Everything Changed While We Were Talking | Season 2 Finale

Season 2 has always been about more than motherhood OR business. 

Behind every conversation with incredible women, another story was quietly unfolding—my own.

In this final episode, I'm sharing what this season changed in me. From stepping into my first solo leadership workshops to growing The Human Project, navigating grief, rediscovering confidence, and finding the courage to build a business that truly reflects who I am. 

I also reflect on the five biggest lessons that emerged across every guest conversation—lessons about identity, ambition, motherhood, courage, and what it really means to begin again.

If you've ever felt like you're becoming someone new, this episode is for you.

And it's also the beginning of what's next.

In This Episode

• Why Season 2 became about so much more than motherhood.
• The personal journey that unfolded behind the microphone.
• The five biggest lessons every guest unknowingly taught me.
• What I've learned about rebuilding your career and your identity.
• A first look at the Career Reset Guide and where Season 3 is heading.

Resources & Links

✨ Career Reset Guide: Message me on my insta ( Link Below)

 https://www.instagram.com/the_mothering_project/  

💛 Learn more about The Human Project:  Home | The Human Project

🎙️ Connect with Christina: https://www.christina-byrne.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_mothering_project/
LinkedIn: Christina Byrne | LinkedIn

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hello and welcome back to the Mothering Project. I am Christina Byrne. I'm your host. Um, can't believe that I'm actually here after recording, what, 21 episodes now? I think I was only probably starting out to see how I got on, and it just kept getting more and more. So welcome back and welcome to the last kind of wrap-up of my season two. I just wanted to talk around, I suppose, the different things that happened in the season and all of I suppose the learnings that I had along the way, and hopefully you have had too. When I sat down, I suppose to write down what this episode was about. I did that over about four different times. So my first instinct was to do like a finale highlight reel, a little tip from every guest, and a neat bow on the top around like, you know, this is the end of the season. But every time I had to write that version, I just felt like that wasn't the right theme for me. Something else had happened in this season that I probably wasn't expecting, and I didn't see it coming. And when I look back, it's uh yeah, it was all the things I was learning along the way. Today's episode is a little bit different. It's not a summary of what my guests said, but it's actually what has changed in me and what I've been doing behind the scenes as well that you probably don't ever hear about. So the season I thought I was making was a whole lot different to probably what happened in the end. So when I mapped out season two and I look back over my notes, I thought I was making a season about motherhood and work and leadership. And on paper, that's exactly what it did look like. But then when I look back at the conversations and I was looking through show notes, the real thread wasn't actually about motherhood at all. It was about the actual becoming of everyone I spoke to. If you remember or if you listened, we had Mia Lake and she talked about the way she actually built something that fit her life instead of a chasing a version that's you know success was meant to look like on the internet. T, so T Nguyen, so she brought that really cool perspective around identity and resilience. So on becoming yourself again and again, and it's not always what you see. Like you don't always have to be a bad bitch mama chasing the corporate ladder. It's actually how it fits into your season right now, and that season isn't forever. Fanula Wiley and myself talked about her relocation back to Ireland, and you know, I remember when she moved back, like it was winter, so it was the deep, dark winter season for her, and she'd left, you know, the Sunny Rubra. But it was really nice to see, I suppose, in terms of all the different things that she was doing to ground herself back into, you know, living back in Ireland. It's not an easy thing when you've lived here for so long. And you know, she was in the new season of being a mother too. Ready or not, were the hilarious girls that I had such a good chat off mic with as well. And so, you know, they were talking about like how their podcast started, you know, the grit and the actual sitting there with one of their babies in the corner and they were recording podcasts, you know, two, three years ago now. So it's crazy, you know, we see on Instagram the actual shiny part of what people are working on, but it's not always like that in the background. My solo episodes, I suppose, then as well, when I was really looking back through them, they were me being very, I suppose, vulnerable around me wrestling with fear and the visibility and confidence that sometimes I think just when you step away and step out of the working world for a little bit, you lose a bit of because you know, you're obviously out and you're not around people and you're not probably um using your social skills, you know, you're at home and you're looking after kids, and that can kind of it takes a while to come back. Um and then I suppose in terms of when I look through the thread across each show note, it's all around different people becoming, so just becoming what it is that they wanted to be right now and different versions of what they were. It was really cool actually recording all of that and listening back and actually doing a bit of a reflection on that. So I suppose when we were when I was thinking about what did I do in terms of like in the background, like what have I been getting up to that nobody really would have known because, you know, Fanula did interview me, but it was all around like how I was postpartum, how I was in the school years, in the toddler years, but actually there was nothing in there around, you know, what was actually happening for me. Because sometimes you forget that like people listen, I think they listen for the guests, but you know, people have reached out and said, no, we actually love hearing what you're getting up to and all your stories. So there's all these things that were happening in the background. So when I pressed record on the first episode of the season, I was the interviewer, so I was the person that was asking all these brave women to share their brave stories. That changed for me, I suppose, when the mic was kind of