Become the leader of your own life. Financial and emotional well-being.

I launched the new edition of my podcast today! I originally launched a podcast The Inspired Life Project back in 2020 during the pandemic and then took a break when all hell broke loose in my life. Now I am a different person and I am so excited about this rebranding and new start for my podcast that is going to help people transform like I have over the last two years. I will be sharing all the lessons I’ve learned along with bringing on amazing guests that will share their insight and wisdom with us. My first two episodes dropped today and although the first one is only two minutes, trust me you want to listen because I ask you two very important questions that are going to set you up for all the rest and for your transformation. Thanks for taking this ride with me!

Every day you can choose again. Do you want to make a change? Start over? Create something new? Build new habits? Make a different decision? Whatever it is, it’s a new day And you CAN DO IT! I’ll be here cheering you on! 🙌🏻🔥. Tell me in the comments what it is you are choosing today.

When I started talking about my book and telling my story, I lost friends.

When I started to not accept certain behaviors from people anymore and let go of people who abused me, I lost friends.

Being vulnerable, raw, and real, being truthful about what is really going on with someone, I lost friends.

What I learned is that yes, talking about abuse makes people uncomfortable. If they have never experienced anything like it it’s probably hard to believe it happens, especially when the abuser is charming, friendly, and is always helping people in the public eye.

It can also make them uncomfortable if they have experienced it and didn’t have the courage to speak up, to do anything about it then it’s easier to ignore it happening to someone else.

The thing is I’m okay with the people I lost. They don’t get to come along for the rest of the ride. They don’t get to share in all the victories that have come and will continue to come. I am not judging them or bitter or upset. I understand.

But I have new standards now and the me who made her way through hell and out the other side only has room for people who want to celebrate and understand, speak truth and love, strength and courage, support and showing up.

Those are the people I want and need. Those are the people we should all want and need. Do not settle for less. ❤️. Podcast coming April 1st. Power. For Good.

I wake and wonder. What will I do today to move differently in the world?

What will I do today to be better? To move closer to my dreams? To be more compassionate. To be a better mother, friend, neighbor, mentor, partner, etc…

What will I do today to make a difference? To make someone smile, laugh. What will I do today to be more real, more vulnerable, more of me?

It’s not can. There are a lot of things I can do but can does nothing. It’s what I will do that will create change. Movement forward. A better life. A better me.

What will you do today?

Yesterday was World Poetry Day. I never thought I could write poetry. I never wrote poetry before I started writing my book except for assignments in English class. What I learned though while writing my book is that poetry is one of my favorite ways to write and express myself. It flows out of me many times at 3 am where I find myself waking up and reaching for my phone to write it down so I don’t forget. The most important thing I have learned over the past couple of years is that the one thing you must do is love yourself. Loving yourself is the greatest gift of all and it’s how I was able to heal and move forward in my life. So in honor of World Poetry Day and loving yourself, I wrote this poem for all of you and I hope you will carry these words and this lesson with you.

In my memoir I wrote this past year, I talk a lot about the pain I experienced throughout my life and some of the trauma I went through. I also share how I was able to overcome all of it to get to where I am now. Creating a life I am happy with on my terms and the transformation has been incredible to say the least. Not only within me but also how I now live.
These three pillars were what got me here and on my podcast coming out April 1st we will be diving into the details of these so everyone can have the tools they need to make the changes they want.
Mark your calendars because it’s about to get good!!

If you know me, you know I love to talk. I can go on and on about any topic and honestly, I don’t even need a topic. I’m just a wordy person who apparently loves to just use my voice and has a lot to say. 😉. My dad used to call me motor mouth when I was a kid and make a machine gun sound whenever I would talk. I don’t think I talk as fast as I used to but it did take a conscious effort to slow down. So it’s no surprise that when podcasts became a thing I wanted in on it. It took me awhile but I eventually started one during 2020 while I was cooped up in my house. I loved it but then if you read my book you know my life got even crazier and I took a break from recording. Well, I am thrilled to tell you that my podcast will be re-launching Monday, April 1st with a whole new look! I am diving in with new guests and topics that will help you become a leader in all areas of your life. LET’S GO!!

I’m lying in a hammock in the middle of a beautiful college campus reflecting on where I am in my life right now.

How I got here and where I’m going. Realizing the impact I’m making and how that is changing who I am, what I do and where I go next.

Learning that stepping into my power brings incredible gifts and great responsibility. I know that I am capable and that Jim is by my side cheering me on always. He knew I could do it and he trusted me to carry on this work in his place.

