Jessie J – Philharmonic Friday

Find this along with all of my other Philharmonic Friday Songs on my Spotify Playlist or on my YouTube Channel.

This version of this song speaks to the part of me that wants to be unafraid to walk into the world and be vulnerable & authentic. I can’t believe that Jessie J just walked down into the subway and started belting out this song!

It’s OK not to be OK …

Find this along with all of my other Philharmonic Friday Songs on my Spotify Playlist or on my YouTube Channel.

Scars are Beautiful: Monday Motivation #29

Retrospection can be scary .. and scar-ry

This week I started working on my self-help book again. I have been hesitant to look back on it and edit it because I dislike the woman who wrote those essays.

• She was scarred.
• And weak.
• And the essays describe a thought process and way of life that was sometimes so tiresome.

But I am taking a class on novel writing and the instructor expects

Validation and Its Impact on Self Esteem: Monday Motivation #28

Heading out…

When I retired from the military I thought “YAY!  I am free to be whatever I want!”

And then I went right back to the same old thing … but as a contractor.  Less respect, less appreciation, less pay, and a new found sense of discontent at work – something I’d never known before.

So when the opportunity arrived to retire “for real,” I did it.

Release the Brakes on your Self-Esteem: Monday Motivation #25

Low self-esteem is like driving thru life with the hand brake on …

Have you ever pulled out of the driveway and begun to drive, wondering why you can’t seem to get the normal traction and giddy-up your car typically gives.  Then …

Beep beep beep

…the car complains that you’ve not fully released the brake?

I’ve done it.

Sunscreen? Check. Bikini? Check. Attitude?? Monday Motivation #24

Today is a comfortable sit-in-the-house day.

How do I know? I went outside.

116 degrees.

A miserable, sweltering, melt-your-skin-off temperature.

So I’m sitting in the house and doing what I’ve missed for the past two Mondays: Monday Motivation. 😀

In this heat, all that we can really think to do when we go outside is: find water somewhere and get in it.

This of course means: swimsuits.

And swimsuits sometimes mean

Body Image & Self Esteem

I’ve been plagued for a couple days with thoughts about body image and how it impacts self esteem.

Today, I find that my daughter and many in her peers group (college age) struggle with body image.  “I’m too fat” or “just a few more pounds before I feel pretty” or “I can’t   wear that,  eat that,  do that,   be that   because I’m too fat,   skinny, ugly…” and so on.

And the problem isn’t just with young women!  Young men want to be stronger; they feel compelled to work-out more, eat less, and find ways to

Always Wear Your Invisible Crown – Monday Motivation #9

I’m tired this week:

… worn down by allowing work to get to me – and by being sick with a righteous head cold.  In short, I feel pretty bad.

It’s days like today that I am reminded of my very real and living, breathing need to remind myself of my lovability …

… lest I forget and start a mantra of negative self-talk.  Why is that monologue so readily available?  It’s almost like it waits in the wings for a moment’s silence to drive me as crazy as Whoopi Goldberg was after a day listening to Pat Swayze belt out “Henry the VII” in the movie Ghost.  But I digress.