Episode 94: Kelly Flanagan

Kelly Flanagan joins me for Episode 94. This was one of my conversations. You guys, I took so many notes when I went back to edit this show. In fact, the conversation itself really did feel like a counseling session for me. Kelly is a husband, father, clinical psychologist, blogger, and author of the book Loveable: Embracing What Is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life.

We talk about the idea of being lovable—that you are enough, you are not alone and you matter by unpacking worthiness, belonging and purpose. We talk about how to rediscover your unique worthiness, how to redeem the shame we carry and how there is a loveliness to ordinary. 

Links:

• Kelly's book: Loveable: Embracing What Is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life

Kelly's Survival Kit:

• Trying to relearn his relationship with technology - noise cancelling headphones

(Amazon affiliate links used when possible--purchasing through these links is an easy way to support the show. Or shop using www.SurvivingSarah.com/amazon and a portion of the what you buy will go back to the show.)

Connect with Kelly:  website  // Facebook // twitter

Takeaways From Our Conversation:

• His words hit me like a ton of bricks when he said that our first task is to be able to delight in ourselves before we can be able to delight in someone else. Boom. I want to see a show of hands how many of us delight in ourselves.  I will be the first to raise my hand. Do we think that we are delightful? But this is 100% connected to being able to find delight in other people and to be delighted by someone else. That is definitely something that I want to spend some time working on.

• We all have a worthy self inside of us. Observe the voice of shame as an event within us and begin to listen to a different voice. Start to listen to the voice of grace. When you hear the shame let it be a reminder to listen for the voice of grace. Our shame is always calling us back to grace.

• @@There’s loveliness in ordinary@@ and @@it's okay to be ordinary you@@. Why do we believe that ordinary isn’t enough? We feel like we have to make a difference and get recognition—that’s the other side of shame. Let’s start by being our ordinary selves. Let’s take back that word.

• When it comes to belonging, you aren’t trying to compare or complete but truly to connect. Don’t focus on what you can get but what you can give.

• How does the idea of ordinary help you understand why you matter (or your purpose)? It's rare that our God given passion and reason for being here overlap extraordinary. Embrace those ordinary passions. We all have our one note to play - God has created us all with a note to play that only you can play.

• When we embrace our worthiness then we have the courage to reveal who we are to people and then as we do we discover where we belong and then through conversation with them and encouragement from them we begin to feel support to do our thing in the world.

• When it comes to our kids, how can I help foster these (worthiness, belonging, purpose) things in them? Acknowledge your limited ability of what you can do. We can do the best we can but we will make mistakes. We are limited. MAYBE THIS ISN’T SUCH A BAD THING—THINK ABOUT REDEMPTION. God is the redeemer of all things.

• Abide with our children. We stay with them in the shame. We connect with them through our own. We stress because we don’t want to be the reason they have shame because it will ultimately bring me shame. But we need those things to happen along the way so that we can understand our worthiness.

• @@Kids don’t need perfect parents they need parents who know they aren’t perfect@@.

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

A new episode every Tuesday... just subscribe.

Subscribe for free on iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on great conversations with women just like you. Women who are surviving and thriving. You don't have to do life alone. Be inspired, encouraged and entertained by women like Sandra Stanley, Shannan Martin, Jamie B. Golden, Mo Isom, Annie F. Downs, Joni Lay from Lay Baby Lay, Christy Nockels, Kay Warren, Suzanne Stabile and many more.

Did you enjoy today's conversation? Rate the podcast.

My goal each week is to encourage you to survive in this very thing called life. If you were encouraged or inspired or entertained, head over to iTunes and leave a brief review with a 5 star rating.

Here is a recent one from "Carollovespodcasts". She said, "I look forward to this podcast every week! It's refreshing, encouraging and just fun! Thank you for all the work you put into this so we can join you at the kitchen table."

Your review will help get the podcast in front of new listeners who are just like you looking to know that they aren't alone in life. Thank you for being awesome!

