Contributor Dr. Leesha Ellis-Cox has released her first book, and she’s visiting today to tell us more about it.
Tell me about your book, Ditch the Mommy Guilt.
Ditch the Mommy Guilt: A Blueprint for the Modern Mommy explores the phenomenon known as mommy guilt from the perspective of a physician mommy of three who knows its torment all too well. Filled with personal anecdotes and helpful strategies imbued with humor and raw honesty, I dispel the myth of the “perfect parent” and challenge moms to accept and embrace the realities of parenting – my manifesto celebrating guilt-free parenting and unapologetic motherhood.
Why did you decide to write it?
Mom + kid(s) = mommy guilt
Parenting is hard work and sometimes no fun at all. Many mommies find it difficult to acknowledge this truth out of fear of harsh criticism. Even if we admit it, few of us are comfortable talking openly about our feelings. I define mommy guilt as the nagging sense of inadequacy and constant fear of parenting failure. It’s feeling like a bad mom because you did or didn’t…just fill in the blank. It’s time that we stop stewing painfully in guilt for it can have devastating consequences. That’s why I wrote this powerful and encouraging book.
What do you want readers to learn from the book?
In my book, I teach moms to survive motherhood through five key strategies:
- a) adopting a healthy mindset
- b) dismantling commonly held but ineffective and impractical parenting tips
- c) practicing self-love
- d) surrounding ourselves with a rock star mommy tribe
- e) building resilience
When we apply these strategies, we are no longer beholden to the failed quest for parenting perfectionism, we stop beating ourselves up for the mistakes we have made, and we successfully ditch the mommy guilt for good.
What do you want readers to learn from your life?
To some, Dr. Leesha may seem to have it all together. I am building my brand, have a doting husband and three beautiful children, maintain a growing medical practice, and manifest some of the trappings of success; but I have struggled. I had complications with each of my pregnancies, I had the baby blues with my first born, I have succumbed to the pressures of parenting while striving for perfectionism, and faced some difficulties professionally. This is not the story of a woman who has lots of book knowledge but no real life experiences or hiccups along the way. I get it because I have lived it!
If you could give mommas one piece of advice to help them ditch their guilt, what would it be?
Gosh, just one piece of advice, Chandra? That’s a tough one because I have so many parenting quips that I say nearly every day. I guess what would I say is that in parenting, there are no perfect parents and there are no perfect kids. Questioning are parenting decisions and parenting fails, even seemingly big ones, are normal. So when we do stumble, we need to apologize to our children for our missteps ,continue to love them fiercely, vow to try and do better, and then do it all over again.
What’s next for Dr. Leesha Ellis-Cox?
There are a lot of exciting things in store for me. I am redesigning my website. I continue to increase my brand visibility though social media and traditional media outlets and rolling out more products and services. I am working on two more books, a children’s picture book and a devotional; and I am also designing my Mommy Mindset Makeover coaching program.
Do you have anything you would like to add?
Just stay tuned as there is much more to come!
To learn more about Dr. Leesha Ellis-Cox, visit her website and blog at http://www.drleesha.com. Follow her on Facebook at drleesha.psych and on Twitter and Instagram @drleesha.
