You're Welcome with Hilary Rushford

This was meant to be a just 3 min announcement, but based on your reaction to the news Dean Street Society is closing, I felt we needed another moment to just hang and process.   Pay The Value Closing Sale:  DeanStreetSociety.com/closing   Also read information shared via email, by clicking "Hear More" at the bottom, and you can catch up on all emails sent since December 1st.

You asked for help choosing joy now and in the new year, after a hard year or season.   Can you relate to any of these?   You're wishing time would go faster to get to something good or past something heavy? Feeling a case of the winter blues? Walking through disappointment? Or feeling energized about making 2024 your best year yet?   Today's 5 Q's with my teaching on each from my own life current...

The closer we get to a due date, the more I'm overthinking the name we have picked.   Here's my advice on naming, plus what I'm looking for in case you have ideas?   Share this one with anyone working on their baby names.   Or to spark some conversation this holiday if you're done with naming in your family.  Links in this episode:   Instagram post to give suggestions once you listen! ← Will be li...

Sadly, much of a surrogacy journey is bracing for disappointment. However the positive side of that, is when things are easy you feel so incredibly lucky.   This week Jeremy, myself, and my mom all flew out to meet our surrogate's family, our doctor, do a hospital tour, and have our 20-week anatomy scan.   All in a whirlwind 6 hours!   It was hilarious (y'all, our doctor is both an angel and a SNL...

A breakdown of my last 24 hours and the choices I made when there was too much on my plate.   Things are a lot right now.    Today I'm sharing exactly what I'm preaching, practicing, and sending in voice memos to my girlfriends.   We're talking about:   How to avoid triggering people and *being* "that person" when someone's struggling How to get out of unsolicited advice convos #palmtoface The #1...

I'm watching friends navigate life from a place of burnout vs healing, and the difference is astounding.   Comparison (their grass is greener) keeps us chasing goals harder than we should.   Yet, the opposite of envy is even more destructive to our burnout, and far less talked about.   Today we're healing the crippling mindset that keeps us chasing a dream until it nearly kills us. Anxiety and dep...

What if some of the biggest choices in your life actually came from outside your head, not inside your heart?   That's the hard truth I've been grappling with.   I've been coming up for air a bit after a season of grief (with my book story) that (I see now) was followed by a season of hustle and determination to put life back together again.   I'm remembering how it felt in my body to dream many y...

So many are struggling lately, both personal friends and members of our community.    I had a different episode planned for today when a friend called with hard, hard news and I wanted to share part of what we discussed.   Listen in to hear:   What to text a friend when you want to help, or need it yourself Two specific steps to make metaphorical winter seasons in our life harder or easier Why the...

What advice would you give? Would you want?    The last two weeks while in Italy, I was swept away in the best romantic story.   A dear friend unexpectedly met someone while traveling internationally far from home and texted, "I might have met my husband."   The wrinkle is that a life with him means a major fork in the road, leaving possibly forever things she's loved, and for various reasons the...

Join us on the road from Tuscany to the Italian Riviera via Rome on: My 3 biggest takeaways from the 1st trimester of our pregnancy and surrogacy journey  Who we've shared the gender of the baby with and why/why not  The 2 extra special places we found on our first time in Tuscany (will share links on IG after our trip!) The Italian political perspective on surrogacy that I can't help but think ab...

Ciao from Rome! When we're in a bad mood, we know so much we could do to make ourselves feel better.   Yet how often do we not do it in the moment when we're rushing, flooded, frustrated?    Recently I've found a new self-coaching prompt I'm actually remembering to use. I've asked it to myself in those little moments in the day: When you're trying on clothes that don't fit When the commute was exh...

A girlfriend chat going back to the future, around the world, and ending with more ease. (Don't miss the PS!) In today's episode we're talking about how to live in the flow of love.   That sounds hard to pin down, but I'll tell you exactly what to do and it's so simple. The people you love most will thank you the deepest for listening.  Links in this episode: Friday, September 22 enrollment closes...