Episode 93: Courtney Westlake

Courtney Westlake joins me for Episode 93. Courtney lives in Illinois with her husband, Evan, and their two children, Connor and Brenna. She is a writer and photographer with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a passion for storytelling. Her storytelling took on a new life when she began blogging in 2011 after Brenna was born with a rare and severe skin disorder. I asked her to join me on the show to talk about life with Brenna and her book, A Different Beautiful. We talk about how God prepared her for the role of mother to Brenna, how the definition of beauty has changed for her and how she’s learned to see people for who they really are. 

Links:

• Surviving Sarah episode 87 with Suzanne Stabile - Enneagram breakdown
• Courtney's book: A Different Beautiful
• Children's books to read about seeing different has beautiful: Different Is Awesome by Ryan Haack and The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
• Once A Month Meals freezer cooking

Courtney's Survival Kit:

• Traveling

• Freezer Cooking & Meal Prep

• Books. Recently read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman ; Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

(Amazon affiliate links used when possible--purchasing through these links is an easy way to support the show. Or shop using www.SurvivingSarah.com/amazon and a portion of the what you buy will go back to the show.)

Connect with Courtney:  Instagram // Facebook // Website  

Takeaways From Our Conversation:

• I loved her advice on what to do when you see someone who looks different than you. She said to “@@choose connection over curiosity@@.” Connect with them the same way you would connect with anyone. Start with hello. And remember that they are made in the image of God—just like you. We have to retrain our minds to learn to see people for who they really are.

• We can see people’s heart rather than comparing what we look like to what someone else looks like. We can be more focused more on people’s stories.

• @@"My differences are God's art."@@

• There's no such thing as normal. Our frame of reference is our tiny world. Show your kids different cultures and races and sizes and abilities. Everywhere there is different. Everywhere there is uniqueness. And that should be celebrated. 

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

A new episode every Tuesday... just subscribe.

Subscribe for free on iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on great conversations with women just like you. Women who are surviving and thriving. You don't have to do life alone. Be inspired, encouraged and entertained by women like Sandra Stanley, Shannan Martin, Jamie B. Golden, Mo Isom, Annie F. Downs, Joni Lay from Lay Baby Lay, Christy Nockels, Kay Warren, Suzanne Stabile and many more.

Did you enjoy today's conversation? Rate the podcast.

My goal each week is to encourage you to survive in this very thing called life. If you were encouraged or inspired or entertained, head over to iTunes and leave a brief review with a 5 star rating.

Here is a recent one from "Carollovespodcasts". She said, "I look forward to this podcast every week! It's refreshing, encouraging and just fun! Thank you for all the work you put into this so we can join you at the kitchen table."

Your review will help get the podcast in front of new listeners who are just like you looking to know that they aren't alone in life. Thank you for being awesome!

Episode 92: Kelsey Chapman

Kelsey Chapman joins me for Episode 92. She is a Creative & Small Business Coach as well as an Instagram Consultant. As a self proclaimed dreamer and entrepreneur, she knows well that sometimes you need a cheerleader and coach to come alongside you to help you pursue your dreams. If you have a dream but don’t know where to start; or if you don’t feel like you can even have a dream; or if you want a dream but don’t have one; or if you have had to end a dream then you will relate to what we talk about today. We talk about what’s needed in following your dream, road blocks to following your dream and what happens if that dream comes to an end. 

Links:

• Surviving Sarah episode 87 with Suzanne Stabile - Enneagram breakdown
• Surviving Sarah episode 75 with Ty Lewis on purpose
• The Liturgist Podcast episode on Enneagram
• Bonlife coffee in Cleveland, TN
• Honest Coffee Roasters in Franklin, TN
• Radiant Podcast with Kelsey Chapman interview with Sarah Bragg Episode 34

Kelsey's Survival Kit:

• Iced Coffee

• Sweaters

• Books. Currently reading Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

(Amazon affiliate links used when possible--purchasing through these links is an easy way to support the show. Or shop using www.SurvivingSarah.com/amazon and a portion of the what you buy will go back to the show.)

