- Paula, thanks for being here.
This is so fun. - Thank you for having me!
We have been talking about this happening
for at least the last four weeks.
- Yeah, I mean it's been a super long time,
or four weeks. - No, you and I met,
you were in New York City.
We connected. I feel like we're soul sisters
in many capacities. - It was like,
we're sisters from another mister or something.
I mean, it just, yeah.
- Basically we're sisters.
- It's true, I know.
Those people that you just sit down with, and you're like,
oh yeah, we can just (snaps),
we can start talking everything.
That was Paula. - Everything,
but I'm the older.
- The wiser, we'll say that.
- I don't know about that, but definitely older.
- (laughs) Elder.
- Yes, I am your elder.
- Okay, so Paula, for people that are not familiar with you,
you're a GMA anchor.
- I am. I anchored weekends for four years
with my co-anchor, Dan Harris.
And then I was doing The View for three years as well.
And now, after last year,
last year I stepped away from weekends,
because I just wanted to work Monday through Friday.
My schedule was so crazy.
- So, were you working seven days a week at that point?
- There would some moments between anchoring the weekends,
and doing The View, and other projects.
I would go stretches of 21 days straight,
and it came to a point
where I was like, I can't do this anymore.
And I've really felt like, okay God,
you wanted me to, I feel like you wanted me
to do this, but why is everybody getting my leftovers?
So it kind of came to a point where I went to management,
and they have been so, they've worked with me beautifully.
They said, you can work Monday through Friday,
so yeah. - Yes.
Okay, so I'm curious,
just as an ABC consumer,
between weekends, The View, and GMA,
what's your sweet spot?
Like, which one do you enjoy the most?
- I loved GMA weekends because we truly were a family.
And it's really hard to replicate that, where you feel
like your teammates have your back, and they champion
you, and they advocate for you, and that you can trust them.
It's very rare. And so that was one of the difficulties
walking away from the weekends.
I was walking away from a family, my second family,
and I knew that I would probably never replicate
that sort of work environment again.
But my real family is most important to me,
so that was the reasoning behind that.
- Which is husband and kids.
So how long have you been married?
- Thank you for clarifying, yes.
My real family. - That is the family
she's talking about.
- Husband and three kids.
Yes, we are college sweethearts,
but we've been married almost 19 years.
- Yes, and then you guys have?
- The rest is history.
We have three children.
We have a daughter and two sons.
They're 11, nine and five.
- Oh my gosh.
Okay, so tell me though, now,
your schedule, is it pretty consistent?
- No.
But it is a little nuts. My kids are super
understanding, and I am very present with them.
- Yes, that's what I wanna talk about,
is like, so how do you do it?
Because I hear that.
People think I'm busy, and I travel some,
but I'm like, that's nothing compared to your job,
and having to be there early mornings,
and all of that.
So, if you're talking to a working mom,
and they ask like, so how do you do it?
- Well, I think you just,
first, you have to give yourself a lot of grace.
You can't be everywhere,
and you can't do it all.
I say you can't lean in, you just hang on.
Okay. (laughing)
You literally hang on, and you enjoy the ride,
and you love your kids through it.
But I try to be very present with my kids
when I'm with them. And I put the phone away.
- That's good.
- And I try to carve out something special
with each individual child.
And for me, it's just letting them know
that they're always going to be my priority.
I'm not always physically there,
but they're always in my heart,
and they're always my priority.
I think. So you just have to pick and choose.
You can't be at everything,
so just pick and choose.
And create a conversation with them.
Say, okay, if I can only go to a couple of these,
where would you like, which ones would you like
me to go to? And don't project the guilt.
Don't tell them how guilty you feel.
My kids, I've talked to them on many occasions.
I'm like, oh, I just wish I could quit and stay home.
And they're like, no, we like that you work,
and you kind of have a cool job and—
- Sweet.
- you do fun things. And I think they're proud of me
in some respects. But yeah,
just keep an open conversation,
be honest with your kids, and have fun,
and carve out special time.
- I think that that's a good point though.
Don't project your guilt on them.
Because I feel like sometimes, as a working mom
- [Paula] Oh, totally.
- you think like, oh my gosh, they're struggling,
and all this. And yeah, there might be seasons
where it's harder. But I remember specifically,
like I don't know why, God's like given me this memory
that's just stayed with me.
Like, I remember before the first book tour my dad went on,
I was in late middle school,
and we had a big family meeting.
Because back then, they went like six weeks at time.
Like, it was just this huge chunk of time
he was gonna be away.
It was like this big reveal, and they were talking about
all the logistics and all this.
And I genuinely, I love my dad. Like, we have a great relationship
with my family. I'm so thankful. I love them.
But I remember thinking in late middle school,
I was like, okay.
I'm fine.
You're okay, Dad.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, I could almost see the guilt on him.
And so, I always think about that memory,
where I'm like, okay, they're gonna be okay. It's okay.
- I think just in this climate,
the messages that we get as working moms
is, it's perfection, and it's striving,
and you feel like you have to do everything
and accomplish every little thing.
And I'm like, sorry, it's not a really great message.
At least for me, it doesn't apply for my life.
I just think it's not about leaning,
it's about just hanging on, and enjoying the ride,
and giving yourself the same amount of grace
that you give other people.
You have to give yourself plenty of grace
for the mistakes that you're gonna make.
One of the greatest gifts that I have given my children,
someone encouraged me to do this,
is the gift of admitting when you're wrong
and saying I'm sorry.
My kids know I'm not perfect,
and so when something . . . I'm sorry,
I'm not perfect. And just creating that conversation
that we're human. - So good.
- We're flawed, and it's okay to make mistakes.
Mommy's gonna make mistakes. And you're gonna make mistakes.
And guess what? We're gonna love each other
despite those mistakes. And we'll love each other more.
And you learn from the mistakes.
- Yeah, that's so good and so true.
- [Paula] We do learn ourselves.
- Just gives you permission,
just to take a deep breath moms.
You're good. Even if you're a stay-at-home mom,
you're working just as much, if not more,
(laughts) I sometimes think, with those stay-at-home moms.
So like, all, yeah.
Okay, so you launched a new podcast,
which is so great, Paula!
- I'm excited. I have to have you on the podcast!
- [Rachel] So good. I will. I'll come on.
- Please do.
- I wanna talk, yes. Because it really is.
It's fascinating. So talk about that. I wanna hear.
- We just launched it. We're on season two.
And it just came out of my own personal faith.
And you know, I'm a believer,
but I know that we don't give people,
at least from a mainstream platform, mainstream media,
we don't give them an opportunity to talk about faith
in the capacity of what they believe
and why they believe it.
You know, we'll cut that sound bite out
because it's too spiritual, it's too religious.
But faith is so important,
whatever faith you may be.
It's so important.
It's the bedrock and foundation
of so many of our lives.
So I wanted to give people an opportunity
to talk about what they believe, and why,
and how it gets them through the bumpy times,
and the highs and the lows.
I just wanna have really respectful, engaging
conversations with people.
- I think it's so good.
Well, it's powerful. And when it changes your life
completely in the way you view.
That's the lens you see everything through,
so I think that that's awesome
that you're digging into people's lives in that way
and having that conversation. - Thank you.
- It's so good.
- Thank you my sister from another mister
or another mother.
- It's so true. Oh my gosh.
Paula, thanks for coming on.
Guys, check out her podcast. - Thank you.
- Make sure go and subscribe to it.
And thanks for being here. - Thank you.
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