in however much you wanted and you take it into school i mean to be honest now if people were kids were taking money into school it probably gets nicked wouldn't it oh yeah yeah yeah back there back then it didn't but going back to you and not me and my little child bank account so you obviously moved over to England yeah when you were when you're pregnant I was pregnant with Suri how how pregnant were you when you um I think I was so I moved in the it was end of the year Suri was born in June so I was

like about four months right okay and how and how was that like did you leave your whole support network over there or did anyone did like your mum or anyone come with you um so my mum came for like maybe three four weeks yeah um and then she left but she wasn't here for when I had Suri which was so hard so in South Africa I'm used to having support like my aunts down the road yeah and the nanny that we had for Sana you know so I always had like a support system around me. Then I got here and it was like, girl, you're on your own. And also things work differently here. You have to pay like per hour.

Back in South Africa, you can pay someone like a day fee and they'll just help you the whole day. And they're just there the whole day. They're there the whole day. Yeah. Wow. So, yeah, it was completely different. And also during COVID, people didn't really want to, like, come over to anyone's house. I mean, it wasn't allowed.

No, no. So you had to, like, do everything for yourself. Yeah. So you'd gone from, like, having all this support over in South Africa and then come in and having two kids. Yep. And one of them being a newborn. Exactly. Did you have many friends over here either?

I do, but everyone's so spread out because you know how massive London is. Everyone is so spread out. No one can be bothered to see each other every weekend. It's like, I'll see you when I see you. In the beginning, I didn't get that concept because in South Africa, it's like, girl, where are you?

I'm coming, I'll be there in 20 minutes. Here, you have to travel an hour, an hour and a bit. So even with my friends, I mean, I hardly see them, but I see them when I can yeah they also have some of them have kids they also have responsibilities so we can't all just you know jump up when you want you can't just always drop everything yeah and just like be there exactly and I think that also made my move like super hard because I left family friends just comfort yeah and I felt like I came to a cold country yeah literally yeah oh yeah let's not talk about the weather but yeah I think as time went I

started getting used to it and then also as the world opened up I saw more people I mean what a hard time to move to a different country as well like during COVID it's so funny now because whenever I do this podcast and I'm talking about people's like journeys in motherhood yeah and they're like oh yeah because it was covid when i was pregnant and i always i'm like now like oh my god i keep forgetting that like that that happened i've almost like blocked it completely out of my mind because it was a hideous because like we'd have had two like two and a half three year olds as well at that point as well and interestingly I feel like it was actually when Cooper did his most development into like mentally like that's when he started

talking because Cooper was quite a slow talker and that's when he actually started like speaking properly so that was like a nice thing but in terms of me mentally during covid i was like you're like broken woman i was like i can't do this no it was hard yeah i also think my pregnancy was also completely different yeah i don't blame you for like blocking it out so even with suri my pregnancy was completely different to sana sana was easy yeah you know first pregnancy it's just everything went perfectly fine yeah went back to work three weeks later dancing yeah oh my god sorry as soon as I landed in the UK TMI I was bleeding oh gosh and you were only four months at this point yes four months three

three months three months right bleeding I hadn't been signed to any doctor. I hadn't been, like, nothing. And no one could really help me until I had, like, a doctor signed to me. Oh, wow. And I was like, this is wild. So you can imagine when I arrived here, I was like, I want to go home. Yeah. You know, someone help me. Did you go to A&E?

Yes, I did. Right. Waited for hours. They were like, oh, we don't know why you're bleeding. You know, we'll call you when it's your turn. Waited for hours. Because obviously they help you if they see that you're about to die yeah if also i don't know if my baby was dying you know i was just like exactly yeah so yeah it was there was that after i gave birth my placenta got stuck hang on did this so much did they tell

you why you were bleeding was there like some woman bleed it happens oh right so they tell you why you were bleeding was there a reason like some women bleed it happens oh right so they and you weren't monitored or anything no so i then had to get a uh not yeah i had to go and i had to go for a scan oh okay yeah but even at that i had to wait like three four days oh wow i know it was that that is a long time i know especially when you don't know what's happening exactly and it's your first child like the panic sets in doesn't it oh yes i mean i was panicking i was crying every day because i'm not surprised i didn't know if i still had the baby or not your second child it wasn't your first child yeah second child yeah i didn't know if i still had a baby or not um also because three months you can't feel anything um yeah then i

went for a scan and then we then saw suri but then um they were like yeah I mean some women bleed some women don't we don't know and I was like right wow yeah great great answer I love it when they give you like nothing they're like yeah yeah because I'm like after all of them give me like um you shrug your shoulders thanks honestly the care the care sometimes is appalling yeah yeah when you gave birth your placenta got stuck jesus and for anyone that hasn't given birth yet that is listening to this placenta is a massive they're like the size of size of like a dinner plate yeah no idea i thought it was like i think it was just like a little liver like something tiny until you see it like boom on the table. You're like flat.

