Clara - Learning To Let Go | 003
In this episode of Reclaim The Pink Within, I sit down with Clara for an honest, grounding conversation about identity, expectations, and what self-care really looks like once motherhood enters the picture. We talk about who she was before becoming a mom, how that sense of self shifted, and the quiet grief many women feel around the loss of autonomy and freedom—especially in the early seasons.
Sara shares openly about navigating matrescence, letting go of rigid standards, and learning to adapt as life changes. We explore how motherhood can stir reflections about our own childhoods, impact our relationships, and challenge the way we view our bodies and health. At its core, this conversation is a reminder that motherhood isn’t about doing everything perfectly—it’s about learning to adjust, showing yourself compassion, and finding ways to care for yourself without guilt.
Key Takeaways
- Flexibility allows you to respond to real life, not an idealized version of motherhood
- Mental health improves when expectations shift from rigid rules to supportive rhythms
- Small, intentional planning can reduce overwhelm instead of adding pressure
- Redefining health after motherhood helps create a more sustainable relationship with your body
About The Guest:
Clara Shipp is a health and fitness coach specializing in women’s health, with a focus on helping women navigate pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood in a sustainable, compassionate way. She brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work, supporting women in building strong foundations before and after becoming mothers.
About The Host:
Dr. Christelle Oliver-Dussault is a family physician with a clinical focus on aesthetic medicine, women’s health, and psycho-education. Her work is grounded in a holistic, whole-person approach that integrates medical science with a deep appreciation of the mind–body connection. Alongside her clinical practice, she is deeply committed to medical education and mentors the next generation of family physicians through her work with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of British Columbia.
She is the founder of Reclaim The Pink Within, a community created to support women through life’s most profound transitions. This project was born from personal experience. After becoming a mother, Dr. Oliver-Dussault became aware of a quiet but profound shift in her sense of self, one she had long observed in her patients, yet only fully understood once she lived it herself. What had once been a clinical observation became a deeply personal insight, shaping the lens through which she now supports and guides other women.
You can connect with her on Instagram at @drchristellemd and @reclaimthepinkwithin
Website: www.getyourpinkbackproject.com
Email: info@reclaimthepinkwithin.com
Medical Disclaimer
The Reclaim The Pink Within podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only. The content shared in this podcast reflects the personal views and professional experiences of the host and guests and is not intended to replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
While Dr. Christelle Oliver-Dussault is a licensed physician, this podcast does not constitute a doctor–patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical or mental health concerns, diagnoses, or treatment decisions. Never disregard or delay seeking professional medical advice because of something you have heard on this podcast.
Thank You for Listening
Thank you for spending your time with us and for being part of the Reclaim The Pink Within community. This space exists because of women who are willing to listen, reflect, and engage in conversations that are often kept private. Whether you are in the midst of transition, questioning who you are becoming, or simply seeking connection, your presence here matters.
Your willingness to show up—for yourself and for others—is what makes this project possible.
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New episodes are released regularly, each offering insight, reflection, and shared experience.
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Transcript
Letting go of certain expectations of what
Speaker:the day is going to look like. And I'm saying this from the perspective of
Speaker:somebody who is pretty type A,
Speaker:pretty organized. Like, I have my little planner, I have my list of
Speaker:things to do every day. And so that's one thing that was
Speaker:just a challenge for me was like I was so used to just
Speaker:being able to check things off as I went on throughout the day. And so
Speaker:I think just having that mindset of like consistent
Speaker:efforts matters so much more than having, having perfection and like
Speaker:striving and aiming for that perfection and recognizing that like the
Speaker:reality is even if you get 60%
Speaker:of like what you want to do for the day done or something like that,
Speaker:that's still a passing grade. Right? So. And having that mindset, I
Speaker:think really helped me. Welcome to the get your pink back
Speaker:project podcast. On today's episode, I'll be talking
Speaker:to Clara Shipp. She is a working mom, mom
Speaker:of two, and also a health and fitness coach with a spec
Speaker:on women's health and helping women navigate
Speaker:their bodies after becoming mothers. We initially met
Speaker:through our the local daycare. Both of our girls go there
Speaker:and I thought she'd be a really great person to chat to to get her
Speaker:perspective on things and really admire all the work that
Speaker:she does. So welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me as well. I'm
Speaker:excited. Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about
Speaker:who you were before you became a mom. Okay.
