As women, so many of us have been trained since childhood to be nice. Smile. Take the smallest piece of pie. Don’t ask for too much. And, maybe the worst lie of them all- We need to be happy with what we have because we don’t DESERVE more.

How do you manage your own feelings? Do you avoid them, push them down, or drink/work/Netflix/Wordle over them? Or do you allow yourself to FEEL your feelings- when they happen- in the moment? As a coach, most people I talk to are in the first camp.

I went to a dinner party last night with nine other women to talk about fun. YES- a real dinner party with patio lights and a fire pit and cloth napkins and wine with edible glitter (don’t tell my health coach.) As we went around the table, woman after woman said a version of the phrase, “I used to be fun.” The truth is- we all still have the capacity for fun- if we allow it.

How often do you find yourself using the phrase- I can do it myself? It might sound like this: I don’t need someone to help me set up this new tech gadget (that may eat up my whole weekend.) I can do it myself. I don’t need someone to help organize my garage. I can do it myself.

As we enter year three of this pandemic are you still telling yourself- this is temporary? Are you gritting your teeth and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and just getting through the day, then the week, then the year? Do you realize yet that this is your one precious LIFE?

Is this you? Have you been telling yourself, “This is only temporary.” for two YEARS? Can you see it yet? This isn’t temporary. This is your LIFE. And, this is good news because once you see this you can start to shift. And, you haven’t done anything “wrong.” I just have another idea for you. We cannot change what we do not see.

My parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last week in an assisted living facility. My mother’s dementia took a downturn a few days before this and I don’t think she understood what was happening, but we tried to celebrate as a family.

Last weekend was our final in person retreat for my Women Who Want More coaching group. We did an exercise about positive projections. When we are inspired by someone else it is so important to slow down and realize that the brilliance we recognize in another lives within us. If it wasn’t inside of us, we wouldn’t recognize it.

How often do you find yourself saying the words, “I don’t have time?”

We moved my mother into assisted living last week.