Motherhood, Cancer & Learning to Surrender to What Life Gives You with Kelsey Harrison

This week I sat down with another amazing mom friend and heard her beautiful, challenging, and incredible journey through life since becoming a mother. There are very few people I can think of who have had quite as many different versions of life thrown at them in such a short amount of time. Kelsey is the founder of Get Wild Retreats, runs Be Wild Yoga Studio, is a mom, a co-parent, a soon-to-be stepmom, and a breast cancer survivor. Her son and her business were essentially born at the same time, and since then she’s built a life that looks very different from the one she probably imagined when she was 25. One of the things I love most about Kelsey is her perspective on all of it. You can make all the plans you want, but life is going to do what it's going to do. So instead of trying to control every outcome, she has learned to surrender, adapt, and keep going. We talk about what that looked like when she unexpectedly became pregnant while building her retreat business in Colorado, including running retreats while pregnant and then bringing her newborn along just weeks after giving birth. It sounds completely insane in retrospect, and Kelsey is the first to say she wouldn't necessarily recommend doing it that way, but at the time, it made sense for her. From there, we get into co-parenting and what it actually takes to make a split household work. Kelsey shares some really practical things that have helped her and her son's dad build a healthy co-parenting relationship, including therapy, communication, putting their own egos aside, and repeatedly coming back to one question: what is best for the child? We also talk about stepparenting, creating a family that doesn't necessarily look traditional, and the surprisingly beautiful realization that having more people love and support your child can be a gift rather than a loss. Then we get into the part of Kelsey's story that is much harder to talk about: being diagnosed with stage 3C breast cancer at just 27 years old, while parenting a young child. Her cancer journey happened alongside the transition into co-parenting, and she talks openly about treatment, being a mother while going through something so physically and emotionally demanding, and the fear that came with wondering whether she would be there to raise her son. We talk about the mindset that helped her get through treatment, the changes she made to her life, and the complicated reality of being considered cancer-free while still being in active treatment. We also talk about fertility and the uncertainty around whether she'll be able to have another child and how she's learning to want something while also practicing non-attachment to the outcome. This conversation covers a lot of ground, but the thread running through all of it is the same: life rarely goes according to plan. Sometimes it's beautiful. Sometimes it's incredibly hard. Usually it's both. And learning to meet it where it is might be one of the hardest and most freeing parts of becoming a parent. In this episode, we talk about: - Kelsey's unexpected path into motherhood and building her retreat business - Running yoga retreats while pregnant and bringing her newborn along at just six weeks old - The reality of trying to build a career while becoming a mother - Postpartum depression and how getting out into the world helped bring her back to herself - Learning to ask for and accept help - Co-parenting, split households, and the hardest part of being away from your child - The practical things Kelsey and her son's dad do to make co-parenting work - Uncoupling therapy and learning to put your child's needs ahead of your own emotions - Navigating different rules and routines between two homes - Building a healthy relationship with a stepparent - Being diagnosed with stage 3C breast cancer at 27 - Going through cancer treatment while parenting a young child - The fear of not being there to raise your child - How cancer changed Kelsey's perspective on control and what she can actually influence - Fertility, the possibility of another child, and practicing non-attachment - Why life can be incredibly hard and incredibly beautiful at the same time - Burnout, social media, and why everyone seems to be carrying something right now - Finding small ways to create more peace, joy, and space in everyday life Kelsey has spent a lot of her life figuring out how to make the unexpected work and this conversation is a really beautiful example of what that can look like. Not having everything figured out. Not pretending the hard parts aren't hard. Just continuing to adapt, ask for help, let go of some control, and make the most of the life that's actually in front of you. Join us!  For more Kelsey, follow along below! Retreats Instagram Yoga Studio in Charleston, SC   Best Guy on the Internet   For more Getting Grounded and your host Sam Blatz, follow along at: Soul Love with Sam on Substack @soullovewithsam on Instagram @GettingGroundedPodcast on YouTube Produced by Getting Grounded LLC