Speaker:So before having my girls,
Speaker:I had been coaching in the health and
Speaker:fitness space for about three, three to four
Speaker:years, and I was competing
Speaker:in bodybuilding shows. So I have competed two
Speaker:times, 2016 and 2017. My first
Speaker:daughter was born in 2020, so I
Speaker:basically graduated university. I did
Speaker:have a major in tourism management, a minor in
Speaker:human resources and marketing. And I
Speaker:was kind of like, you know what? I really enjoyed my entrepreneurship classes
Speaker:in university and post secondary. And I decided that I kind of
Speaker:wanted to combine my passion for health and fitness
Speaker:business aspect of it. So I was owning and operating,
Speaker:running my own business, Clara Ship Fitness. And
Speaker:yeah, basically just like head first dived
Speaker:into the health and fitness space and industry.
Speaker:And how did that change when you became a mom?
Speaker:So it was definitely a really big shift for me.
Speaker:For anyone who has competed before in bodybuilding or
Speaker:even if you know somebody who has, you know that it's a really
Speaker:big commitment, really big time commitment, I consider it to be
Speaker:a pretty selfish thing to take on as well. And I don't think there's anything
Speaker:wrong with that. But Obviously, it was a lot easier for me
Speaker:to do something like that before becoming a mom.
Speaker:And so also I was working from home
Speaker:primarily. I was doing some in person training. And then I kind
Speaker:of transitioned to online coaching, which honestly aligned really well
Speaker:with me having my first daughter because I didn't have to worry
Speaker:about having to step away from my in person clients. I was able
Speaker:to continue working online and just kind of
Speaker:manage my client load a little bit more. But I think just the biggest
Speaker:thing is like, prior to having my first daughter, just
Speaker:waking up in the morning and having the entire day ahead of me to
Speaker:essentially do whatever I needed to do. Right. And I think that
Speaker:was also a little bit amplified because I was running my own business, I
Speaker:was working from home, I didn't have to commute to
Speaker:a job at specific set hours or
Speaker:anything like that. I could literally dictate my entire day and what that looked like.
Speaker:So it was a really big transition for me to go from,
Speaker:from the freedom to essentially do whatever I wanted to do, whenever
Speaker:I wanted to do to all of a sudden all of my routines kind of
Speaker:revolving around this tiny little human. Right. Yeah. How
Speaker:did you imagine motherhood would be like? Did it align
Speaker:with what you thought it would be or was it quite different to what you
Speaker:expected? I think it was
Speaker:what I thought it would be in certain
Speaker:ways and then other ways. I don't think that you can ever
Speaker:really prepare yourself for the role of
Speaker:becoming a mother until it actually happens. And so there
Speaker:were definitely a lot of aspects that I had no clue about. Like
Speaker:you can read all of the books, you can watch all of the videos, you
Speaker:can hear, like, everyone's stories and experiences. You can take all, like the
Speaker:birth classes and newborn classes the day, like you're thrown
Speaker:into it and you kind of have to figure it
Speaker:out along the way. I think, like, honestly, the biggest
Speaker:aspect of motherhood for me that I did not consider
Speaker:is how much becoming a mom would make me reflect on
Speaker:my own childhood and my relationship with my parents
Speaker:too. That was like, really life altering for me because prior to becoming
Speaker:a mom, you know, I thought about my childhood and had good memories of it
Speaker:and things. And then it really made me, like, analyze pieces of it a lot
Speaker:more. Yeah, I, I hear that quite a lot. Where it just
Speaker:makes you reflect inward quite a lot on your past experiences.
Speaker:Did you ever feel at some st that you forgot a bit of
Speaker:you or lost yourself in the transition, or did you find that you
Speaker:still managed to carve out time for you throughout the Change.
