The Feelings We're Not Supposed to Have About Motherhood | Margo Lowry (EP432)
Minimalist Moms Podcast | Purposeful Life & Parenting Tips
Diane Boden
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Motherhood is often framed as either blissful or broken - but most mothers live in the in-between. In this episode, I’m joined by psychotherapist and author Dr. Margo Lowy to explore maternal ambivalence and the conflicting emotions many mothers feel but rarely name. We talk about why feelings like resentment, grief, and overwhelm can coexist with deep love, how unrealistic expectations fuel guilt and burnout, and why these “darker” emotions are a normal part of real-world parenting.
Links Discussed in This Episode |
About Margo|
Dr. Margo Lowy is a psychotherapist and researcher specializing in motherhood and women’s reproductive health. She holds a PhD and Research Masters from the University of New South Wales, Sydney with a focus on maternal ambivalence and infertility. Her newest book, Maternal Ambivalence: The Loving Moments & Bitter Truths of Motherhood (Post Hill Press, 2025), examines the complex emotions that accompany motherhood. She is also the author of The Maternal Experience: Encounters with Ambivalence and Love (Routledge, 2020), which grew out of her doctoral research, and a contributor to Psychology Today. Through her writing and clinical work, she aims to disrupt the silence surrounding the unspoken realities of motherhood.
Episode Sponsors |
The Minimalist Moms Podcast would not be possible without the support of weekly sponsors. Choosing brands that I believe in is important to me. I only want to recommend brands that I believe may help you in your daily life. As always, never feel pressured into buying anything. Remember: if you don't need it, it's not a good deal!
Enjoy the Podcast?
Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can also share this with your fellow mothers so that they can be inspired to think more and do with less.
Order (or review) my book, Minimalist Moms: Living & Parenting With Simplicity.
Questions |
- You can contact me through my website, find me on Instagram, Pinterest or like The Minimalist Moms Page on Facebook.
- Checkout the podcast storefront for recommendations from Diane.
- If you’ve been struggling with motivation to declutter or work through bad habits that keep you stuck, I’d love to help you achieve your goals! We’ll work together (locally or virtually) to discover what areas in your life are high priority to get you feeling less overwhelmed right away. For more info on my processes, fees, and availability please contact!
Our Sponsors:
* Check out BetterHelp and use my code betterhelp.com for a great deal: https://www.betterhelp.com
* Check out Ruggable and use my code MINIMALIST for a great deal: https://ruggable.com
* Check out Wayfair: https://www.wayfair.com
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | There's so much pressure on mothers to be wonderful 24-7, to be fully caring, fully compassionate. |
| 0:08.7 | And it's just not true, but we collude with that as well. |
| 0:12.9 | We want to be perfect, and perfection doesn't exist. |
| 0:16.3 | So there's all these social taboos, if we call it, or social rules and regulations that we try |
| 0:24.7 | and reach, but they're actually unreachable. |
| 0:27.8 | So it's really also about us having a conversation with ourselves and with people around |
| 0:34.0 | us that we feel safe with to try and do a new narrative for ourselves. |
| 0:39.5 | That's really where it starts and to really challenge the narratives that are around us. |
| 0:45.0 | I mean, for years, for decades, for time immemorial, that's how mothers have been seen |
| 0:51.8 | or meant to be seen. |
| 0:53.4 | And it's not like that. So it's really, really being |
| 0:56.9 | real and being normal about what we expect about ourselves and what society expects about us |
| 1:03.6 | to bring the bar down for ourselves. So we can really connect with it and connect with something real. |
| 1:10.3 | This is Diane Bowden and you're listening to the minimalist moms podcast. |
| 1:14.1 | Motherhood is often framed as either blissful or broken, but most mothers live in the |
| 1:19.4 | in between. |
| 1:20.4 | In today's episode, I'm joined by psychotherapist and author Dr. Margo Lowy to explain |
| 1:25.6 | maternal ambivalence and the conflicting emotions many mothers |
| 1:29.5 | feel but rarely name. We talk about why feelings like resentment, grief, and overwhelm can |
| 1:35.2 | coexist with deep love, how unrealistic expectations fuel guilt and burnout, and why these |
| 1:41.7 | darker emotions are a normal part of real-world parenting. |
| 1:45.8 | If you've yet to leave a rating and review for the Minimalist Mom's podcast, but I've |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Diane Boden, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Diane Boden and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.