Connect with Kelsey:  Instagram // Facebook // Website  // Radiant Podcast

Takeaways From Our Conversation:

• I bet many of you started this episode and felt like you weren’t a dreamer. But I hope that after listening, you feel differently. Our dreams come in different shapes and sizes and look different in different seasons. So no matter where you land on that spectrum, we can all agree that God has purposed you for something. No matter what season you find yourself in, God can weave your dreams throughout. 

• I loved her advice to someone who has a dream, but feels the tensions of following it. I think her advice to just release your work into the world and perfect it later is so sound. Just last week, I was talking with someone who wants to write a book one day. And that was my advice to her. Just start writing. Start thinking about what you want to say. Write it down. Writing a book doesn’t start with having all 50,000 words in your mind. It starts with an idea. Sometimes we just need a push to take a step forward—to release something and then perfect it later.

• Comparison is a real weapon against following your passion project/calling/purpose. You have a unique audience to gift and steward, no matter how big or small it is. Just because someone has more or better, doesn’t negate what God wants to do.

• Look for unexpected people who might propel your dream.

• Even if a dream doesn't work out, God can always redirect.

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

A new episode every Tuesday... just subscribe.

Subscribe for free on iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on great conversations with women just like you. Women who are surviving and thriving. You don't have to do life alone. Be inspired, encouraged and entertained by women like Sandra Stanley, Shannan Martin, Jamie B. Golden, Mo Isom, Annie F. Downs, Joni Lay from Lay Baby Lay, Christy Nockels, Kay Warren, Suzanne Stabile and many more.

Did you enjoy today's conversation? Rate the podcast.

My goal each week is to encourage you to survive in this very thing called life. If you were encouraged or inspired or entertained, head over to iTunes and leave a brief review with a 5 star rating.

Here is a recent one from "Carollovespodcasts". She said, "I look forward to this podcast every week! It's refreshing, encouraging and just fun! Thank you for all the work you put into this so we can join you at the kitchen table."

Your review will help get the podcast in front of new listeners who are just like you looking to know that they aren't alone in life. Thank you for being awesome!

Episode 91: David Thomas

David Thomas joins me for Episode 91. You may remember him from Episode 51 when we talked about raising boys. David has over 20 years of experience counseling kids and families. He’s written 7 books including the newest one, Are My Kids On Track which he wrote with Sissy Goff and Melissa Trevathan where they breakdown the emotional, social and spiritual milestones that kids need to reach. We spend our time together chatting about the four emotional milestones: vocabulary, perspective, empathy and resourcefulness. So with that, we talk about how to equip your kids with an accurate emotional vocabulary, how to help them register emotional pain, how to help them problem solve and how failure and fear are actually necessary in building empathy and courage. If you have ever felt overwhelmed with parenting, I think this conversation will put you at ease. 

Links:

• Daystar Counseling
• Are My Kids On Track: The 12 Emotional, Social, and Spiritual Milestones Your Child Needs to Reach by Sissy Goff, David Thomas and Melissa Trevathan
• Surviving Sarah Episode 87 with Suzanne Stabile about the Enneagram
• Feelings chart

David's Survival Kit:

• Swell Water Bottle

(Amazon affiliate links used when possible--purchasing through these links is an easy way to support the show. Or shop using www.SurvivingSarah.com/amazon and a portion of the what you buy will go back to the show.)

Connect with David:  Instagram // Facebook // Website

Takeaways From Our Conversation:

• I appreciated his advice as to where to start. I am so thankful that his first step was to celebrate what you are already doing. Because, we all know that parenting can feel overwhelming—even working on your own self care in regards to this topic can feel overwhelming. So the fact that you are listening to this or reading the book or having conversations about this is worth celebrating. I want to give each one of you a high five. So as you start to think through how to help your kids reach these different milestones, remember to celebrate where you are and what you are already doing.

• Pay attention to what's going on inside of you. You can only pass on to your kids what you already possess. 

• In regulating emotions, model for them the things they don’t yet know, that way they see that emotions are normal and good part of life. Give a dedicated space to sort out their emotions. Use the phase "yellow light" as a cue to let your kid know to pause. Consider getting a dog as a means to help them regulate their emotions.