Speaker:I think it definitely ebbs and flows. And for
Speaker:me, like, there were periods where I kind of
Speaker:felt myself slipping and, like, not necessarily prioritizing
Speaker:or looking after myself. And then other times where I felt really on top of
Speaker:it. And that's the one thing about becoming a mom, especially when you have
Speaker:a baby or a toddler, is they change every day.
Speaker:Their needs and requirements change every day. And so for
Speaker:me, just really being able to, like, ride that wave and the ebbs and
Speaker:flows without letting it, like, completely, you know,
Speaker:ruin my day or something if I wasn't to. Getting certain things done, I think
Speaker:is really important. And this is one thing that I always talk about with my
Speaker:clients who are moms, is we have
Speaker:the incredible ability to, like, pivot and adjust
Speaker:and be flexible, which is something that I didn't have previous
Speaker:to becoming a mom, like, not to the level that I have now.
Speaker:Yeah. Recognizing that, like, yeah, some days you're gonna have to
Speaker:adjust your schedule, maybe move things to another day, or things aren't gonna look
Speaker:the exact same way that they want to look. But I think as long as
Speaker:you're still, like, taking those little steps to look after
Speaker:yourself, then those things do compound day
Speaker:after day. But for me, personally, I do think it
Speaker:helped, obviously, that I am and was pass about my health
Speaker:and fitness prior to becoming a mom. And I will say that it
Speaker:is something that there were days that I, like, clung to that. Right.
Speaker:Like, my walk is my sanity, get quick workout
Speaker:in during nap time or whatever, things like that. Yeah. You
Speaker:talked there about the ebbs and flows in motherhood and how
Speaker:you find you're now much better at pivoting. What do you
Speaker:think helped you get there? I think just letting
Speaker:go of certain expectations of what
Speaker:the day is going to look like. And I'm saying this from the perspective
Speaker:of somebody who is pretty type A,
Speaker:pretty organized. Like, I have my little planner. I have my list of
Speaker:things to do every day. And so that's one thing that was
Speaker:just a challenge for me, was, like, I was so used to
Speaker:just being able to check things off as I went on throughout the day. And
Speaker:so I think just having that mindset of, like, consistent
Speaker:effort matter so much more than having perfection
Speaker:and, like, striving and aiming for that perfection and recognizing
Speaker:that, like, the reality is, even if you get
Speaker:60% of, like, what you want to do for the day done
Speaker:or something like that, that's still a passing grade. Right. So. And
Speaker:having that mindset, I think, really helped me. Yeah. Adjusting your
Speaker:expectations Is huge. And I think we tend to put the bar way too
Speaker:high as moms, especially if we were very high achieving moms before they came.
Speaker:And then this tornado comes in and you're like, okay,
Speaker:I have to reflect and change the way I'm approaching this or else
Speaker:everything's gonna crumble. Yeah. 100. How
Speaker:did you find the transition to motherhood affected your relationships,
Speaker:say with your partner or friends or family members?
Speaker:I would say in terms of family members, it made me a lot
Speaker:closer to my family members because that's
Speaker:when I did like welcome in more people
Speaker:to create more of a village. Right. And there's always that saying, like, it takes
Speaker:a village and that villages these days,
Speaker:they do look a lot different than they did like decades and decades ago.
