You're listening to 3 in 30 takeaways for Mom's episode 199, overcoming single mom guilt.

Welcome to 3 in 30, a podcast for moms who want to create more meaning in motherhood.

Each 30-minute episode will feature three doable takeaways for you to try at home with your family this week.

I'm your host Rachel Nielsen. Thank you so much for being here.

To introduce the topic of today's episode, I want to read a direct message that I received from a mom in the 3 in 30 Instagram community

over a year ago. It has stayed with me and this message was actually the inspiration for me to seek out a guest who could talk to us about

how to support yourself and your children when you are a single mother. This heartfelt Instagram message reads,

I love to listen to your inspiring podcast. You help so many women including myself. Thank you Rachel.

My struggle is that I hear great advice on your program and do my best to follow it.

But being a single mom struggling to get by is so different from moms who have spousal support and financial stability.

Often I can't afford to do the thing suggested or I don't have the support of a spouse to enable me to do them.

It can make me feel like an outsider peering into a motherhood world that I long to be a part of, but

I'd like to hear an episode on what to do or how to deal with being a single mom. Sometimes it's completely heartbreaking. Thanks for listening.

I want you to know that I am listening. I think about the individual members of this community all the time and think about the varying challenges that you face.

I'm always open to ideas for episodes that might help you. So just shoot me an email or a message anytime.

And I want you to know that whatever your motherhood looks like, you are not on the outside peering into this community of mothers.

You belong right here with us and I want to support you in any way that I can.

We've done episodes in the past about healing after betrayal in your marriage,

mothering through heartbreak or divorce, and I will link those in the show notes.

And today we're going to focus in on overcoming single mom guilt.

My guess today is Latasha Ferguson and you'll hear more of her story within the interview.

But she had two daughters in her teens and was a single mother for many years.

...