I now have to trust in myself. I have to believe that the people I am meant to serve will find their way to me and I know that each day that comes will be an opportunity to make a difference, to touch people’s lives with the lessons I’ve learned and the power I have been given to create change in a world that so desperately needs it. ❤️🔥 Follow .co launching this month.

When I see this photo I feel like it’s a completely different person.

Physically I was 30 pounds heavier than I am now and weighed more than I ever had before, even at full term of my pregnancies. I had been stressed and emotionally eating trying to fill a void.

Mentally and emotionally, the weight was immeasurable. I was pretending to be ok but was struggling with abuse and my self worth. I was trying to escape from the life I had been living for over 22 years. I was being bullied, controlled, and threatened.

I had completely given my power away. I had forgotten who I was at my core. My entire life was about trying to make other people happy, to make sure everyone else got what they wanted. I never gave a thought to myself and my wants or needs being met and no one was asking.

I felt helpless, lonely, and for the first time in my life I didn’t think I was going to make it out alive.

But then I remembered. Somehow I remembered all the times in my life when I took chances, when I was bold in spite of my circumstances, when I had been faced with evil and yet persevered to do some pretty amazing s**t.

I wanted to be bold again. I wanted to find that power and that spirit I knew was inside of me and bring it back to live the rest of my life inspired, uplifted, and full of light.

You can read about where I came from in my bestselling memoir, Lost and Found (link in bio) and you can read about what it took, how I got through it, and lessons learned in my next book coming this fall 2024.

I have always loved reading and writing so it’s no surprise that I also love bookstores. They are one of my favorite places to go and everywhere I travel I like to find special ones to visit.

When I went to Savannah, Georgia for the first time I found this charming little bookstore. As I followed the aisles of books down the short flight of steps in the back, I landed in this sea of little white notes all typed with the old typewriter sitting on the desk hidden in the back corner. As I started reading them I immediately knew I needed to add one of my own to the wall.

I sat at the desk and pondered for a minute as to what I should say. At this point in my life writing a book of my own had always been a dream and I had begun compiling pieces of my story in the notes app on my phone but that was all. I had no idea it would ever come to fruition.

However I do know that when you write down and speak your dreams out loud you have a better chance of making them come true. So I quickly typed my note and taped it up on the wall, adding my dream to the wall of notes.

“I am about to write my own book. Stay tuned…”

Little did I know that almost exactly four months later I would be handing it in to my publisher. I will never know if
I hadn’t typed that note if I still would have finished this book, in that time of my life, or ever for that matter. But I will always have that little note in Savannah as my memory of putting my dream out there.

This has always been one of my favorite quotes. I would consider myself to be bold at certain times throughout my life and when I was things always worked out the best for me. So I’m holding onto that now and going after what I want in all areas of my life. First I’m downsizing my life just to be about the things that I really care about the most and I couldn’t be more excited.

I am a collector of things that bring me joy when I look at them. They hold a memory of an experience I have had or perform a function for something that I love, like my coffeemaker. 😉

As I’m packing up my life and deciding what I will bring with me, it’s the perfect opportunity to revisit all of these memories and that’s the perfect way to make packing go from an incredibly awful task that I hate to an opportunity to relish in the joy.

It’s such a simple tweak that can change everything. All of a sudden my next two weeks are no longer going to be filled with mundane packing but will be exciting and filled with reminiscing.

Now if I could only find a way to pack up those three incredible humans I made and bring them with me my life would then be perfect. ❤️

Two weeks ago I left a job that gave me the courage to change the trajectory of my life. Never in a million years would I think I would work in a gym. But the gym, that was just the shell. What I found inside of it was all the gifts that got me to where I am now. My members inspiring me by their love of working out, or hating working out but showing up anyways for themselves and teaching me what it means to power through the pain to come out the other side. They also made me laugh with their antics, soothed my soul with their quotes they brought me, and warmed my heart with the beautiful emails they wrote about me and my work.
My employees who made me laugh and cry with their young souls just yearning to be seen and accepted for who they were. They may not know this but I think maybe we saved each other.
They would send me these beautiful text messages (not knowing I was going through one of the hardest times of my life) and I literally said to my friend, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand why they like me so much.” She said “It’s you. It’s who you are and maybe one day they will look back and be telling people they know how they once had a manager who inspired them and changed their life the way you always talk about your teacher who did the same for you.” I know I will always remember each and every one of them and what they gave me and how they touched my life in ways I can’t put into words. I can only hope I did the same for each of them.
The best coworkers who made me laugh every day and who were there to help me with personal issues, offered to teach me how to use my snowblower when we got a storm, and literally kept me safe from the bad guys😉.
When I left I said I wish I could just pick up the club and all the people in it (ok not ALL of them) and move it with me. I already miss it terribly. When I was telling my son this he said, “Mom, you can create that wherever you go. It’s you, it’s your thing.” And so I will wish for that and cherish the time I had here, the people I was fortunate to meet, and all that it brought me. ❤️

