Worth Recovery

Emotions.  They are beautiful and make us human AND they are difficult and can make us fearful.  In this episode I share with you a recent problem I had with tending to my own emotions.  I hope you take some time today and tend to your emotions.  

I love having guests on the podcast. I love it even more when they are women sharing their own recovery journey.  Rosario is a brave young woman sharing her battle with sex and love addiction.  She discusses her struggle with religion and relationships.  She shares how bad it got and what made it better.  She talks about how self-compassion is the way she started to find healing and what her recov...

Connection is such a necessary part of life. Yet, for so many reasons it feels scary and unsafe. With everything else going on the world right now - pandemics, civil unrest, social distancing, protests, etc. - connection is every more essential than ever.  Why?  Try this Ted Talk by Johann Hari    Or this one by Brene Brown In this episode I discuss why we need connection and the offer four invita...

There is a whole lot going on right now.  As we grasp for information we don't have a whole lot of expectations are being put on us and how we should be responding to this pandemic.  Truth is we're living in unprecedented times.  Times that have never before been experienced by anyone currently alive.  It's important, now more than ever, that we truly understand ourselves, our position, and our pa...

Alice Taylor is the author of "Restored: A Women's Guide to Overcoming Pornography", a book full of amazing, practical tools to help you in your recovery.  She generously agreed to share her story with us as part of our Women's Stories series.  I'm grateful for her courage.  You can read more about her story and order Restored at her website:   https://thegracespot.com/ ===========================...

Free Fall is an opportunity to reorganize your life really quickly. In a matter of moments/days/weeks things can look really different.  At least it has the potential to.  But we must look at falling with intentionality and not fear. In this episode I share one of my first moments of free fall when I got laid off from a job in 2015 and the impact that had on my life.  There was an exercise I did t...

How many days have you been alone in your house?  Or at least felt alone, whether you actually were or not?  Have you struggled with loneliness during other times in your life?  Me, too.  In this episode, I share my current thoughts on where our world is, and three of the strategies that helped me learn to work through my own loneliness. In addition - I'd love to connect with you! Schedule a 30 mi...

In the conclusion of Natalie's story, we hear more about her recovery journey, the groups she attended, the problems she has faced in finding help, as well as more about her current relationship.  Each time I hear stories of others a piece of me heals.  I definitely found that to be true with Natalie. I hope you find that to be true for yourself as well. There are great resources available for wom...

Part 2 of Natalie's Story:  Another brave woman coming forward to share her story!  I'm always so honored when women are willing to share their story with us!  Natalie is from the UK and is an amazing trauma survivor and recovery addict.  I've had the privilege of knowing her for just over three years and am continually impressed with her resilience and engagement in recovery.  In this 3 part stor...

Another brave woman coming forward to share her story!  I'm always so honored when women are willing to share their story with us!  Natalie is from the UK and is an amazing trauma survivor and recovery addict.  I've had the privilege of knowing her for just over three years and am continually impressed with her resilience and engagement in recovery.  In this 3 part story, Natalie shares her family...

I have a love/hate relationship with boundaries.  At least, I used to. Boundaries are what keep us safe.  Having good boundaries can be life changing.  We never really know just how life-changing until we start to live with good boundaries.  In this episode, I partner with Jackie Pack from the Thanks For Sharing Podcast to discuss boundaries.  Jackie and I work together as One Layer Deeper.  We'd...

It's a new year, it's close to my sobriety anniversary, and it's my birthday!  All these things happen within a few weeks of each other.  This provides a great opportunity to evaluate my "bottom line" behaviors, or my sobriety definition, or my Level 4 behaviors, or whatever it is that you call the things you don't do anymore! Many times, at the beginning of recovery, we're not sure exactly what w...

It's a new year and it's my annual time to evaluate my life and decide what the next step looks like for me.  My goal for this year is to be OPEN.  In this episode I share with you how our lives in recovery can end us in isolation and make us feel closed off. To move to our next level of recovery requires us to be OPEN.  Can't wait to share that with you!

As you evolve, everything in your life must evolve.  If your evolution during recovery doesn't flow out to the other areas of your life, you could wake up one day and wonder what is going on?!?!  In this episode, I talk about some of the evolutions I've had to make in recovery and how they have impacted my life.

We recently celebrated Memorial Day here in the USA. This is a day we recognize all those who have made sacrifices for the freedoms we live with and enjoy. This amplified the recent thoughts I've been having about the price of freedom - not political freedom - personal freedom. In this episode I share some of the prices I've paid for the freedom I have from addiction as well as the current struggl...

You've heard the phrase - If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well.  And while that applies in almost all cases, I also think if it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly.  In this episode I'll give you some examples of things worth doing, even if done poorly. And hopefully, give you some encouragement to get you through. 

I know you've heard the term: compartmentalize.  Maybe you've even heard it glorified and bragged about by people. I'm so good at compartmentalizing my life!  And while it can be an effective coping strategy - that is all it is a copying strategy. It helps you survive. However, I'm tired of surviving.  I want to thrive.  In this episode, I share how I keep mindful of the danger of compartmentaliza...

You asked - I'm answering.  You wanted to know how I do an evaluation of my life, how I make connections, how I know there is something off and how do I dig deeper into what that is and find clarity.  In this episode, I share with you two of tools I use to identify what is off in my life.  These tools have helped me for years in identifying where I need to put my focus and energy.  I hope they hel...

I'm resurrecting an episode that had gotten lost in the archives. Family relationships are hard! We enter recovery thinking that they will get better - that everything will get better!  We don't always realize that things don't get better right away.  We have to work through so much of the patterns and cycles that we've been in for a long time!  Many people ask me how I can still have a relationsh...

Jackie and I are EXCITED about what we are doing with One Layer Deeper (1LD). Are you looking to go one layer deeper in your recovery? Then maybe one of our intensives or webinars is right for you!  In this episode we talk about how our family of origin contributes so much to our relational template.  This template is the foundation from which we operation. It is the template for how we engage wit...

The first step of connection is departure.  - Delta Airlines We change, we have to, or we spend the rest of our lives fighting the same battles! - Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek: Beyond) What do these two quotes have to do with each other? They are two quotes that have resonated as truth with me the last few weeks. The beginning of the year is always a reflective time for me and as I've been thi...

Let's keep talking gaslighting!!  In this episode we will continue our conversation about what gaslighting is, how you know if that is happening to you, and how to get out!!  That is the most important - how you get out of this situation.  

Have you heard the term gaslighting? Do you know what it means? Are you currently or have you been a victim? In a recent coaching conversation, I was reminded of just how dangerous this behavior is and how damaging it can be to our lives.  In part 1, I share a few examples from my own life of gaslighting and define what gaslighting is and where the term comes from.  In part 2 - next episode - we w...

Do you ever feel like everyone is pulling you down or holding you back?  Yeah - crabs do that.  Learn what crab mentality is and how it shows up in recovery as Amy shares some of her crab moments. Let's be builders!

Every semester I give the same "speech" to my math students as we begin class together.  This fall, as I was sharing it again, it hit me just how recovery minded the whole thing is! Hard to believe I didn't catch that before.  I share it with you to help you build hope for the big task that is recovery and as insight into what exactly we are all working to recover from!