Speaker:However, I think that it drew a lot of my family
Speaker:in and we did become a lot closer. And just seeing like my parents
Speaker:become grandparents and like, want to be involved grandparents was really
Speaker:cool as well. And then I think for. For friendships,
Speaker:to be honest, like, I already had a pretty close
Speaker:circle of friends just because when I transitioned into
Speaker:bodybuilding and competing, I did lose a lot of friends
Speaker:that just from people who the lifestyle didn't really align
Speaker:or they didn't understand or something like that. So I already had a pretty
Speaker:good circle of friends. And I would say that in terms of friendships,
Speaker:it really was just a matter of making time. You
Speaker:know, the friends that made the time to like come have coffee or ask to
Speaker:go for a walk or something like that, that honestly makes a world of difference
Speaker:when are a new mom because you can feel quite
Speaker:isolated. And then I would say a lot of my friends also
Speaker:just were empathetic and understanding of the fact that, you
Speaker:know, as a mom you only have so much capacity to do certain things
Speaker:like not taking it personally if I didn't reply to their text message for four
Speaker:days or you know, something like that. Just being
Speaker:understanding. And then yeah, I just think with
Speaker:my partner it was just like it kind of
Speaker:amplified the need for good communication, which we already had like a
Speaker:pretty good grasp of. But obviously when you become a
Speaker:parent, there's a lot, a lot of different kind of
Speaker:variables and factors going on. And so just maintaining that good communication
Speaker:was really important too. Did you find
Speaker:that the pandemic made things more
Speaker:difficult or. Because I've heard some. Some people have told
Speaker:me it made their family life a lot harder. Others have told me it
Speaker:actually allowed them to conn more. Yeah, I think it
Speaker:probably led us to connect more. So my
Speaker:partner, he Works, shift, work. And so when he's on shift, he's
Speaker:away for 15 hours a day, four days on, four
Speaker:days off. So to have him home for like a little bit
Speaker:longer during the pandemic, like that little period of time the whole entire world
Speaker:shut down, that was honestly really cool for us because we haven't, you
Speaker:know, except unless he was on like vacation or something, we never really had the
Speaker:opportunity to spend that time just like at home, home together.
Speaker:And then I do think that it also allowed
Speaker:a little bit for us to stay in that newborn bubble for a little bit
Speaker:longer, if that makes sense. So our daughter was born
Speaker:in September of 2020, so it was kind of still in
Speaker:the height of the pandemic. And we definitely were a
Speaker:little bit more cautious in terms of where we went and things that we did,
Speaker:I think just as first time parents and kind of the unknown and things like
Speaker:that. So we did end up spending like a lot
Speaker:of time together and my did take some paternity leave for that as
Speaker:well. So I would say that it did just make us a lot
Speaker:closer during that time. Yeah, that's really nice to hear. Do
Speaker:you ever feel, particularly as someone who's been in the fitness industry
Speaker:where appearance does matter quite a lot, do you feel a
Speaker:lot of pressure to be a certain mother or look a certain way?
Speaker:I think I used to and I do think that motherhood actually
Speaker:helped me kind of lose that pressure that I put on
Speaker:myself because prior to becoming a mom, like with
Speaker:competing, I was quite lean and it is
Speaker:really hard like seeing yourself go to that low of body fat
Speaker:percentage and something that like internally, you know, is not sustainable
Speaker:and not healthy. But that doesn't necessarily make it any easier to
Speaker:kind of see yourself regaining weight back after the fact or
Speaker:something. And so I do think like throughout pregnancy
Speaker:and postpartum it gave me a whole new appreciation
Speaker:for my body. And I do just think
Speaker:back to like the message that I wanted to provide
Speaker:to my audience and to my clients. And I
Speaker:always like say this to myself, but how would I speak
Speaker:to a client if they were coming with these feelings or these issues? Right.
Speaker:And I do think that I hold myself to a certain
Speaker:standard as a health and fitness coach because I do need to be a role
Speaker:model and think that. But within my coaching
Speaker:realm, I also don't tell my clients that they need to be
Speaker:perfect. I don't tell them that they need to be 100% and they can't stray
Speaker:away from their nutrition program or they can never miss A workout or something like
Speaker:that. So just bringing that into kind of my own health and
Speaker:fitness journey is really important too. So, yeah,
Speaker:yeah, we can often be our own harshest critic. Yes. We'll hold
Speaker:ourselves up here and then be really compassionate for everybody around us. By
Speaker:ourselves, and particularly in your industry, in the coaching, it
Speaker:probably took some self reflect to be like, why am I putting myself
Speaker:in a different space?
Speaker:Did you find it hard to carve out that space? You meant. You mentioned
Speaker:that, like, you really held on to those walks every day or those little workouts.
