10 Things to let go of in 2020 How do you feel about this past year? Has 2019 been good to you? I hope that it’s been a great year, filled with beautiful memories. Personally, I have mixed feelings about this past year. There have been many wonderful moments, amazing people I’ve met, friends I’ve made, things I’ve learned. But I’ve also experienced loss, once again, and feel like it’s been a bit of a dumpster fire of a year. Actually, I cannot wait to watch it burn and just go away. I mean that quite literally, too. I’ll be burning a few things, from the safety of my fireplace, of course; like a bunch of those hospital ID wristlets you get when you’re being admitted, and other things I’m letting go of. I wrote each of them down on a piece of paper and will let go of them one at a time. I’ve always believed that any time is a good time for a change. There’s no need to wait for the new year, next month, next week. How many times have you told yourself “starting Monday I will ____” and didn’t live up to that promise? If you […]

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“I feel like I’m an emotional sponge.” My friend just finished telling me about how her daily lunch break at work has turned into her being forced to listen to hour-long rants from one of her co-workers who is going through a bitter divorce. Yup. I can relate. To being an emotional sponge, that is. If I talk to someone close and listen to their problems, struggles, or issues, it’s almost a guarantee that I will have trouble falling asleep that day. Or that at least, my energy levels will suddenly drop. Certain people or places just have that effect on me. Over the last couple of years, after going through quite a few changes during the journey of my personal growth, I’ve discovered that I very easily soak up other people’s emotions. Then I let them take over and I worry, I stress, and then I worry some more. It was around that time that I realized that sometimes, you have no choice but to protect your energy in order to stay sane. HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ENERGY FIND YOUR HAPPY SPACE A little secret to my sanity? I turn my phone off, all.the.time. I just have to. There […]

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20 Things to Start Doing for Yourself How often do you revisit the goals and dreams you’ve put on hold for “another time?” You spend a lot of time giving. Giving yourself to others, to your work and everything else in between. Life gets busy and you often put yourself and your needs last. They don’t seem important, urgent or significant, do they? Take a moment to think about it and ask yourself, if any of these apply to you: You often commit to doing things you really don’t feel like doing. You’ve become an emotional sponge, soaking up someone’s constant emotional dumping. Even though you know that it has a negative effect on your mood and your own energy, you just don’t know how to set boundaries.  You have a tendency to beat yourself up over a stupid mistake you’ve made, for hours on end.  Your fear of being judged stops you from doing and trying things you’ve always wanted to try, do and see. You’ve heard the world tell you that it’s “too late” for you to make a change, to try new things, to stir things up, to start again. Well, here’s a little reminder: it’s never […]

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How to Stop Negative Self-Talk Would you tell one of your friends that they’re “stupid?” “Not good enough?” That it’s “too late” for them to go after their goals? That you “don’t like” their body, nose, skin, fill-in-the-blank? That you “hate” them? (and not in the “omg-I-hate-you-why-would-you-do-this” kind of way, when they do something silly) Well, if you’re a good friend (and I do hope that you are :) ) you wouldn’t say those things to another person, let alone someone you love. But you don’t always have a problem with being unkind or mean to yourself, do you? We say all those things to ourselves without hesitation. The way you talk to yourself can help you stay motivated, driven and inspired. Sometimes, it can be a source of solutions to your problems. It can, however, also be a source of a lot of excessive negativity- that’s when it becomes harmful. I spent years struggling with this and it wasn’t just me telling myself that “I’m so stupid” when I did something… well, stupid. It was a constant, ongoing battle. I would tell myself things that made me doubt myself, things that made me feel bad about myself, things I […]

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Once a very clean and healthy eater, you’ve forgotten what a vegetable tastes like. Your plans to switch jobs, which you were once very excited about, have taken a back seat while you try to tell yourself that “things aren’t that bad” and maybe leaving isn’t such a good idea after all. Or, maybe, it’s been so long since you’ve been to the gym that you totally missed the fact that your favorite (and most convenient) location has been closed for months. Oops. That last one was an actual, real-life example. Slip-ups. Pitfalls. Mess-ups. They happen to all of us, and they happen for many different reasons. Sudden illness, loss, a broken relationship, a big move. Sometimes these things are very short-lived; other times they throw some long-term difficulties our way. Whenever things go sideways and our lives get derailed, we often also lose focus. Our goals or plans for the future all of a sudden don’t seem all that important. Then, as some time goes by, you’re beginning to think about revisiting some of those once–very-important ideas, but somehow, you can’t find your way back. What do you do? Where and how do you start? Is “starting over” even […]

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