Joy Class

"On the other side of raw, authentic honesty and vulnerability is joy." - Michelle Garside In a world that's always pushing us to do more and be more, it has become increasingly difficult to foster real connections with people who embrace who we truly are. But the truth is, joy and fulfillment don't come from just ticking off achievements. They come from the people we share life with and the space...

"Time management is so personal. People should listen to their preferences and tendencies and have a system that molds to them in their life." - Kelly Nolan At its core, time management is a tool to help you to be more present in your life. One of the biggest hurdles that stops us from taking care of ourselves is the feeling that there's just not enough time in the day. We want to make time for ou...

"I show up for the things that feel good, and the things that don't, I stop doing." - Lindsey Kaszuba So many of us are weighed down by all the things we "should" be doing for our health. Just because a habit is good for us doesn't mean it will come easily, and even habits helping us feel better can sometimes be challenging to stick to. Add to that the tons of often-conflicting health advice float...

"If you can deal with anger as it arises, none of its cousins - like resentment and contempt - will come in." - Jordan Dann In the last couple of years, I've seen an overwhelming amount of resentment building in many relationships around me. With the drastic changes that came about because of the pandemic, the dynamics and systems we were accustomed to have dramatically shifted and it's caused a l...

"Authentic confidence comes as the reward for taking action." Self-confidence is not something you build up once that lasts forever. It's more like a living, breathing organism you need to nurture and care for. You will have phases in life where confidence comes easily and others where it's hard to access. These seasons are a part of life; what matters is that you empower yourself with the tools t...

"Most people are not taught to be in touch with their needs." - Julia Stephanides We live in a hyper-capitalist society where it's better for the system if we don't have needs. We should work hard, never stop, and do our jobs quietly - as close to robots as possible. But at some point, we must stop, reclaim our humanity, acknowledge our needs and feelings, and reconnect with them. The law is so fo...

"Enough of the world is out there fighting you. You have to have a haven, you can't come into a space that is fighting you as well." - Alejandra Brady I've always believed that the physical spaces we live in influence our inner spades, how we feel in our lives, and what we think we're capable of. Beyond that, our spaces have healing power and can influence our energy in immeasurable ways. This bel...

From a young age, society tells women how our bodies should look and judges us when we don't match up with the unrealistic standards we're fed. From idealized body shapes to how quickly we're expected to lose baby weight, the whole topic of women's weight can be triggering. One of the most challenging times to manage this is around perimenopause when many women experience weight gain unlike anythi...

Turning 40 often comes with a lot of mixed emotions. Some of us feel trepidation, some are excited; for others, it's just another day. The good news is that despite that, most of us end up on the other side feeling empowered and loving the new decade. This birthday wasn't easy for me, and I turned to my journals to process my emotions. What came out of that was a deeper understanding of my own dis...

"The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives." - Esther Perel My relationships are everything. That's true for my friendships, my extended family, my kids, and of course, my husband, with whom I'm co-creating our entire life. But even though romantic relationships are so meaningful, they can be some of the most tricky to navigate. So much pressure can be layered onto this...

Skincare is a long game. How you treat your skin now will have a massive impact on how your skin looks and feels in the next twenty years. When your skin is vibrant and healthy, you feel much better in your body and life. For me, skincare has become a significant joy driver and something that makes me feel happy, nurtured, and nourished. As we get older, our skin changes, and it can feel overwhelm...

"Calm is not something we're born knowing how to access. It's a muscle that needs to be flexed, grown, and nurtured." - Jenna Hermans   Most of us didn't grow up in a naturally calm, easy, and grounded setting. The world around us is very active and busy, and we're constantly bombarded with messaging about hustling and productivity. Finding calm in chaos is a skill set we have to learn. While the...

"Self-worth is an inside job, but it's also okay to want to hear that you're attractive." - Dana Myers If you feel like your libido disappeared or you're struggling to feel sexy after having kids, you're not alone. From my experience and the conversations I've had with clients and friends, I can tell you that this is something that many women struggle with. When so much of yourself is dedicated to...