Like massive. It's like a giant blood clot, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's huge. Yeah. People don't tell you about the fact that you have to give birth to that either. So I tried to give birth to it and they like tried to help it by tugging it in. Did they give you an injection?

They did. Yeah. And that didn't help. Wow. I saw the faces of the midwife she was like that's not coming okay i was like okay cool something's not right during your pregnancy was there any like indication that your placenta was like attached anywhere or no not even okay no not at all so, so it was, was it stuck or was it actually attached to your body? Good question.

I don't know if it was, I don't know if it was stuck because it was attached, but the doctor had to like put his whole arm in and like scrape it out. I mean. I know TMI is so sorry. No, no, no, please. We love TMI. Nothing more humbling than being fisteded oh yeah I was like I was like I don't want to see that dog tamer again I'm just mortified that it even fit up there

oh my goodness no yeah a baby did pave the way for that's true that's true I mean I didn't feel you but I could just imagine it in normal day life that was it yeah it is um but right so he he had to pull it out yeah he literally scraped it out wow was there any like lasting effects of that or was that kind of um i do i do feel like my recovery did take a bit longer did it yeah and i'm comparing it to obviously sana yeah where the recovery was quicker everything was fine and also because I'm quite fit I mean I worked out dream out my pregnancy yeah and usually I get back on like after six weeks yeah three to six weeks but this time I chilled my body was just like no girl right so I just listened to my body and I relaxed see

that's really good that you listened as well because for somebody that's so into their fitness and dancing and and you you are you know a very very fit healthy person yeah it's very hard not to want to go back to that straight away especially when you've done that already before with your first pregnancy but good on you for actually listening to your body because I think a lot of people don't yeah and then that's where there's problems I know and then people do too much of course and I think for me it was super hard don't get me wrong but the thing was for me is I'd rather be better so that I can like keep doing what I'm doing for longer as opposed to just getting back to it because I just want to feel great yeah even though you probably won't feel great after after it so no yeah I mean it's good to listen

to your body it's something I've been doing for a very long time because I am a dancer I mean I could be dancing I could like feel oh my knees yeah and I need to like stop stop the show where do you do your dance classes by the way for anyone listening it's like yes guys please come dance with me so they are my piano classes they available to everybody whether you're a dancer whether you're a move or shake at home whether you've got two left feet which i don't believe in um the classes are in vox hall i can show you then you'll believe let's go we should have a dance honestly nothing sparks fear into me more than somebody saying can you dance dance with me i'm like oh no absolutely not like it makes you feel a bit

physically sick really really you're like must me honestly when i was modeling if i went into a casting and i got wind that the models prior to me going in was knew that we had to dance yeah I was literally like okay I'm gonna leave this casting now really yeah that's how that's how much I get scared of dancing but now what do you do like on a night out I have no idea get drunk I like drink thanks and then I have to have a drink in my hand to be able to dance because if my hands are free, I'm quite like long and like I just don't know what to do. Do you feel awkward?

Yes. Okay, I'm going to give you dance moves that you can do while you're out with a drink in your hand. Okay, thank you. Appreciate that. I can do it. Everyone will be like, wow, Georgie, you've got those moves. What's going on?

Yeah, you're going to be like, yeah, check me out. I also went through a phase of like having to have my hair down because I would need to be able, yeah, check me out. I also went through a phase of, like, having to have my hair down because I would need to be able to have, like, something to play with with the other hand. So it would need to be, like, drinking that hand. I can, like, play with my hair with this hand or hold my handbag in this hand. I see.

So then I didn't have, like, that awkwardness. That weird. Yeah, like, God knows what I was doing with the rest of my body. No, I want to's you on a night out because this was pretty interesting. No, no, no. Never. Especially not in front of someone

that's a professional. God. No, thank you. Anyway, back to you. Yeah. Do you have an insatiable fascination with the paranormal? Brace yourself for the supernatural world is about to reveal all of its secrets on the Paranormal Activity podcast.