Speaker:Is that something that came naturally to you or that took some
Speaker:time to set up? So I would say
Speaker:it did come fairly naturally to me, but I did put in the
Speaker:efforts prior to ensure that I had those systems in place.
Speaker:Right. So I actually have a lot of women come to me when they
Speaker:are considering starting a family within the
Speaker:next year or even the next few years or something like that, which
Speaker:I think is honestly so smart because to
Speaker:build a solid foundation, they want to form healthy habits and
Speaker:routines, get their systems in place to be
Speaker:able to facilitate health and fitness within their household
Speaker:and family before they've even started a family. Which I think is really smart
Speaker:because once you become a mom, like, even pregnant,
Speaker:all women respond differently to pregnancy. Every postpartum
Speaker:journey is different and things like that. And it can completely rock your world
Speaker:and you really don't know how that's going to be until
Speaker:it happens. And so for me, especially during
Speaker:my pregnancy, like, I was out walking every single day. I was hitting my
Speaker:step goal. I was getting my workouts in and, you know, this was during
Speaker:the pandemic. So we had kind of a makeshift home gym and
Speaker:I was getting my workouts done there. So again, I think I did
Speaker:just have those habits formed already.
Speaker:Yeah, obviously, like newly postpartum, I did have two C
Speaker:sections. I wasn't out going for walk.
Speaker:No, I definitely wasn't. It was like a very gradual thing. I remember my first
Speaker:walk was like, to the mailbox and back. So just like, really,
Speaker:you know, understanding, like, how good those things made me feel.
Speaker:That was kind of a driving factor in terms of me maintaining them
Speaker:afterwards as well. How did you navigate carving out the
Speaker:time then for you to have alone time? Who in your circle helped
Speaker:you have that time so you could go away by yourself? Do those walks have
Speaker:that space to just be you? Yeah, that was
Speaker:something that definitely came a little bit later for me.
Speaker:And I do think it's just because I am
Speaker:naturally a more like, controlling
Speaker:person. And it wasn't something that I was doing out of, like, lack of
Speaker:trust for those around me. It honestly was just more so out of,
Speaker:like, fear and me wanting to kind of control the whole situation. So there
Speaker:definitely were a lot of periods and seasons when I was in.
Speaker:Mother wouldn't ask for help, and I would try to
Speaker:bear the load and bear the weight of everything. And then I
Speaker:definitely realized kind of, like, the negative effects of that
Speaker:on my mental health and things like that. And so that's really where
Speaker:I made the decision to, like, reach out and ask for help. And,
Speaker:like, it was always easy for me to ask my partner to, you know,
Speaker:girls or watch the baby so I can go for a walk or do a
Speaker:workout or something like that. Just in terms of,
Speaker:you know, having a little bit more capacity. It took.
Speaker:It took a little bit of a push for me to ask for help, for
Speaker:sure. What do you think were the mental blocks of
Speaker:asking for help?
Speaker:Um, I think. Think that. I don't know. For some reason,
Speaker:I think I intrinsically felt
Speaker:like I had to be, like, doing more and doing post and,
Speaker:like, almost like, maintaining.
Speaker:That I have everything under control and everything is fine and everything is
Speaker:good. Right. And so it's kind of a hard pill to swallow when
Speaker:you're like, no, actually I do need a little bit of help. I do need
Speaker:support as well. Right. Yeah. And you mentioned that when you were trying
Speaker:to do it all, you felt it affect your mental health.
Speaker:What did you recognize in you that was like, oh, okay, I need to change
Speaker:something. So for me, because
Speaker:I didn't take maternity leave with either of my girls,
Speaker:so I was still balancing working from home with them,
Speaker:it got to a point where I woke up and I
Speaker:had to do things. Like, at certain times
Speaker:I didn't get them done, it would throw off the whole day. And then it
Speaker:would be like 10pm at night, and I'm glued to my desk
Speaker:finishing work for the day or something like that. And so I found
Speaker:that I was, like, not having that flexibility.
