Relaxation

“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” ~Nathaniel Branden I felt lost. I felt broken. I felt scared. As I sat alone in that cold, dark jail cell, I felt like I had hit rock bottom. My feet chilled against the cold stone floor. The creaky wooden bench, stitched together

“I chose sober because I wanted a better life. I stay sober because I got one.” ~Anonymous Seven years ago, I never thought I would be able to say that I have been six years sober! I didn’t think I was physically addicted. I never got the shakes, never morning drank, never drank daily unless on vacation,

“The only way out is through.” ~Robert Frost When I reflect on the past fifteen years of my life, I sometimes joke about my struggles to lighten the weight of what I’ve endured. “What struggle don’t I have?” I’d say, laughing, but beneath that humor is a real story of pain, burnout, and learning to

“You are not your feelings. You just experience them. Anger, sadness, hate, depression, fear. This is the rain you walk in. But you don’t become the rain. You know the rain will pass. You walk on. And you remember the soft glow of the sun that will come again.” ~Matt Haig Being a relationship-oriented person

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe your life isn’t changing because you’re holding yourself back but don’t know it? Like maybe there’s something in your conditioning or a subconscious belief that’s preventing you from doing something that could bring you the change you seek? I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I

“Grief is not something that ever goes away. You just learn to accommodate it so you can move forward in your life and over time it gets less intense, at least most of the time.” ~David Baxter Grief is a natural response to loss. Loss can mean the death of a loved one, the end

“You may not be able to control every situation and its outcome, but you can control how you deal with it.” ~Unknown I recently moved to Florida, a decision thirty years in the making. Growing up in Haiti, I always longed to return to a warm climate. I remember being on our layover in Miami

“The less we talk about shame, the more control it has over our lives.” ~Brené Brown The pain and suffering I experienced as a child, which I kept hidden for over a decade, was the very seed that gave me the strength, resilience, empathy, authenticity, and courage that I possess today—but only because I surrendered

Do you ever feel like you’re living your life racing toward someday when everything feels better or easier? Like you’re constantly chasing something—maybe a dream, money, the perfect body, or love and, at the core of it all, happiness? I chased all these things for years, filling most of my time with activities to attain

“Crying is not a sign of weakness, it’s a courageous expression of emotions that leads to strength.” ~Unknown When was the last time you cried? Tears are often seen as a sign of weakness, but for me, they are a powerful guide that helps me recognize and understand my feelings. In a society that frequently