While we know it is better to be a lighthouse in someone else's storm, than to join in their chaos, what happens when that chaos is yours? What do you do when you’re in the middle of your own storm? 

When we feel overwhelmed and lost in the hustle, we often do not take care of ourselves. Our energy is low, we are burnt out, exhausted, and feeling lackluster about life. Some circles tell you this is normal,  this is "adulting", and this is life. Others tell you this is abnormal, you're not handling life well, and you need help. Then there's the group that will encourage you to find yourself-read the books,  buy the journals,  and just get better. 

I'm not here to judge or to tell you which of these paths is better than the rest. No, let's look at life a little differently.  

There are many different seasons of life.  Some are busy and hectic, others are slow and steady. Some bring stress and hardship,  other...

Something that is often taught in leadership development is the art of delegation.  Learning what tasks to hand to others on your team and empowering them to accomplish those tasks can really change the way your team interacts, and of course,  lightens your load too! 

This concept can be the same in your household too. You know better than anyone that you're the captain of that ship. It's up to you to make sure there are clean clothes to wear, grandma gets a birthday card,  and the goldfish has been fed.  Sometimes the weight of it all feels unbearable. Overwhelming. Even frustrating. 

What would happen if you began to delegate some of those tasks or responsibilities? Of course,  you're not going to have your toddler paying bills,  but they could probably feed the fish.  Are your children old enough to wash their own clothes? What about being responsible for a meal or a side dish? 

Now you're probably thinking...

Self-care, self-love, me-time. These phrases are ones we hear often. But do you have any idea what that even means? Do you hear yourself saying, “must be nice” when someone talks about taking some time for themselves? We’ve all been there. Some days it feels like there just isn’t any time for you. Some days it feels too expensive, wasteful, or even selfish. But every day, it is necessary.  

As a society, we always find the money, the time, the space, and the energy, to make things happen that we really want and need. The most heartbreaking example of this is when a loved one is ill. In your day-to-day life, you don’t have the time or money to visit. But when that person becomes ill, you make the time. You find the money. You find the way and get there. Immediately, this becomes a priority, and we always figure out the way for our priorities. I challenge you to prioritize your health and well-being this month. Sure, life is crazy and busy...

I had an experience the other day that really made me think. It was a prime example of how we as women tear each other down. How instead of encouraging and embracing each other in their power, we work to prevent that in one another. Now, I’d imagine that most of us don’t do it on purpose, but it is something we need to begin to be aware of. I’ll tell you the story...

There I was having a conversation with someone about raising children. The struggles, the successes, the challenges, and all the things that come with guiding a young human in this crazy world. We have had different experiences, as she has her own biological children and no nieces/nephews and at that time I had a bonus daughter, as well as many nieces and nephews. During our conversation, she said something to the effect of, “well you haven’t had children so you don’t really understand.” My knee-jerk reaction is to say, “yeah, you’re right” and give this...

One of the biggest complaints I hear from moms is that they just don’t have time. There is no time for the laundry, the dishes, the floors, the kids, the pets, or the husband, much less time for themselves! Throw in your work responsibilities and now not only is there no time, but there’s also hardly any energy! Constantly feeling like there is not enough time causes a lot of guilt, and maybe even a bit of shame too. The peace that you should feel when you finally get to crawl into bed for the night is overshadowed by the list of things you didn’t get done today. I know how you feel, I’ve been there too. Sometimes I am still there. It would be so easy for me to tell you, “you’re just putting too much on yourself and you need to lighten up”... But I think you’d reach right through this screen and slap me if I did that! Yes, we can hear those words, or similar ones, and agree that that would help, but deep down we know that hearing it...

Last week we discussed the effects stress has on your body and mind. Things you may not even realize, check it out here. There is one more significant part of your life that is affected by stress too. Your menstrual cycle. We’ve all heard of the fight-or-flight response, right? The driving force behind that response is the hormone cortisol. Higher levels of cortisol in the bloodstream reduce reproductive hormones, especially progesterone and estrogen. That affects your whole entire month! Let’s review your cycle before we get too far into this. Please know that hormone fluctuations in the body are an intricate and complex process. What I will do here is provide information from a very high-level view. 

So let’s have a little refresher on your cycle. If you are not on any kind of hormonal birth control, you have four distinct hormonal phases throughout the month. These phases make up what we know to be our menstrual cycle. Of course, everyone is aware of...

Much of what I work on with my clients is based on stress relief. Whether that's stress from a current situation, stress from past events, or stress caused by our current lifestyle,  it all boils down to a lack of peace in the body, mind, and soul.  

We hear so much these days about self-care,  work-life balance, and wellness it's easy to forget that each of these is more than just buzz words.  

A stress response from the body can be a good thing. This is your fight or flight response. This is the mechanism in the body that helps you to fight a virus, shiver when you're cold, and run from the saber tooth tiger to save your life. We certainly want those things to keep happening. The difference between these scenarios and the kind of stress most of us endure is that each of those scenarios is short-lived. Here and gone in a matter of weeks. Your work stress likely isn't that way.

That is where we run into problems and why there is so...

Growing up there were a couple of sitcoms we watched as a family (back when TV was a little more family-friendly) that often referred to anger management techniques. The two I remember the most were the rubber band on the wrist, to be snapped during moments of anger, and the “close your eyes and count to 10 before responding" rule. I feel like these things were mentioned quite often on TV...but maybe they were just techniques that stood out to me so I remembered them well. Either way, this conversation is more about that choice to respond differently than the first instinct. The decision to snap the rubber band, or count to ten before responding is a conscious choice that affects the outcome of the situation... In a big way. 

In every interaction you partake in, you have the ability to choose how you will respond to the situation at hand. There are SO many human emotions, your options are truly endless. The question becomes, what does this response create in my life? See...

I have always been a proponent of using a multitude of modalities to find true wellness. As you are a multifaceted human being, you need many different techniques to stay well. Just like your nutrition is not balanced without consuming a wide variety of foods, you cannot be well in your body, mind, and soul, without a wide variety of modalities. Essential oils are one of the modalities I turn to often. I love having them in my diffusers (I currently have four diffusers in my home), use them in skin care remedies (like sunburn relief), or for inflammation from an injury.

EO's are also the only "pretty smells" allowed in my home. I do not use anything in my home with the word "fragrance" listed on the ingredient label. Did you know "fragrance" is a blanket term for many different chemicals in products? "Fragrance" is not regulated by the FDA so it becomes a default place to hide chemicals you wouldn't otherwise want in a product you use daily (like BPA, a known contributor to...

There are a million studies out there talking about screen time. How much is too much? When should you turn your devices off? What about that blue light business? Is it different for adults and children? I’m not going to dive into any of that. Instead of hashing out how long, when, where, and who, let’s look into what you view. When I was young, my friends and I had a CD that we called the “Depression CD.” We’d listen to it when we were having an off day, after a break-up, or just whenever we were a little low. It was 13 country songs, from the country era of slow broken-hearted ballads. Nothing upbeat. Nothing empowering. Nothing that would help turn your mood around. Instead, it was about being engulfed by that sadness, by that slow, depressive movement. We used these songs when we were feeling low because they matched our vibration (learn more about your vibration here). The energy was the same. It felt comfortable to listen...