Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed.  Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. –Denis Waitley

My end of year/new year blog post is a little tardy, but I’ve been in deep thought on what I wanted to write about, and more than anything this is a gratitude piece.  I started blogging about seven years ago.  My first piece was titled, “A Woman’s Worth”.  Little did I know at the time, that the title would be my very own journey!  If I’m completely honest, though I thought I knew, I really had no idea of my worth or what it meant to really love myself from the inside out.  As I began writing and listening to my spirit, something amazing happened.  I not only began to connect with my soul, but I began to connect with thousands of other women who were also discovering their worth, their power, and their truth.  You watched me struggle and grow; you watched me cry and laugh; you watched me get off the porch, stumble, fall, and get back up again.  And for this I simply want to say thank you.

Over the last several years you read my stories, and cheered me on, and because you allowed me this awesome space to grow, I am living my truth in all its imperfect glory.  Last year I shared the ups and downs of facing my fears, taking risks, and finding my courage.  This year it’s your turn.  It’s time for you to do the work and live the life you have been yearning for.  Are you ready?  It’s the scariest journey you will ever take, but I promise you it is well worth it.  Yes you will doubt yourself along the way, and you will begin to tell yourself the lies that have kept you from living fully, but you will learn how to shut those lies down.

Let me give you some examples of lies we tell ourselves:

1. I have a beautiful home, family, career…I must be happy, or I am just ungrateful!
2. Nothing ever goes my way, so why even try…I will only be disappointed in the end.
3. My heart desires more, but I don’t want to cause any conflict, and I definitely can’t be alone.
4. I want more than my current job, but who am I kidding? There is nothing else out there for me.  I am comfortable, and can pay my bills, so I better play it safe and stay put.
5. I’ll never get in shape or lose weight, so why even bother eating better, walking, or going to the gym. I always quit and don’t have time anyway.

I want to challenge you to cancel out those lies with the truth, and I want to show you how.  In the next few weeks, I will be launching my new website.  I have an array of free tools to help you on your journey, and when you are ready, I have new products too.  You can have the life your soul is yearning for if you are willing to go down this scary, but absolutely necessary road to discovering your truth!  I know you can do it, and I want to be your coach cheering you on along each step of the way!

There are three steps to getting off the porch:

1. Understand the lies you tell yourself that keep you stuck on the porch in the first place (in work, in love, in parenting, in friendships/relationships).
2. Discover what put you on the porch. This I like to call “the victim story”.
3. Rewrite your “victim” story and change the outcome. The story of your life won’t change, but the results and how you view yourself can and will!  You will learn how to rewrite your “victim story” and use tools that will not only get you off the porch, but keep you from returning to the porch for more than a moment.

Again, I want to thank each of you for supporting me and watching me as I got the courage to get off the porch, and I hope you stick with me as I continue to share my off the porch journey, and support you on yours.  Stay tuned.  The best is yet to come for me, and most importantly for you!

My Take Aways:

1. Without you allowing me to share my journey, I would not be living my best authentic life
2. Gratitude for the whole story and how it has shaped me is the core of who I am and how I choose to live

My Challenge for you:

1. Start listing some of the “lies” you tell yourself that support you being stuck “on the porch”
2. Begin exploring your “victim story”, and together we will begin to change victim to victorious