I am human.
I am a leader, not a follower.
I am kind, but powerful.
I don’t follow the crowd,
I forge my own way.
I play big because playing small doesn’t serve me.
I am my own hero.
I speak my truth because hiding isn’t my jam.
I am a student of life everyday.
I set boundaries because weak borders allow others to infiltrate my peace.
I will no longer be who others want me to be.
I am me.
I am strong and resilient AF.
But soft and gentle and weak as well.
I make mistakes but I learn from them.
I show up.
For me and you.
I use my power for good.
I live on purpose.
I know my worth.
I stand in my power.
I rise each day to inspire,
myself and others.
I am a muse.
I am a unicorn.
Unique and wise.
Brave and smart.
I am me. 📸 .

Today I got to spend the day with a friend I have known for a very long time but haven’t seen in probably over five years.

She was telling me about a physically abusive relationship she had been in a long time ago and how when she left and was heading out of town, she all of a sudden started seeing the colors in everything.

I immediately got tears in my eyes. At first I didn’t know why I was getting so emotional but then I realized why. She hasn’t read my book yet and she had no idea that I had explained it exactly like that after my experience with abuse. I had never heard anyone else ever describe it in that way.

I guess to have someone else really understand exactly how I felt and have that same experience was so moving to me.

Although I am sad that she had to go through that terrible thing we both got chills in that moment. Grateful to be where we are now and yet realizing that our connection goes much deeper than we ever knew.

I want to speak to this text I got because it’s something I have learned over the last couple of years after hitting rock bottom.

We can all find ourselves throughout our life in places we don’t belong. I was afraid I had thrown my whole life away to people who didn’t deserve me. You can be angry and bitter, and quite honestly I was for a bit. I felt sorry for myself. I wondered how this happened. I asked myself why me?

You can stay there and sit in it for as long as you want. You can sit in it forever. But what does that do?

See it has everything and nothing to do with the people who hurt you.

It has everything to do with them because they did this, not you. It’s on them how they treated you, what they did to you, the trauma they caused. That’s who they are, it had nothing to do with you.

AND it has nothing to do with them because when they are out of your life, the healing and changing the course of your life, that is about you. That is ALL ON YOU.

You have to look inward and answer the hard questions as to what you can do to change your circumstances. To change your life. You have to dig really deep and it’s hard, it’s painful, it hurts, and it sucks. But trust me it’s worth it.

You can move forward. You can get past it. I see changes and improvements in myself every day but I have to work at it. I have to do things I don’t necessarily want to do sometimes to be better.

I remember telling a friend when I was in the thick of it that maybe it would be better if I just sat in it and didn’t try and change because that’s how painful it was and I didn’t think I had it in me to keep going. But deep down I knew it was the best way to go and because of who I am it was the only way.

None of us know how much time we have and shouldn’t we be living each day laughing, happy, and surrounded by people who see us and love us for who we are?

There is only one answer to that question. The answer is yes. A thousand times YES!!

What happened to you doesn’t define you. What you do with it does.

I remember the moment I hit send on my final edit approval back in the fall. It was something I had dreamed about but at this point in my life it was a dream I had tucked away in a drawer, never knowing if I would ever make it happen.

It was a book that mostly flowed out of me, usually awakening randomly at 3am and grabbing my phone to put the words that poured from my heart into my notes app. For the most part I can honestly say it came easily to me, but there were some days where it was too much to transfer the pain to paper and I didn’t know if I could write another word.

Luckily I had an incredible editor who was there for me on those days and pushed me and believed in me that I could power through to realize my dream. She always reminded me that I was doing it to help others know you can persevere and come back better than ever!

I still remember anxiously awaiting the final proof copy to show up at my door. I rushed home from work that day and ripped open the package so fast. As I held the book in my hands it didn’t seem real that it was actually something I had written even though I saw my name staring back at me from the cover. I laid on the sofa and started reading it and it wasn’t until I was a few chapters in that I stopped and let it sink in that I was actually reading MY book.

To this day I sometimes still don’t believe it. And when I hear from people who have read it and message me to let me know how much it helped them and that they had been through similar situations, I am so profoundly grateful that I wrote it. That somehow I was able to dig deep and find the courage to share the immense pain I experienced so others know they are not alone.

I have already started my next book and can’t wait to work with my editor again. It’s a personal process and I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else.