You NEED to forgive yourself

The addiction to and chase to hear these words not just from them but from everyone became the goal of my pursuits rather than my values and intentions.

What good is doing good if you only do it for the gold star? What good is being successful if you lose focus on helping other people? Why do we see bigger ripples as more important and valuable when the smallest act (or non-act) can have the biggest change in someone’s life.

This is all a product of shame.

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Grief. We need to actually start talking about it.

I had the most incredible conversation with Courtney Passfield and Fiona Daley on their podcast, Your Daley Pass.

Courtney unexpectedly lost her father-in-law a few weeks before we recorded this episode ago. The intensity and complexity of her grief — and her willingness to process this together — allowed us to share in this beautiful space of exploration wherein we could look at the complexities of grief and emotion — anger, resentment, fear, pain, longing, etc — and make space for it.

We talked about grief as it pertains to death but also explored the impact of grief in other zones and areas of loss. And whew — it was intensely therapeutic and raw for all of us. One of the most significant spaces of curiosity was around emotional processing and the fears of getting stuck in grief (or a subset of it).

“What evidence do you have that you will get stuck there?”

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I am grieving. And that's okay.

I am grieving. And whew, it's a doozy.

Many of you know from some of my recent emails that my grandma — the woman who raised me throughout much of my young adult life — died on July 22nd.

Since then, I have felt angry, sad, joyful, confused, disconnected, completely normal, and so much more. Some days I forget my grandma died. Some, I feel a level of connection to and with her that carries me through my day. And others, it's like a rock in my heart that is too heavy to lift.

To say we had a complex relationship is an understatement.

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