I asked ChatGPT for ideas for how to celebrate a win without spending money, and I liked what it came up with! One of my favorite quotes is that “By acknowledging her competence, (s)he helped her become more so.” So this fits perfectly with that!
She’s like a walking, talking hug—except way smarter and with better advice
*“Okay, everybody, listen up—because I need you to understand how incredible Lara is.
Absolute legend. Total rockstar of a human. She’s like a walking, talking hug—except way smarter and with better advice. Seriously, if you’ve got a problem, she’ll solve it with science, love, and probably some magical fairy dust.
She’s basically a wizard. You got a kid who won’t sleep? She’ll fix it. A toddler with big feelings? She’s got you. A couple trying to keep their marriage strong while raising little chaos gremlins? She’s got strategies for days.
She knows everything about sleep—like, scientifically. She’s certified up the wazoo and customizes everything for every family, whether their kid is neurotypical or has unique challenges. And connection? Oh my God, she is the queen of helping families actually enjoy each other. She’s trained in all this brainy, therapeutic stuff, she teaches people how to massage their babies (which, by the way, is ADORABLE), and she literally helps parents not lose their minds.
But thriving? That’s her secret sauce. She’s got the degrees, the credentials, and the biggest heart. She knows how to break down overwhelming parenting stuff into tiny, manageable steps, and she’ll remind you that you’re doing better than you think.
Basically, she’s out here making the world a better, more rested, more connected place, one family at a time. If you don’t know her, you’re missing out. If you do, congratulations, you’ve already won at life. Cheers to her!”***********************
According to ChatGPT, this is what my drunk best friend would say about me and my business. I like it! 🤣 I added applicable links to relevant blog posts.
A special Valentine's Day treat!
This morning when I woke up, I was struggling to figure out how to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my larger tribe. I have been thinking on this for months, but honestly perfectionism got the best of me. Yet the celebration and the self compassion that I was looking for was waiting for me at just the right time!
One of my mentors, Stasia Savasuk, sent this out this morning and it feels like the perfect way to share Valentine’s Day with all of my people. And if you are reading this right now and WANT to be one of my people, please include yourself!
Stasia says:
Instead of waiting around for someone to LOVE YOU ENOUGH today, I invite you to FEEL THE LOVE that's already alive inside of you.
And when I say "feel the love," I really mean FEEL THE LOVE. As in, WHERE do you feel the love inside your body? What does it FEEL LIKE? How does FEELING THE LOVE make you feel?
I'm not gonna leave you to your imagination here. I'm going to WALK YOU THROUGH exactly how to do this.
I know you're busy. But today of ALL THE DAYS, you are worthy of the 6 minutes it's gonna take to watch this video, and fill yourself with love, from the inside out.
LOVE is a resource you have inside of you. Something you can draw up anytime you need it.
I know you know how to do that. Because if you're anything like me (human!), you can draw up the most dramatic worst-case-scenerios in the world like it's your full time job––and FEEL THEM for days!
Same mechanism. You're just drawing up a GOOD MEMORY, not a shitty one.
After you watch the video, if you’re willing, share what memory came to mind for you!
Then follow Stasia on Instagram or sign up for her email list on her website.
(Email shared with Stasia’s permission.)
Strategies for managing stress part 1: completing stress cycles
Stress. We’ve all got it. We sometimes prefer to ignore it. Our bodies need a way to manage it so that it doesn’t make us sick—either physically, mentally, or emotionally.
Lately I’ve been working with my coaching clients on the concept of completing stress cycles. What that means is that we need to tell our bodies that the stress is done. So for example, if we were our ancestors who were out in the woods and we were being chased by a lion, we could fight the lion, we could run away from the lion (fight or flight), or if the lion really is going to get us, we could freeze and play dead and hope that the lion goes elsewhere. So our stress response system generally goes into fight, flight, or freeze. If we conquer that lion and either fight them or run away and we escape, we run back to our tribe. We jump up and down. We can big hugs and we tell our bodies that we feel safe. Whew! The danger is over!
But in the society that we live in today, most of the dangers are not like being chased like a lion. Most of them are things that are pervasive and more long lasting. And so we need more intentional ways that we complete the stress cycle by telling our bodies that we are safe. So on one hand, we need to deal with the actual stress or the thing that caused the stress. And on the other hand, we need to deal with our body that we really are safe. We need to do that on a daily basis, because the stress is going to build up on a daily basis. We need some routines that can help to reduce that stress and manage it and complete the stress cycle.
The most powerful way to complete stress cycles for most people is going to be exercise about 30 to 60 minutes of exercise at a level that raises your heart rate. If that doesn't work for you for some reason, some other options to think about are to experiment with things like:
breathing strategies,
meditation,
affection,
a six second kiss with someone that you love and have a trusting and safe relationship with,
a 20 second hug—long enough for you to feel that melting feeling
go take your dog for a walk or go on a walk by yourself. If you take your dog for a walk, maybe you get both affection AND exercise. The book doesn't talk about sunlight being good, but my understanding is that sunlight can also be something that can help to complete the stress cycle.
And interestingly, being nice to other people and having a positive social interaction can help to complete the stress cycle. Just going to your local coffee shop and saying, good day to the person who serves you, your coffee is another one.
Laughter is another one. That is a great way to complete the stress cycle because we can't be all stressed and in fight or flight and be laughing a good, really amazing belly laugh at the same time. I really recommend something like an improv class if you're up for it. Improv strategies are great for helping us to really celebrate failure and mistakes and to listen to each other. They're just great relationship tools and they make you laugh so much. So that's one that's also not in the book, but it's one that brings laughter.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to look at the list above, think about the things that are mentioned that can help to complete the stress cycle and to plan it into your day.
Laughter
Physical affection
Breathing
Meditation
Physical exercise.
How can you get those on a daily basis? This is important, because the stress is going to come, and it needs to be kicked out!
Thanks to Emily & Amelia’s book Burnout for this illuminating concept!
To learn more, read:
Nagoski, E., & Nagoski, A. (2020). Burnout: The secret to unlocking the stress cycle. Ballantine Books.
