Welcome to Ask Dr. Julie Hanks, a safe place for healing conversations that educate and empower you to

prioritize your dreams, revolutionize your family, and personalize your fate. I'm your host,

Dr. Julie Hanks, a psychotherapist and coach offering online courses and programs to help women

all over the world heal themselves and their relationships. Join me here every

week as I coach a listener through a specific challenge and empower them with tools to find healing.

Today with me on the podcast, I have Heather. Thanks so much for being here, Heather. You're welcome.

Thank you for having me. So what is your question for me today?

Yeah, you know, I used to think I'm going to give a bunch of background and then ask my question.

But initially I thought this might be due to being a stay-at-home mom.

Some of it probably is, but I think there's more to it.

I am married. I have three children,

ages seven, five, and three. And before I had kids, I really enjoyed my career as a nurse and

a nurse practitioner. But when I had my first baby, it was a long way. When I had my first baby,

I decided to stay home. That decision was driven by personal desire,

but also some cultural expectations of what a mother should do. And I don't regret that decision.

I look back and I think, no, I'm good with that decision. But what I did was I completely dropped

everything. And now I'm thinking I completely dropped everything.

And now I'm thinking that wasn't wise.

So now that I'm out of the baby stage, I feel like I've got a little bit more time, a tiny bit more time.

And I'd just start developing me again and investing more into my life.

I always thought I would want to go back to work, but I've really considered that. And I just don't feel like it's right right now.

Probably would add more stress. So as far as invests actually helped me quite a bit. I really love the

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