And who better to guide you through this hair-raising journey than myself, Yvette Fielding, renowned paranormal investigator. Every episode of Paranormal Activity takes you on an unforgettable adventure into the unknown. But that's not all. The true heart of this podcast lies in the stories, evidence and questions shared by our devoted listeners. Will you dare to join me? Listen to Paranormal Activity with me, Yvette Fielding, wherever you get your podcasts from. So how have you found having two girls obviously obviously you know you're black yeah and

there is still racism in this world of course and your gorgeous girls have got the most beautiful hair and i know you've talked to me about it before of like i think it was sanna and said oh mummy i'd like straight i just said she'd like straight hair yeah um how would you deal with that how do you feel about it all you know like firstly the area i'm in needs more diversity especially we live in similar areas don't we there is not much diversity no it's very white so sanna sees straight hair all the time yeah i mean, recently now she's like, I want a fringe. And I'm like, girl, if you want a fringe, you need to be happy with a fringe that's like, you know, poking up. Fringes and curly hair never work, do they? No, it doesn't work, no.

And I'm very like real and honest with her. But then I'll go back and have a conversation with her and like remind her that your hair is beautiful the way it is. And I even tell her like your hair is beautiful the way it is. Yeah. And I even tell her like your hair does so many amazing things. You can braid it. You can have it straight. You can have it curly. You can have it up.

You can have it down. It's so versatile, you know. So I want her to fall in love with her hair and actually know how beautiful her hair is the way it is. Yeah. And because she doesn't see enough people with the same hair type, I think she does kind of feel left out. Because if I look at her class, everyone's hair is straight. I think maybe there's like a boy with like curly-ish, wavy-ish hair, but that's about it. So it is hard to navigate, but it's something I need to work on every day, even with the little one. Really?

Yeah, I have to navigate every day because they don't have anyone to like look at to say, okay, they've got the same hair as me. Yeah. So I try read them books about hair, not even just hair, even like their skin color. Yeah. Because the son will sometimes ask me, Mama, how come I'm this complexion, Suri is this color and you're this color and my dad's this color. You know, she's trying to understand and now she's trying, she's noticed it. So then I go into the conversation of, you know, we're all born different. We all look different.

And then I also explained to her that she's mixed race. So I have to have all these real conversations with her. Yeah, it's a lot. And it's something that I think a white mum of a white child can be quite ignorant to is that you have to have these ongoing conversations all the time whereas we don't we don't have to have those conversations i mean obviously we do to teach them that you know never ever be racist and you know everyone's just different everyone is the way they are yeah and but we don't have to have the difficult conversations like you do in that

like yeah but your your hair is like this. It's beautiful. This is your hair and this is beautiful. Yeah. The amount of people, it's funny, isn't it? Because if you've got curly hair, you don't want curly hair. If you've got straight hair, you don't want straight hair, do you? I think that's everyone.

Yeah, that is always life. You always want what you don't have. But yeah, that's it. It's the difficulty and the fact that you do have to constantly do that. Always. Every day.

And also, as moms, we're not in control of the conversations they have at school. No. I don't know what's being said to her

for her to come home and not love her skin and her hair. But all I can do on my side is just reassure her that she's beautiful just the way it is.

Every morning we do um affirmations do you every morning i feel like this is more of a girl mom thing but maybe i need to introduce it i think you should yeah i think you should i think it's for every child what do you say we say things like so i let them tell me how they feeling and what they think they are yeah so i'll start i'll be like i am and then they'll say beautiful oh and they So I'll start, I'll be like, I am. And then they'll say, beautiful. And they'll be like, I am. They'll be like, brave.

I am perfect just the way I am. I am, you know, and they just keep adding powerful. But in the beginning, I obviously gave them ideas of what they could say. Yeah. But now just let them say what they feel like they need to say for the day. Yeah. Which is amazing. I mean, I mean mean when i watch them

i'm just like you know what i'm doing a good job yeah well do you yeah i'm like you know what pat on the back you know i'm very proud of myself um you know and that's really good to like appreciate yourself as a parent because i sometimes think that and i don't think you you appreciate yourself enough sometimes but we should because sometimes i'll watch cooper and i'll be like oh he's so gorgeous look how kind he's been and then i'm like oh i did that yes exactly he's like that because he's learned that so that's good yeah right well to me and danny yeah exactly and i don't think we do appreciate like our kids' really good qualities. Yeah. Our learn, they learn from us. Exactly.

