Maybe it's just me, but it felt like Valentine's Day decor infiltrated the grocery store aisles sooner than usual this year. I saw chocolates, hearts and teddy bears out before January 1st in some places. While there are definitely single people out there who fully tune out Valentine's Day, laughing it off as a stupid, commercial holiday (and genuinely being okay with being single on this day), there are others out there who experience Valentine's Day as one of the hardest days of the year. If you find yourself struggling on this day, my guess is that you've felt some judgement towards yourself at times. You may have thought to yourself, "Why does it bother you so much? Just get over it. You're a loser for caring about this day." If that applies to you, keep reading. It's time to let some of those judgments go. 

Let's think about a few scenarios for a second. Would you tell a grieving widow that she's stupid for feeling sad on Valentine' ...

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When one year is ending and a new one is about to begin, most people feel full of optimism and hope. They may reflect back on all the good things that happened to them in the previous 365 days or they may feel motivated to set new year's resolutions and actually stick to them for the 365 days that are about to follow. It's a time of change and transition as we shift years and in this case, shift decades. 

But what if your year...sucked? What if it was such a bad year that thinking ahead to the new year to come doesn't make you feel anything except hopeless and down? What if you're really struggling to find something to look forward to, let alone something to make a resolution about? What then? 

I'll be honest: 2019 was one of the best years of my life. I got married. I made big strides forward in my business. I had a wonderful year. So why am I writing a blog about 2019 being awful? Well, because I kno ...

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As human beings, we are designed to tell stories. It's how we make sense of the world. Stories teach us lessons. Stories entertain us. Stories educate us. Stories are incredibly important and without them, we would lose a big part of what makes us human. Stories are beautiful. I am not talking in this blog about the kinds of stories we see in books or hear while we sit around a campfire. I'm talking about the story of our life that we are often told to "write" from a young age. This is the kind of story we try desperately to write and it can do more harm than good. 

From a young age, children are asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It is considered healthy to have goals and aspirations; and for the most part, it is. Without even realizing it, we are given messages from our families and from society at large for what our life story is supposed to look like. What career we're supposed to have. How we're supposed to look as ...

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