turned on me and Fanula interviewed me. Then I kind of really felt how people felt being really vulnerable because actually they're telling their story and everyone's going to be listening to it. In the background, what I had done is I'd actually delivered several d leadership workshops. So that was on my own with a partner, Andy, who he kind of covers off one part of the workshop, and I cover off the safety and systems and psychologically safe workplaces. But I was standing at the front of the room, and if you asked me or told me, you know, five, six years ago that I would be doing that, I would have left because it wasn't, I suppose, something that I thought I'd be confident confident enough to do. I built the human project, I suppose, in terms of like really making it a brand as well. So I created my page on LinkedIn, I, you know, made sure that my branding was all up to date. I was changing my Instagram to make sure that all the bio bio on my Instagram reads and you know is searchable. I've been doing a lot of business networking as well, so trying to get into different circles and putting myself into rooms. I've pitched a really large organization, so the kind of rooms I suppose that I'd be generally or would have been terrified of entering. Now I've just gotten a little bit more confidence around that. We hosted our first masterclass and that way, you know, really well. There was like 50, sorry, 45 people signed up, which was amazing. And my podcast grew. So I became more visible, I suppose, than ever in my entire life. None was of that was the plan or, you know, it was a dream, but like when I started the podcast, really what I wanted to start it out for was for people to share their stories. But I feel like it just changed in terms of like creating a bit of community as well. I lived through the whole change and experience, I suppose, and the connection part, which I was craving. And working by yourself, I suppose, in terms of like when you're working alone in a business, and I'm like obviously a sole trader and a sole entrepreneur, then you kind of do become quite disconnected. So them podcast days, and I've missed them because obviously we're all on school holidays and I've paused the podcast for a little bit, but I've actually missed having them conversations and the connection and just hearing how other people kind of have started out as well. What I wanted to do then was, I suppose, in terms of like the five things that I have learned in this season, and just kind of read them out for you because I wanted to reflect after every season. I obviously, like I said, do reflect and write down exactly what it is that I got from it. I suppose the first one would be around you don't need to have the whole plan written down. So I suppose I would always be one of those people that would want, you know, to know how everything is gonna happen. But with the season two, that wasn't the case. What I did, and if you remember in season one, I was like, it's gonna look a little bit different, and I wanted to like feel a bit different, but I didn't plan it out. I just, if an idea came to my mind, I just went with it. So, you know, I remember one day messaging Finula Wiley going, why don't we do a motherhood, you know, miniseries? And she was like, Yep, great idea. It's not like I had loads of these different, you know, plans or I didn't have loads of time to plan it. We just created, you know, the four different sections and off we went. Every single guest, I suppose, that I interviewed, none of us really knew what was next. Like I remember talking to T Nguyen, and she was the exact same, you know, with actually the their her yoga studio. And then there was also Mia, and Mia was saying, you know, there was times where she was like, Oh my god, I don't even have money for a printer or to replace the printer cartridge. What am I gonna do? And she just kept going because, you know, you just have to keep taking steps. And if you just keep moving, obviously the plan will just unfold in front of you. Number two is I feel like ambition isn't something that motherhood can take away. I always feel like I half believed the story, I suppose, that the motherhood shrinks your ambition because I saw, you know, some people going, Oh, you know, I really want to stay at home with my kids and I just don't want to have that same workload. But that's actually not the case that I've seen. It kind of dismantled, I suppose, and it dismantles your, you know, take on motherhood and it reshapes in a way when you become a mother, but I don't think it actually strips it back too much and it makes you more intentional and I suppose, yeah, honest with what it is that you want. Number three would be the confidence actually comes after the action. So when I say that, I waited for years to probably be a bit more confident in what I was doing and what I was like, yeah, expert in, if I can say expert, because you know, I've worked in safety and HR for over 16, 17 years, but I've always kind of taught me myself back going, oh well, you don't have this and you don't have that. And I guess the four years or three years that I've been out working by myself now, I've learned that I do have all of that. It's just that I probably wasn't tapping into it because I was in a different organization where you couldn't. After every workshop I delivered, I just felt that real sense of like achievement, and that's where the confidence was really coming up and the bravery, I suppose, in terms of what that looked like for me. You know, there was one particular workshop where there was 23 people, you know, maybe 19 of the men and four or yeah, four women in the room. And I never would have thought that I would have been able to do that confidently, and I did it with like we had such a good time in the room as well. So it wasn't like I just got through it, like I enjoyed it too. And I think that's really important. Number four is we are, and it's allowed to outgrow old versions of ourselves. Um that's not becoming a failure, that's not, you know, to say that you're letting anyone down, but you're just growing. So, you know, when I say outgrowing versions of ourselves, I mean like around careers or your identity or sometimes your friendships. And yeah, outgrowing them can feel like it's hard and it's like a betrayal or you're losing yourself. But it's actually the opposite I feel anyway. I feel like it's growth and it's around you shaping into a different version that suits you for that particular time. And number five is your next chapter chapter really does start before you feel ready. So, like I said, this is a big one for me because the launch of the