It started with yet another sleepless night at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. “I’m a mom,” thought Katie Morland. “I need a laugh.”
So at 2 a.m., she did something unusual for her: she started a Facebook group and Instagram page called Mommy Needs A Laugh in case there were other woman who felt the same way she did. Turns out, they do. Within a week it had 1,000 members and now more than 3,600 women are laughing right along with the southeast Michigan mom of two, ages 7 and 5.
This month, Morland is launching Mommy Needs A Laugh VIP Club that will feature a birthday club with gift cards and prizes, monthly themed workouts (think ’90s), cocktail hours and a yoga-meditation series she’s calling “Chill the F Out.” A Zoom pajama jam will kick off the VIP Club. The free Facebook group will remain for those needing a good laugh, of course.
Three things she’s learned she hopes can help other women:
1. Embrace ‘the hot mess of it all’
“I think, at least for me in this stressful time, we’re still trying to do it all, we’re still trying to do everything that we did before COVID and that’s just not possible. I think embracing that, embracing that we’re all in this together as a community and that we can support each other and be here for each other instead of trying to come off as being able to do it all.”
2. Focus on the things that we can control
“Focusing on what we can do. We can either choose to be really anxious and worried about the unpredictable or we can live in the moment and do whatever we can to find the positivity in the day. We can’t control the future, but we can control today. So, what can we do to make today epic?”
3. Give yourself some grace
“It’s OK to not have it all planned out. It’s OK to be worried, it’s OK to not be perfect, it’s OK to just be you. I think that’s been huge. I think we’re all just letting our hair down and not having those picture-perfect posts anymore. I think we’re just keeping it real now. For me personally, I felt like I was trying to keep up with the Joneses. I just don’t feel that way anymore.”
