Have you ever been so full of fear that you let it it rob you of joy? Have you felt paralyzed by fear and anxiety and were unable to do something you dreamt of trying? Maybe getting on an airplane for a trip alone (that’s me!), or attending a social function alone, or public speaking, applying for a new job, moving to a new city, or maybe even eating out alone. Fear is personal. What scares us individually can vary greatly, but fear is universal in its ability to sabotage…
It’s time to quit playing small and to start making yourself a priority. Are you playing small and allowing your life to pass by while you tend to everyone else’s needs? You say you don’t have time to take better care of yourself and your needs, and to make yourself a priority, but this is your life. And each day that passes is an opportunity you’ve lost. Serving others often comes first. I hear you. I feel that way too. But we’ve done plenty of caring for others, putting everyone…
Defining ourselves by our failures and setbacks keeps us feeling stuck and stops us from feeling more joy. Sometimes things don’t go as we planned. We dream, we plan, we hope, and we take actions with the best intentions and still, some of our best made plans go awry or we’re dealt an unanticipated blow or are otherwise derailed from our goals. How can we cope with the ups and downs and twists and turns of life in a way that can lead us to experience more joy? We can…
Midlife is (beyond) time that we stopped worrying about being liked. Women are complicated creatures. We are problem solvers, caretakers, nurturers and frequently, avid people-pleasers. All of that is fine, except that we can take the people-pleasing gig a little too far. And when we do, we suppress our own needs and desires, frequently because we’re worrying about being liked and being likable. But that’s got to stop. And there’s no better time than right now to kick that habit to the curb. At midlife, it’s beyond time we realize…
We don’t have to be physically alone to feel lonely. The number of people who feel lonely (even when in the company of others) is epidemic. Feelings of loneliness can affect anyone from children, to teens, to us fifty-somethings, straight on through to the elderly. Loneliness can be at the root of other emotions that keep us from moving forward and living life fully, like sadness, depression, self-doubt, and unworthiness. Loneliness can make us feel disconnected from others and sometimes even from ourselves. Lonely on the outside Some people are…
Why the little things in life are actually the big things… If you’re like me, you’ve got plenty of goals and dreams that seem super possible on sunny days. However, on the grayer days it’s easy to feel discouraged and defeated when we don’t see the amount of progress we’d hoped for. We can get fixated on the bigger picture, the end game, and start to feel down on ourselves because we lose sight of an appreciation for the little things in life. The little things that can make us feel…