If it wasn't for us, they wouldn't have those great qualities. No. And you're right. We don't celebrate ourselves enough. And I think because we get so stuck in the parent life of the rush of school run, do this, getting things done, that we forget the little things that are actually big things that we've done so well yeah um that's why I always like tell my mom friends like take a moment sometimes and just take a step back look look at the situation look what you've done or look what's happened yeah just breathe and that's when you'll like see everything and actually realize that everything's okay you're

doing great yeah that's it and you're you're such a positive person like you really do radiate that whenever i see you i'm like oh here she is this sunshine's walked into the room because you are you're like oh b you're confident you're positive how like for women for mums especially yeah that like don't feel that because there are so many out there that just don't have that lose their confidence like i did when i had cooper now i look back at photos of myself i'm actually really skinny in some of the photos i'm like bloody hell what was i doing breastfeeding basically i was having i was having the life sucked out of me yeah um but i didn't feel confident in myself i thought i looked you know frumpy and this and i didn't know how to dress because my boobs were bigger and I had boobs for

the first time like you know my ribcage had got wider and now I like I love my post baby body yeah I am curvier and I really like it but back then it was all new I was learning I'd lost my confidence so for any woman feeling like the same way what would you like what would you recommend how do we get that confidence back you know for me I went through two pregnancies both completely different and I feel with both I transformed twice if I could say that um and I think for me what worked was just to be on my own journey and not compare myself to other people and also not to compare myself to my old body yes I think that's the biggest thing we do. We hang on so tightly as to what we used to look like. And the thing is, once you have a baby, you'll never look like that again.

And that's okay because you've grown an entire human in your body. And yes, it'll come with stretch marks or, you know, hips, like you're saying, boobs. And I think we just need to take it a day at a time to take in all the changes that have happened. It's not easy. It's not an overnight thing. It's something that you have to keep on working on and also just embrace the change. Embrace it as hard as it is.

I mean, with me, like my feet are bigger than what they were. I've got stretch marks. You know, my tummy is different. Everything is different. And it was hard, especially being in the fitness industry of course I wanted to look a certain way I wanted to be and having a baby humbled me um and I think those tough lessons made me love myself more and made me realize that you know what embrace change and it's okay it's part of life and the thing is our old bodies were never always the same we We're changing every day.

Yeah. And that's something we need to remember. So if you're a new mom, focus on your own journey. Don't panic. The changes need to happen. You've just birthed an amazing, beautiful child for nine months. Yes. Also, with losing weight, don't even pressure yourself.

It'll go. And give yourself as much time as it did to actually grow the baby don't be pressured by society what you see on social media because that will just drive you into a hole of stress yeah of course and depression and depression yeah and like loving yourself as well of course yeah do you know what i think as well like during the part where you're pregnant you get so much attention and everyone's like oh my god you look amazing yes and then you have the baby and then the baby's there and i feel like the mum then kind of just gets forgotten about a bit and isn't given like all that credit because i think what gets forgotten is we grew an actual physical human and pushed it out one way or another powerful like we do not get credit

enough for this like like people would be in hospital for less than that like for like a few weeks we do it and we're out within a day sometimes i was out within half a day less than 24 hours i had given birth been stitched up and shipped out and now now the hospital was wonderful but still and it's like i've literally just birthed a child i am and then you're just thrown out into the world jobs done yeah next so you're obviously going so you've gone from this like being on this pedestal to just being this like shriveled little woman like oh my god i'm exhausted i'm sore i don't know what to do and dear god i have a child and nobody sees you nobody's going you look amazing you look beautiful you're incredible you're doing great yeah there's none of that that's all we need

that is i would say if if there was more of that once you've had the baby oh yeah we'd all maybe be in much better places i agree because it'll be that extra boost of confidence of yeah actually i'm doing good i'm you know yeah we need that and we're human yeah human that's why i also think affirmations work if you do your own affirmations yeah just look in the mirror look at your body the way it is as raw as it is while you're wearing those um what you call those panties? The pants that you wear after you give birth. Oh, I used to stand in the mirror

and be like, you are a gorgeous girl. Yes, well done, Takis. Bleeding and all. I was like, you know what? I'm going to hype myself up. No one else is going to do it. Good.