A few months ago I got messages from 2 women in one week who were both hiding, on opposite ends of the same spectrum, each thinking they had the most to be ashamed of.   As I sat with their stories I realized: we all think we're hiding the most, or more than others. When the truth is everyone is either hiding in some way, or has healed from hiding but used to be there so they can relate.   Today w...

I went back to the site of past shame and was so grounded in myself, it was noteworthy.   How did I stay more present than self-analytical, despite being in a room of wealthy people I had once felt so much smaller than?   This is a different experience of confidence and freedom (of time, money, energy) than I've felt before.   And I'm sharing exactly what I did to get there! Links in this episode:...

How often do you double shame yourself? Part of the shame is warranted: we're imperfect and insecure.    Yet from that place how often do we also take on a double helping of guilt, instead of being able to see that the people or circumstances around us were also flawed and problematic?   Sharing a story about a chance meeting that left me with so many insights about myself 20 years ago, and myself...

I had my first experience with mom shame, and I couldn't believe I caved so quickly!   I knew what was and was not a priority for me, but one little sentence… and I took an action purely out of shame and fear. #PalmToFace   I was genuinely flabbergasted that I could feel pressured so easily on a decision I'd made very clearly over a year ago.   I came home determined to shore up my confidence and...

We got a call from our surrogate that she was spotting, shaken, and headed to the hospital.   I've been sharing how much I'm confused by the peace I'm feeling around surrogacy and pregnancy.   As someone who's always been prone to anxiety, how the heck am I SO CALM?!   I'm thrilled I am! But I literally don't recognize this feeling of living in my body.   I wondered if perhaps I just hadn't been t...

For years I've been endlessly making big decisions.   Did we want to have kids or not?    Were we supposed to leave NYC, and if so to go where?   These decisions were the two longest and hardest I've ever had to make, but I'm so grateful for this process that eventually lead me to peace.   As I wrestled with these decisions over the years, I took notes for you. Listen in for the 7 steps that helpe...

I've had 5 years of being asked this question. #PalmToFace   It's one I asked others over the years! It seemed innocuous and I didn't realize how triggering, personal, or just awkward it can be.   This question is asked whether someone is pregnant, using IVF or conceiving naturally, or even had children years ago.   Please note this isn't to shame any of us who have asked (or answered!) over the y...

How did surrogacy get on our hearts? What are the misconceptions about surrogates?   Bigger picture, how do you make big decisions (especially when you have no one to ask) and look for clues in the seeds God/the universe has planted around your life?   We're covering all of that plus the 4 reasons to NOT do surrogacy, why we turned down our 1st two matches, and more.   Links mentioned in this epis...

ICYMI my recent announcement on Instagram, we've been on a fertility journey for the last 6 years. From my first appointment about egg freezing when single, through multiple rounds of (failed) embryo freezing, to moving forward with a surrogate (gestational carrier), and our first embryo transfer last week! Today I'm answering Q's you submitted about the process, thoughts, feelings, and decisions...

What if you've worked so hard the last year, only to feel so far from where you hoped you'd be?   You're still in debt, or the business still isn't working; still waiting on the adoption or walking through infertility; still haven't met your person, or aren't over the relationship you lost.   Or in my case, I'm not as healed, as undefined from grief a year ago as I thought just a few months ago I...

I'm struggling today. You? I had another episode planned.    Yet for reasons I'll explain, it was feeling heavy. And I'm burned out.   So I asked myself:   What would feel easier today?   I hope my enough will be enough for you today, and that you'll give yourself the same grace. ❤️   Your weariness is welcome here, in an honest chat about how to continue when you're using all your tools and still...

When you say you feel "good" in an area, it's compared to how you used to feel. You feel better. But if this is the best you've felt, can you really know it's good? What if how you feel today is only 40% of what's possible?  You don't even know what great feels like!   Ten-ish years ago I was feeling so much better in my body and beauty. But something in me knew there was more–more peace, more eas...

I want to introduce you to a new aspiration, belief system, way of living:   Beauty Positive.   My goal is not Body Positive, because you don't need to feel positive about your body to live this way. Importantly, other people don't need to feel positive about their body to join you here. Think about that sentence for a second… __________ "How to Finally Feel Confident and at Peace in Your Body Plu...