Speaker:And it was almost giving me anxiety, like, waking up and being like, I
Speaker:have to go for a walk at this time. I have to do this at
Speaker:this time. I have to get, like, all of this stuff done when
Speaker:they're napping. So then if they weren't, if they didn't nap, which, like, sometimes
Speaker:kids decide they don't want to nap. Like, the
Speaker:entire system in the entire day. And it was also.
Speaker:It was almost making me feel just, like, anxious about the end of the
Speaker:day because the List of things that I had to do, like work wise
Speaker:and things like that were just, were just piling up. Right. Yeah. So you
Speaker:kind of could have feel that pressure building throughout the day. Yeah.
Speaker:Super. Do you have any words of wisdom that you would like to share? You
Speaker:mentioned that you're working with mothers or women that are hoping to become mothers
Speaker:that you have found has helped those in your circle.
Speaker:I do think it comes back to just managing
Speaker:expectation. And what I like to do
Speaker:with my like to do list now is like,
Speaker:must do nice to do and if
Speaker:I get to it today, great. If it has to move to tomorrow until the
Speaker:next day, that is totally fine. Right. So trying to keep things
Speaker:really realistic in terms of what you need to do on a day to day
Speaker:basis. And then I also think that planning
Speaker:and preparation is very, very important. So like,
Speaker:for example, one thing that I talk about a lot with my clients is the
Speaker:importance of meal prep and planning. And it doesn't need
Speaker:to look like preparing your little Tupperware containers of every
Speaker:single meal. Like a lot of people kind of have misconceptions about what it needs
Speaker:to look like. Basically just needs to look like having some food
Speaker:in your fridge that you know you can make cohesive meals with if
Speaker:you know you're going to be leaving the house for a period of time, making
Speaker:sure that you have some meals planned and prepped and prepared
Speaker:with you. So I think that that goes a really long way,
Speaker:especially in motherhood when we're so used to pouring
Speaker:into our kids, pouring into, you know, everyone and everything
Speaker:else around us, sometimes we can get forgotten. And a lot of the
Speaker:moms that come to me, they aren't fueling and nourishing their bodies
Speaker:properly. And it kind of creates like a waterfall of negative
Speaker:effects. So I do think like planning, preparation
Speaker:as much as you can, even if it's just a little
Speaker:bit. And then I also think that a lot,
Speaker:there's just a lot of guilt surrounding taking
Speaker:time for themselves. And so for me, it really
Speaker:took recognizing that, you know, when I took time for myself,
Speaker:when I take time for myself to get a workout in,
Speaker:to go for a walk, to clean the space
Speaker:around me. Yeah. Or to go meet up with a friend
Speaker:without my kids so that I can actually have a face to face conversation with
Speaker:them. Right. Doing little things like that, it actually allows me to
Speaker:come into motherhood being a lot more present and being able to be
Speaker:focused and things like that as well. So I would say like, you should
Speaker:never feel guilty about taking time for yourself or looking after yourself
Speaker:because it's only going to benefit everybody else around you. Yeah, that
Speaker:really resonates with me. And I think I went through a similar process where you
Speaker:just feel this guilt, but then when you do start to carve out space for
Speaker:yourself, you enjoy motherhood so much more. You enjoy the time with them
Speaker:because you filled your own cup of tea. Yeah. So thank you for
Speaker:sharing all of that. I want to finish with a quote that you wrote because
Speaker:I really liked what you sent just for other women to hear. So it's a
Speaker:quote from Tory Burch, and she says, as a working
Speaker:mother, I know that women can be both professionally ambitious and deeply
Speaker:committed to their family. And I can see now, after chatting to you,
Speaker:why that resonates so much with you. You are clearly
Speaker:passionate about your work, passionate about your. And you've
Speaker:really carved out some tools to help
Speaker:navigate the shift and the ebbs and flows of
Speaker:daily life. So I'm sure that today's
Speaker:episode will resonate with a lot of the listeners and probably help a lot of
Speaker:moms discovered a few tools to make things easier. So thank you so much for
Speaker:your time. Thank you for having me.