I'm going to do it. And I did it. As hard as it was, sometimes I was crying. Yeah, sometimes you didn't really believe yourself. I was like, oh my God, my body is opening up.

Yeah, you're like, I am beautiful. Exactly. Then I'll go eat something that made me feel better yeah yeah um but yeah i think we just need to surround ourselves with love whether it's from ourselves or other people who are filled with love and also just do little things that fill up your cup things that make you happy yeah i think that helps always talk about filling up your cup like it is so important I think it is that's I wish that had been the one bit of advice that I had been given as a new mum yeah would be to make sure that my cup's full so that I can then give what I need to give because my problem was I was just completely empty all the time because I was

giving everything and I wish I'd have known that that was really detrimental to me everyone around me being the mother i needed to be because you can't really function you're empty you're like it's like driving a car with no petrol exactly and then you get to burn out and then you're no good for anybody like my body would basically what would happen is i would always get to a point where i would then be so poorly, my body literally wouldn't let me do anything anymore. And it would go, right, Georgia, we're going to make you really sick because you need to stop and you need to rest. So that happened. Yeah. It maybe happened like three times and I was like, oh, okay. Right. Well done body though for telling me and stopping me. Because otherwise.

The body is so powerful though. Honestly, like. Well done, body, though, for telling me and stopping me. Because otherwise... The body's so powerful, though. Honestly, like... We just need to listen more. And you're quite an advocate of, you know, like, fitness being linked quite strongly to mental health, aren't you? Yes, I am. Definitely. I think it's so, like, you need to move. You need to...

And when I say move, I don't mean, like, like CrossFit for two hours a day or whether it's you just going outside for a walk, getting some sunshine. It's just so good to get those endorphins going. Like even for me. So in the mornings, I always have to wake up an hour earlier before the girls so that I can work out or I can meditate or I don't know, journal or just do anything that feeds me and fills up my cup. So that by the time the girls are up, I'm like, ready, let's go. I'm in a good mental state. I'm ready to take on whether there's tantrums or anything. I'm like, bring on anything.

This mama's cup is full, you know. So it's the same even with working out. I think it's so good for your mental health because it just, it's part of taking care of your body. Yeah, it is. You can't function and not take care of your body. It's impossible. And it's being strong for the kids as well. Of course.

You want to be mentally, but also physically strong. I feel, I know one of my friends was saying the same thing. You want to be, you know, when they're six, be able to pick them up like right now cooper's getting heavy i know i'm like yeah you're only little as well i've got i've got height on my side to like have the extra lift but um god but i'm like god if i't do stuff, if I didn't move my body, would I be able to pick Coop up anymore? Would I be able to do woof and tumble with him? And not that I really like that that much, but, you know, play with him the way I play with him. Run after him.

Run, mom. Yeah, I want to be able to be strong enough and healthy enough to be able to do those things. Of course, yeah. And it's so important because also you want your kids to look at you as this strong, healthy person because when they see that, they'll also want that for themselves because they're like, well, my mom is way older than me, but she can, like you're saying, rough and tumble. Yeah, she can run.

For them, that's like, wow. I mean, Suri, that girl, she's like a force of is she oh my goodness she will literally just look at me run tackle and like just like session to me second ball they're all a bit crazy like yeah that's me I'm a second ball oh so you're part of the problem I am yeah I am so even with that it's like I'm like if I't strong, that could have hurt my back. Yeah. Or that could have taken me out, you know? So we need to just be as strong as we can.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Taki, we're at the end. No, really? Yeah, we are. I feel like we've just started. I know. I was watching the clock and we're, well, I wasn't watching the clock the whole way through, obviously. I just checked the time and yes, we are, devastating because i would i could talk to you for hours i

know i know i know we always do that we'll just plan another trip away that's what we'll do but thank you so much thank you for a little insight into your life and and thank you for being like a positive ray of sunshine. You are what we all need. And if you need that positive ray of sunshine, go and give Tacky's a follow on Instagram because she's incredible. Yay, thank you. I'm Tacky's seven.

Thanks for having me, my gorgeous. Thanks for listening to Mum's The Word, the parenting podcast. Make sure to hit the subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. We'll be back with another episode, same time, same place, next week.