Human Project, the pitch to stand up in front of a room. I've been asked to talk at a conference when there'll be like, you know, 300 people, and that's coming up in October, um, around psychosocial safety and all the work I'm doing around that and leadership. Um, and you know, that doesn't come from anywhere, only the fact that I've put myself into the rooms and that I've actually just been brave and started the next chapter. So I've given myself some permission to be seen and to be noticed, and uh yeah, I think that's the main thing that I'm really proud of. So look, that's where I wanted to leave you. It's the podcast has grown in terms of huge, huge, huge like reach to countries that I never thought that it would go to. I was mentioned as well on the Great Australian Pod podcast page yesterday. You know, I was driving back from a weekend away, and I got a mention on that, which is just not what I went out and did this for, but like it was actually just really nice to see that people are seeing it and really enjoying it. So I guess in terms of like yourself, and if you're listening to this podcast and you're in one of those seasons where you're thinking to yourself, is this still the career I want? Or who am I now? Or, you know, what's next for me, or I want to create a little bit more flexibility, but I just don't know how. And I want to tap into a bit more creativity and I just don't know how to do that. They're just more of an invitation, like them questions aren't anything but like invitation for you to kind of look inside and go, right, what it is it that I'm being called to do in terms of, you know, a little bit extra for myself or a little bit more of an achievement for myself. I have developed and I am finalizing it over the next couple of days. I've developed the career reset guide. So what I did was I really sat down with this and I talked through, I talked through the little steps that I took and the questions I had, I suppose, in terms of when I could feel the pull that I wanted to be something else. So look, this isn't anything around quitting your job and burn all everything that you have down or you know, write out a manifesto. It's just actually permission to kind of sit down, reconnect with what actually matters to you now, and then look into the you know next five years and see where it is you want to go. Um so the career re reset guide is an invitation for you to start writing that on your own. So, in terms of that, I would love if you do want to have a copy of the reset guide, if you sent me through a message on the Mothering Project uh Instagram page, send me through a message just to say, you know, career reset guide, and I'll send it through to you. I will be putting a link eventually up on my website over the next coming weeks. Um and yeah, I can't wait to share that with you and hopefully that will help you in terms of um where you're going to next and what you're looking for. But before I do go and I sign off on this, I just really want to say thank you and I want to thank everyone for listening so far and for sharing and giving me all the comments because sometimes it is like you're talking into a microphone and nobody's listening. What's arrived, I suppose, in my inbox this this season has just completely floored me at times and made me laugh and made me, you know, a bit emotional. Like I said, someone actually emailed me recently and her words, they're not mine, but she was talking about they're in their 50s now, and she's like, you know, I'm in a completely different stage of my life, but listening to how you guys do it is just really nice. And for us to be able to just understand what our daughter's generation and you know our nieces' gener generation are going through, it was a really good listen. Dear friend of mine also wrote out wrote in through to me about the podcast, and she said that even to where kids are older now, that it's really lovely to hear about you know what we're all navigating and especially because she is in early education too, early childhood education, that it's nice to know, you know, what the mothers are dropping off at daycare, what they're actually really doing in between drop-off and pickup. So when I took look at this podcast, it's been listened to in so many countries. Like there is a list, and I'm just gonna call them out because I was totally bamboozled. When I saw them, it was number one, obviously, we have got Australia, so Sydney. There's Melbourne, there's Perth, obviously, there's Dublin, there's Ohio, there's Oregon, there's Tasmania, Auckland, Brazil, Santiago, Moscow, Canberra, Los Angeles. I'm not gonna go on, but like all of these locations that it's reached is insane to me. But I guess look, Irish spread the word really nicely, so that's obviously what's happened here. Also, you know, I've just had that real pinch me moment, like I said, when I was driving back from our our little trip yesterday, and it was featured, my podcast was featured on the great great Australian Pods podcast directory. So that was just a nice moment to see that I was tagged in there. And you know, there was the fangirl moment where the woman that I didn't know like messaged me and went, Oh my god, are you Christina from like the mothering project and the human project? I really love the podcast. You know, I've sent it through to my niece back in Ireland and she's starting her own business. And um, I've been looking at your human project work, and I really love that. You know, she was a key person in like a huge project management company in in Sydney, so that was really lovely to hear as well. So thank you again to every guest who trusted me with their story this season, to the Little Years, our mini-series, to, you know, Mia, to T to Ready or Not and to Penula and all of you listeners. And uh yeah, it's been really nice to see every download and every message and you know all the Instagram tags and the different messages to say that, yeah, I can, you know, I totally felt like that. That's that's amazing. So thank you again. I would call out that if you haven't already subscribed, if you could subscribe and hit the follow button um and share with your friends, it really means a lot to me because um I can see that my reviews are starting to to come up on Apple Spotify and my um other podcast platforms. But I'd love if you haven't, just jump on and follow me and send through to a friend and subscribe. Thank you so much. I will be in touch when season through three comes back. And if you've any requests, obviously feel free feel free to send it through to me. And uh yeah, thank you so much again. And for now, I will leave it at that. Thanks so much.