Earlier this week on Instagram I posted how I often get asked , “How can I love myself, believe I am whole and I’m enough AS I AM…RIGHT NOW, but still desire to change, grow, and become?” I shared that… It‘s really a fine line and only you will know when you’re actually doing both. In answer, though...
I collapsed on my parent’s bed because the potatoes weren’t done. I remember that moment so clearly. It was Christmas day 2002. I think someone had forgotten to turn the oven on, or it had accidentally been shut off. Or maybe it was mashed potatoes that were getting made and the burner hadn’t been turned on to boil the potatoes. It doesn’t really matter. I certainly wasn’t going to be eating the potatoes anyway. What mattered was that the potatoes were still freaking hard. I couldn’t imagine myself having to wait an extra 30-60 minutes to eat because the POTATOES weren’t done for Christmas dinner at my grandparents. I was starving, and exhausted from starving, and couldn’t hold it together any longer. I laid on my parent’s bed...
I first started my period just before I turned 11 years old. That’s young!!! I look at 11 year old girls now and think it seems too early! I remember being embarrassed and incredibly self-conscious about it for at least the first year. I felt like everyone could tell when it was that time of the month and I was always concerned about having an incident in front of others. As time went by, I started to get really uncomfortable cramps, would want to wear whatever clothing I wanted without concern, and wanted to go swimming whenever I wanted…and that was the start of my period feeling like a really annoying inconvenience. It certainly wasn’t something I honored as the sign of optimal health, femininity, and...
For so many years I fought my body. I fought to make it smaller. I fought to make it healthier. I fought for healing. I fought to make it more fit. I fought to make it everything I didn’t think it was already enough of. As I’m sure you understand, I didn’t move from this place of always trying to change my body, never feeling enough, never being happy with my body…to a place of deep love and compassion for it overnight. In fact, it was really an evolution that took years. Early on, the steps I took to achieving more body peace were small and fleeting (they were redirections that lasted only for the moment). The most significant changes came when I started recognizing the power of my thoughts and my mindset and committed...
HELLO AGAIN! You may remember in my last post that I spoke of a number of changes going on in the Thriving with Deanna household. We have since completed the sale of our home and moved into our temporary living situation. We also broke ground at our new home site and the actual house construction will even start this week (sooo exciting and completely overwhelming at times too). I won't go into too many details, but this whole process has added so many changes and challenges opportunities that it's taking some major adjusting and adapting. I honestly feel some days that I'm barely scraping by to keep all the things "balanced" and "flowing." It actually feels a bit more like some risky juggling at times. The...
Okay, today I want to jump right into business. There are some subtle shifts that you could make today that may make a gigantic difference in how things are going for you. They have to do with CHOICE. I’m going to break this down with an example of a conversation...
I am writing this post in encouragement of YOU today! You are a WONDER! You are here for good! You have a purpose! On one of the forms I use with my clients in preparation for a coaching session, there is a statement for them to complete that says, “I acknowledge myself for…” Almost EVERY SINGLE CLIENT who completes the form for the first time says something like, “That’s an interesting question,” “I don’t know how to answer that,” “I’m not sure what this means.” Honestly – I’ve played with the idea of changing the question a bit to add clarity, but I actually don’t think it’s an issue with understanding what it really means. I think it’s simply that we don’t ask our ourselves or get asked...
If you’re on Instagram, then you’ve probably heard of the “Best Nine” that is common at the end of each December. If not, it’s just a collage of the 9 most-liked photos you've posted throughout the year . If you don’t already follow me on Instagram, please do! It’s my favorite social media app. I often post daily about whatever may be going on or something that is on my mind. I also use the stories feature over there to some degree as well, often to share things I'm not sharing anywhere else. My most-liked Instagram photo for 2017 was the Sunflower Seed Butter Fat Bombs, which also found their way onto the blog. It really surprised me, though, because I’m simply not a food blogger. ...
Last week, I shared with you from my heart and promised to be even more vulnerable with you all this year, as I'm going to do again today. The week before that, I shared some thoughts on an approach for the new year. If you missed those posts, go check them out. One of the suggestions I had for the new year was to choose a theme word or intention that could guide your journey throughout the year. I did this last year, but to be perfectly honest, although it resonated with me for the first month or two, it lost its appeal throughout the rest of the year. Much the same way resolutions do for many people. It's definitely necessary to re-evaluate goals on a...
Sometimes I struggle with how to say what I really want to say. Although I think I do fine with grammar (my home school mom taught me well), when I have something to say, it often doesn't come out quite the way I expected it to (oops, my mom wouldn’t like this sentence ending in a preposition, though…haha. Oh well, plenty more of these below too.). Does this happen to you too? Sometimes, I hear or read what someone else says on the very same topic and feel they have said it more eloquently or in a more impactful way. And then I remember, I need to just stop comparing, and accept ME for ME! So, I may not always speak gracefully, but you can trust that I’m always...