Unpacking Myself

How often have you ignored something that keeps coming up in your life - same frustrations, same negative feelings, same blockers, same disappointments, same doubts. Is that just a coincidence or is life (the universe) trying to tell us something, show us something? Why are we so tempted to ignore or dismiss these messages? What are we scared of and why do we ignore our gut so often? Listen in as...

There's no denying that we have made progress over the years with equal rights for women - the seat at the table, equal pay but there is something we are still completely missing as society that is obvious if you look closely. In this episode, I applaud the external progression we have made but highlight why it's important to notice and demand change with the invisible expectations, demands, stere...

Insecurities are universal. It would be hard to find someone without any insecurities. They may not know what they are but I'm sure they have them. They all look different in each of us but really it's just a way to help us see a part of ourselves that we need to work on. We try to compensate for them rather than tackle them head on. In this episode, I encourage you to get curious about your insec...

Most of us have that person or people in our lives where we feel like we have to walk on eggshells. We don't want them to get upset or be mad at us… and we do what we think we need to do to prevent that from happening. After all, we are the ones with self-control and not them right? That's the story I told myself too until I unpacked what was really happening. I saw these moments and my behavior f...

You can be married, have a house full of kids, be surrounded by friends and still feel lonely… all the time or just in certain moments. How does this happen? In this episode, I share what I have seen contribute to the feeling of "loneliness." Some of it is our mindset and expectations and some of it is because Today's world and our lifestyle can give us the illusion that we are connected and not l...

I'm convinced the things you can't measure or see is where the magic and secret to life lies. Not everyone has the patience or interest to attain it which is why it's not something everyone is lining up to do or benefits from. I wish that weren't the reality. Listen in as I share my journey with meditation and a few ways I got over the "intimidation" of it. Perfection isn't the goal but getting a...

I don't want to debate whether social media is good or bad but I do think it is important for everyone to pause and notice how it affects YOUR day, mindset, reality, mental health. In this episode, I unpack "Social Media" with my good friend and fellow nerd who loves unpacking just as much as I do - Amna Mazin. We talk about her journey evaluating her own relationship with Social Media and what sh...

Do you consider yourself a good communicator but find that some personalities or relationships are hard to have a conversation with? They either stonewall or avoid the conversation or they blow up? What do you do in that situation - do you just ignore the issue too and move on? That's what I have done many times until I realized that there was a better option and after trying it a few times, I rea...

It's a product development reference that comes up often in the startup world - is your product a painkiller or a vitamin? Today I take this reference and apply to how we each choose to live our lives. Are we forward-thinking, intentional and patient with doing the things that are meaningful like a vitamin? Or are we going from one fire to another, being pushed through life until we are forced to...

A blindspot by definition is something you can't see… you don't realize its there. Most of us have them and those who say they don't, just haven't found it yet :) In this episode, I walk through where these blindspots come from, how I discovered mine and how you can find yours too. Finding the blindspot can help us get different, more positive outcomes than ones we may be used to.  Today's episode...

It is so liberating and freeing when you are okay with others not liking you. Not when you are being a jerk but in moments where you know you didn't do anything wrong and yet they don't like you. If people don't like you when you are well-intentioned and being yourself then you have to detach from making them like you. Learn how you can remove so much clutter and confusion from your mind when you...

It's easy to forget that the lense through which we experience life is our own personal lense. It's a customized lense influenced by our past, our pain, our experiences, our narrative, our judgments, our likes & dislikes, our triggers. And that's ok, we all have it but what happens when we don't even realize the lense is there? Can we ever break out of the negative patterns that occur in our life...

I always had a feeling that when I was saying "I was too busy," I wasn't being completely honest with myself. Did I not have time or was I choosing not to prioritize other things in that moment? Seems like the same thing but the latter made me feel like I was in control of what my day or week was filled with. In this episode, I talk about why this subtle difference matters and why down-time is so...

When I would hear people say "Find your purpose," I would always get so overwhelmed and feel like it was out of reach. What does that mean? How do I find it? Do I have to become the next Oprah? In this episode, I unpack this big, scary thing - "purpose" into something that makes sense and is achievable. I had to this for myself and it has become more and more clear over the years. It's not as comp...

I've spent most of my life thinking "being understanding" meant sacrificing my own desires, ignoring my own feelings and just being silent. I saw others do this when I was younger and didn't even realize I was doing the same thing until recently. I'm realizing that "being understanding" is about being loving and kind BUT also honest and vocal. It does not mean shoving our own wants or needs deep d...

A recent experience made me realize how much we bury negative self-talk in our minds. Sometimes we don't even know its there. All we experience is the negative emotions but most of the time there is "not very nice" self-talk going on in our minds that it is stemming from. If we don't take a minute to pause, we will never be able to get to the root cause, which is the constant chatter programmed in...

Have you ever had something happen that you weren't expecting, that threw you off, made you feel defeated? You feel like you just want to curl into bed and rebel against all the action you were supposed to take? Well I had this happen to me this week and I share what happened as I battled action versus inaction in my head. Every part of me wanted to go towards inaction to soothe myself but what ha...

A lot of women today cringe when women are objectified but I couldn't help but notice how often women on social media are asked where their dress or shoes or earrings are from when they are posting inspirational, informative content. I couldn't help but go "wait, what is our roll here and are we a part of the problem?" Yes of course we will compliment other women and that is being supportive but w...

Have you ever felt like you had to allow someone's bad behavior because you know why they are that way? Recently I resisted unpacking others in my life because I didn't want to excuse the behavior. This led me down the path of realizing that it wasn't an all or nothing type of thing and why I can and should do both. Ignoring bad behavior can give us a false sense of being compassionate and a peace...

As young kids we are taught that there are consequences when we break the rules. Rules created by society, teachers, parents… so many rules. So then, as adults, we are programmed to just blindly follow the rules. Yes some rules are for our own safety but I'm talking about the little things where we are scared to go off the path or push the limits in fear of being reprimanded. We are programmed to...

There is so much out there about empowering women and making sure our daughters know they can do whatever they want. Being a woman and a mom of two girls, I'm all for this and love the motivation and encouragement this provides but we also need to make sure we don't get caught up in spending a lifetime proving that we can do it all. It should always come back to what WE want to do and not proving...

We have all felt like the victim before - someone takes advantage of us, makes us feel bad, is rude to us or we lose that promotion. Life can feel unfair at times and make us feel like it is all just happening to us. And when we play the victim then at least it's not our fault. In this episode, I talk about how it's normal and ok to feel like the victim but how, in these moments, I teach myself to...

Instant gratification is no longer a luxury, it has just become a part of how we live. It's become an expectation whether we are aware of it or not. But most things that are really good for us aren't instant, they take time. So in today's world how do we not lose sight of the long term plays, the long term decisions, the long term successes. It's not easy but still very necessary. We can't avoid a...

Do you ever feel like some things or friendships come easy in your life and some feel like soooo much work? I recently unpacked this to try and figure out when I should be working hard to make something work and when I should let it go. Sometimes we put all the burden on ourselves to make that job, friendship, business work rather than have faith that it will work out if it is meant to be. In this...

Some friends of ours did a simple exercise during a road trip that inspired me to talk about this week's episode. We all know we project our stuff onto our kids but did you know we do that with our "dreams" too? This brilliant exercise helps you unpack what you still are wanting for yourself. I talk about why it's important to make your dreams your own again versus pawning them off on your kids. I...