OMG! Thank you! I am blown away by all the beautiful, loving, heartfelt, and touching birthday wishes, phone calls, and cards I have received over the past few days!
Last week, on my Facebook page, I wrote about how my birthday is sandwiched between two difficult LifeQuakes – the anniversaries of the deaths of my husband and of my dearest friend, Liz. These two events cast a shadow around what should be a happy day for me.
This year, in preparation for this week, I took my own advice and went out of my comfort zone. I joined a few Meetup groups, pushed myself to join some networking groups, wrote a chapter for each of two books coming out soon (November and February) and networked with the other authors, and got more involved in my neighborhood HOA.
Amy with her hands crossed over her heart in gratitude
I have made an extra effort to fill my life with friends. Between moving and the isolation brought on by Covid, I found that I really missed the in-person companionship of others. I am very grateful that I have made some amazing friends locally and invited a few to help me celebrate my birthday this year! For the first time in quite a few years, I looked forward to my birthday!
Two days before my actual birthday, I began to receive birthday wishes from friends, colleagues, and acquaintances by phone, email, text, and messages on Facebook, and LinkedIn. There were more than 200 and they’re still trickling in! WOW!
My heart is overflowing with gratitude!
I am filled with love and appreciation for each and every one of you!
I laughed and cried happy tears, and hopefully thanked each of you personally! I am so grateful for every single wish!
This week my podcast guest is Nettie Owens, the founder and CEO of the Sappari Group. She wears many hats such as mother, wife, entrepreneur, coach, friend, sister, and daughter, and she is an expert at helping people grow their businesses without feeling overwhelmed.
But does it all go smoothly without any life-quakes? Of course not. As we discussed, lifequakes like earthquakes have aftershocks and often come in groups.
Nettie’s lifequakes are different from the ones we typically think of such as death or divorce. Hers come from reinventing her business out of necessity, having three children two of whom have emotional and behavioral challenges, moving her family to a new state and getting the kids into new schools within a few weeks during the pandemic and figuring out how to host and facilitate a business retreat during Covid.
Join us as we talk openly and honestly about the transitions in her life: from family to business and everything in between.
Are you, or someone you know going through a lifequake? A life transition on steroids where you’re finding it difficult to be part of your own life, not knowing who you are or what you enjoy anymore? If the quake happened at least 3 months ago and you’ve dealt with any legal and financial tasks, I’d love to help. Schedule a discovery call to see if working with me could be the right step to coming through the lifequake fortified and ready to live a joy-filled life again.
You can also still download my free guide, The 7 Phases of Navigating Life’s Transitions here.
It’s the end of. summer…or is it? As I write this, the northeast is in the middle of a heat wave. Temperatures are climbing above 90 degrees. It’s warmer than it has been for most of the. summer. While I know that summer still has about 3 weeks left there’s something about the start of September that signals, at least for me, the end of summer. Perhaps it’s children returning to school or the start of leaves falling, or maybe. the proliferation of pumpkin-flavored everything that rushes fall. I’m not sure. And, while I love autumn. I’m not ready to say farewell to summer and sitting on my porch, picnicking, enjoying the brightness of summer’s blooms.
This week, the US and Canada, observed Labor Day, a time to honor the contributions and achievements of American workers. However, for those struggling with infertility or grieving the loss of a child, just the name of this holiday can be a painful reminder of unfulfilled dreams.
We also just observed National Grief Awareness Day on August 31.
While acknowledging grief is a step in the right direction; it isn’t enough. We need to do this every day.
Grief is a normal and natural emotion. We all will experience grief at some point, or multiple times, in our lives. Yet we live in a society that doesn’t accept it or encourage us to express it in healthy ways. We tell those grieving to be strong, don’t cry. We even say, don’t worry, you’ll get over it. Why? Because it makes us uncomfortable!
I hope we can learn to honor the importance of grief and all emotions. Even the tough ones. Pushing them down doesn’t get rid of them; they just go into hiding and show up later on, often in stronger ways.
Grief is not just death, although it is the most commonly associated event. It can be the result of a change in life circumstances (job, infertility, moving, separation, etc.), a change in a relationship (death, divorce, ending a relationship or friendship), it can even be from an event you initiated and wanted yet leaves you with a change in status or identity. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Often we aren’t even aware grief is what we are experiencing; we simply know we feel sad, out of sorts, or overwhelmed.
Be the person who makes it okay for a friend or family member to share with you. Be a heart with ears; saying nothing simply listen while they talk, cry, or laugh. Be compassionate and caring.
Take a listen to my latest podcast and let me know what you think. Do you have an idea for a guest or topic? Drop me a note.
If you’re struggling with any of these issues, know that you’re not alone. Remember that it’s okay to take time for self-care and prioritize your emotional well-being. Seek support from loved ones, join a support group, or consider working with a professional, like me, who specializes in grief. You can schedule a time to chat with me here.
Nettie Owens is a Founder, CEO, Mother, Wife, Entrepreneur, Coach, and an expert at helping people grow their businesses without feeling overwhelmed. But does it all go smoothly without any life-quakes? Of course not. Watch as she talks openly and honestly about the transitions in her life: from family to business and everything in between. Connect with Nettie at sapparigroup.com Download The 7 Phases to Navigating Life’s Transitions with Mindfulness, Grace & Self-Compassion at inntrospection.com/freeguide
Welcome to August! August has moments of joy and great loss for me and I wanted to share my thoughts on how the two can coexist. Also, I recently went on vacation with my family and GUESS WHAT? We didn’t do everything together. Why and how did I do things alone while still having fun with my family? Watch and find out! Download The 7 Phases to Navigating Life’s Transitions with Mindfulness, Grace & Self-Compassion: www.inntrospection.com/freeguide
Sensei Victoria Whitfield is the creator of victoriawhitfield.com and natural intuition.com, and she helps entrepreneurs heal. Sensei is a word in Japanese that means ‘teacher’ and that is her role as your guide online: to teach you how to feel again, and how to truly love yourself while you’re at work. She sincerely believes that Entrepreneurs are the future. And she believes that Entrepreneurs need help getting and staying grounded, so they can serve more people and essentially, yes, save the freaking world. She also believes that Entrepreneurs are naturally sensitized to what they’re here to help others with. And that this natural sensitivity is popularly misunderstood as being “weak” or “weird” or “quirky” or “obsessive” or “pie-in-the-sky.” And when Entrepreneurs internalize this dysfunctional mindset, their sensitivities become their kryptonite: crippling stressors that overwhelm them, their teams, their communities, their families, and even their bank accounts. She knows this because she lived this and observed it happen firsthand.