Perfectionism is a common struggle for many people. Over the last ten-plus years of coaching, I've seen so many women - who technically have everything they need - jeopardizing their growth and joy because they're so tightly wound up in perfectionism. So many individual and societal factors can feed into perfectionism, but we can strengthen our relationship with ourselves by finding joy in imperfe...

True healing requires addressing the root cause of the problem, not just suppressing the symptoms. When it comes to things like anxiety, the conventional medical approach is to go straight to medication. Unfortunately, these can often lead to undesirable side effects, which are then treated with additional medicines, and the snowball effect continues. As a functional medicine practitioner, today's...

"Our darkness is also light; they're not separate." - Jeannine Yoder At first glance, grief and joy seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. But what if they could coexist? We all have or will experience grief and loss in one form or another. Whether it's losing a loved one, experiencing heartbreak, or living through a traumatic event, none of us can avoid it. At the same time, we're culturall...

You can create the life that you want. Believing in your enoughness is fundamental if we are to thrive in the long run. It makes us more resilient and allows us to tap into our power and potential fully. On the flip side, people with a strong inner voice telling them they're not enough usually don't have a lot of space for joy and pleasure. Today I'm doing things a little differently. This episode...

"I'm afraid there's something inside of me that will never stop eating ice cream if I let it." So many of us carry around a fear that our minds and our bodies are on different teams. That if we don't hold the reins of our diet tightly and avoid all temptation, we'll spin out of control. Fortunately, it's not true. Your body wants to feel good, agile, flexible, energized, and healthy. It all comes...

It's not what you eat; it's what you absorb. - Sarah Marlette Gut health is a foundational pillar for optimal overall health. It's directly connected to several body systems, from the brain to reproductive health, thyroid, and more. Despite its central importance, the standard Western diet doesn't do our gut a lot of favors, and many of us find ourselves in a less-than-ideal place with our gut hea...

Most of us experience burnout even though we might not recognize it. Far from just feeling tired, burnout can impact every area of your life and relationships and the topic deserves far more attention than it's already getting. Once you're in that place, it's challenging to understand what kind of burnout you're experiencing, where it's coming from, and how to heal from it so you can return to a l...

Your joy has the power to change your life. By tuning into your joy and becoming an active joy seeker, you will gain joy from seemingly simple and mundane things. That's when life gets really juicy. By tuning in to your experience on this planet, it becomes much easier to know what you want, what's meant for you, and where you need to set boundaries.   In this episode, I'll walk you through exactl...

"Don't chase symptoms; optimize systems." - Dr. Jessica Drummond Most of us have heard the terms perimenopause and menopause, but even though we'll all experience it, we're still unsure what to expect and when to expect it. The good news is that despite their scary reputation, you can support yourself in many ways as you make this transition. Today I'm joined by my mentor and friend, Dr. Jessica D...

Around the middle school years, most of us start to zoom in on creating an identity for ourselves. We begin to round out our self-concept, who we want to hang out with, and how we want other people to perceive us. We're trying to figure out where we fit into the world. As women, it can feel like we have to pick between two options: being the fashionable life of the party, seen as frivolous and gir...

Your outer world will always mirror your inner world. Even though people can't hear your inner thoughts, they can feel them. Adjusting how you speak to yourself and what goes on in your inner world is vitally important if you want to create a life where you thrive. A constant, negative inner dialogue stops the flow of joy. It keeps us bogged down in guilt and feeling we're not good enough for the...

You're allowed to want what you want. There's an inseparable connection between self-worth and joy. As long as you feel unworthy, sustainable joy will not be able to anchor itself into your life. Many of us are carrying around wounds of unworthiness that stop us from tuning in to our intuition and what we want and need. To cultivate deep joy in our lives, we must learn to look inward and create a...