My friend from college, Mallory Andrews, and I recently reconnected online. A few months ago, I noticed she had started a new Instagram account, and her content immediately caught my attention. She was sharing about motherhood and authenticity, two topics that really resonate with me right now, and she looked like she was genuinely having fun while doing it.
I have always had a quiet dream of being an “official” content creator (whatever that means). Ever since starting my first healthy living blog in 2012, I have loved creating content around recipes, wellness, and living a happier, more aligned life. And while I have continued to share over the years, self-doubt has often held me back from showing up in a bigger way. Watching Mallory put herself out there inspired me to move past my fears and chase the dream I have carried for so long.
With that in mind, I wanted to sit down with Mallory to learn more about her story and what motivated her to start her new account. We had such a wonderful conversation (you can listen to the full podcast episode here), and below are some of the major takeaways.
What Is an ‘Awakening?’
An awakening is not a dramatic life overhaul or a crisis, but a gradual realization that the way you’ve been living no longer aligns with who you are becoming. As Mallory explains, many of us move through the world using old beliefs and patterns that once helped us cope — often things like people-pleasing or staying small to feel safe. Over time, those survival mechanisms can start to feel limiting instead of protective.
For Mallory, the awakening wasn’t about reinventing herself. It was about shedding what no longer felt true and finding the courage to face the parts of her life that weren’t working, rather than pushing them down. She describes it as waking up to her own inner voice; the moment when the quiet whisper of misalignment becomes impossible to ignore.
In other words, an awakening is the shift from living on autopilot to living with awareness. It’s the process of becoming more authentic, more honest with yourself, and more aligned with who you are beyond the roles you’ve played. And for many women, especially in motherhood, this realization doesn’t happen early in life, it happens later, when there is finally enough space to notice what’s been waiting underneath.
How Motherhood Affects an Awakening
Motherhood has a way of putting your own inner world on pause. As Mallory explains, the early years are so all-consuming and demanding that there simply isn’t space for deeper self-reflection or internal work. What many people experience in their 20s — the process of becoming their own person and separating from their family of origin — can get delayed when those years are spent raising little kids.
Instead of moving into adulthood with time to explore identity, preferences, and individuality, motherhood often asks women to prioritize caretaking over self-development. Mallory shares that this led her to experience her individuation later in life, in her late 30s, rather than during young adulthood.
For many women, this delayed awakening shows up as a quiet ache; we can love motherhood deeply while simultaneously sensing there is something more calling underneath. It isn’t about dissatisfaction with parenting, but about finally having enough emotional and mental space to notice what has been suppressed, ignored, or waiting to emerge.
In this way, motherhood doesn’t prevent an awakening. It often shifts the timing, creating a later but more powerful season of rediscovery once the intensity softens and a woman can return to herself with new perspective, compassion, and clarity.
Signs You’re in an Awakening
While there can be an acute experience that triggers an awakening, typically it is a gradual bubbling to the surface, if you will. Here are some signs you might be going through an awakening of your own:
- You sense that the life you’ve built on the outside no longer matches how you feel internally, even if everything looks “good” or successful.
- What starts as a quiet whisper of misalignment becomes harder to ignore over time.
- You notice old coping patterns no longer work, especially things like people-pleasing or staying small to feel safe.
- Instead of pushing through discomfort, you feel a growing willingness to face what isn’t working, even when it’s painful or scary.
- There is a clear “before” and “after” version of yourself, almost like a veil has lifted and you can’t return to autopilot.
The Clear Divide Between “Before” & “After”
When I look back, there is such a distinct divide between who I was before my awakening and who I became after. In my “before” season, everything looked exactly the way I thought it was supposed to: I was newly married, had started my first business, and on the surface, life seemed shiny and successful. But internally, something felt off. It started as the tiniest whisper, a quiet sense that even though the pieces were in place, I wasn’t fully aligned with myself.
Over time, that whisper got louder. I began to realize that the way I was moving through the world was based more on expectations and old patterns than on who I truly was. That’s when I discovered inner work, yoga, and the idea that alignment and authenticity were things you could actually grow into. It wasn’t an overnight shift. It felt more like waking up, almost as if a veil had lifted and I could finally see myself and my life with clarity. I finally stepped out of my self-imposed prison because I could.
The “after” wasn’t about becoming a different person. It was about reconnecting to my intuition. I finally understood the difference between my inner voice and that of my ego. It was the moment I stopped operating on autopilot and started listening to my inner voice, instead of outsourcing my knowing to everything outside of me. And once that awareness arrived, I couldn’t unsee it. Everything in my life began to feel different, not because the circumstances changed, but because I did. I must mention that it is a journey and I am still on it, but now I know I have my intuition to steer me in the right direction when I need it.
What Helps You Move Through It
Moving through an awakening isn’t about forcing a transformation. It’s about slowly creating enough space to hear yourself again. For both Mallory and me, the first shift was simply acknowledging that something felt off instead of pushing it down. In my own experience, what began as internal discomfort eventually led me toward “doing the work” on myself. Practices such as meditation, journaling, and yoga helped deepen my relationship with myself.
Another powerful piece is learning to trust yourself. Mallory talks about how so many of us outsource our knowing to other people, second-guessing what we feel instead of believing it’s real. Learning to shift from external validation to internal guidance can feel vulnerable at first, but it’s often the turning point. As she shares, the pain of staying the same eventually becomes greater than the discomfort of change.
What helps most is not rushing the process, but supporting it: slowing down enough to notice what’s underneath, practicing self-compassion instead of judgment, and allowing yourself to evolve without needing to have all the answers. An awakening isn’t about fixing your life, it’s about reconnecting with the truest parts of yourself that were there all along.
Journal Prompts to Support Your Own Awakening
If you find yourself in a similar season, you are not behind and nothing is wrong with you. For many women, especially in motherhood, awakening comes later — not because you missed your moment, but because you finally have enough space to hear yourself again. This isn’t about reinventing your life overnight. It’s about getting curious, softening old patterns, and reconnecting with the parts of you that have been waiting quietly underneath. If putting pen to paper helps you gain clarity, here are some prompts to try:
- Where in my life does something look “fine” on the outside but feel misaligned on the inside?
- Is there a difference in me internally when I am by myself versus among other people? What are those differences?
- What whispers have I been ignoring because they feel inconvenient or uncomfortable?
- In what ways have I been outsourcing my knowing instead of trusting myself?
- What beliefs or patterns once kept me safe but no longer serve who I am becoming?
- What would support look like right now. Not five years from now, but today?
- If nothing needed to change externally, what internal shift would bring me more peace?
- Who am I when I am not operating from roles, expectations, or autopilot?
Listen to the podcast episode