• @@We have to let our kids learn to problem solve for themselves@@. 

• Failure and fear both get a bad wrap. We need to reframe that. These are good things. @@Fear is the birthplace of courage@@. You can’t be courageous if you never face fear. You want to be a resilient which means you have to stand face to face with failure. You won’t be compassionate unless you land on your face sometimes. That is one of the best teachers of empathy.

• Pray for failure for your kids. What would it look like if rather than praying for our kids to be happy, we prayed for our kids to be strong? (which is an invitation for failure.)

• Pray for ourselves that we will allow the space for our kids to be resourceful. We are sometimes too busy trying to be their resources. With that, ask good questions in those moments like what do you want to do with that? What’s your game plan? What are you thinking?

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

A new episode every Tuesday... just subscribe.

Subscribe for free on iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on great conversations with women just like you. Women who are surviving and thriving. You don't have to do life alone. Be inspired, encouraged and entertained by women like Sandra Stanley, Shannan Martin, Jamie B. Golden, Mo Isom, Annie F. Downs, Joni Lay from Lay Baby Lay, Christy Nockels, Kay Warren, Suzanne Stabile and many more.

Did you enjoy today's conversation? Rate the podcast.

My goal each week is to encourage you to survive in this very thing called life. If you were encouraged or inspired or entertained, head over to iTunes and leave a brief review with a 5 star rating.

Here is a recent one from "Carollovespodcasts". She said, "I look forward to this podcast every week! It's refreshing, encouraging and just fun! Thank you for all the work you put into this so we can join you at the kitchen table."

Your review will help get the podcast in front of new listeners who are just like you looking to know that they aren't alone in life. Thank you for being awesome!

Episode 90: Katie Peters

You are joining me for Episode 90 and for this episode we recorded a live show in front of a group of women. There is a non-profit organization who works to be the church and bring a different kind of church to their community in the East Cobb area of Atlanta who invited me to record a live episode with them. The women of East Cobb Gathering get together on a regular basis to connect, grow and enjoy the company of other women from their area.

So I sat at the table with my good friend, Katie Peters. She is a wife and mother of 4, recent graduate with a Masters in Pastoral Counseling and Life Coaching and she is the founding director of East Cobb Gathering.

We sit down together with a live audience to talk about why we need community to survive.

Links:

• East Cobb Gathering

Katie's Survival Kit:

• Prayer Beads

• Avocados

• Netflix

• Books: Wonder by R.J. Palacio; My Grandmother Told Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrick Bachman; The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey ; Fever, Chains, Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson

Sarah's Survival Kit:

• Brene Brown's Rising Strong

• Burt Bee's lip shimmer in Fig

• Starbucks coffee

(Amazon affiliate links used when possible--purchasing through these links is an easy way to support the show. Or shop using www.SurvivingSarah.com/amazon and a portion of the what you buy will go back to the show.)

Connect with Katie:  Instagram // Facebook // East Cobb Gathering Facebook

Takeaways From Our Conversation:

• August tends to be a season of starting. Now is a great time to look for community. Maybe your kids are going back to school. Or maybe you are starting a new job. Or maybe you had a life change. And many churches are ramping back up for fall. Now is a great time to look around to see where you can find some women to come alongside you. In fact, I just gathered a group of women at our church to start a community group. It can be awkward but its worth it. We all need someone to be a support or to celebrate with or to lean on.

• "Your real you is worthy of community." 

• At some point, take a risk and ask someone: what is God doing in your life right now? That's how you start to cultivate deep friendships.

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

A new episode every Tuesday... just subscribe.

Subscribe for free on iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on great conversations with women just like you. Women who are surviving and thriving. You don't have to do life alone. Be inspired, encouraged and entertained by women like Sandra Stanley, Shannan Martin, Jamie B. Golden, Mo Isom, Annie F. Downs, Joni Lay from Lay Baby Lay, Christy Nockels, Kay Warren, Suzanne Stabile and many more.

Did you enjoy today's conversation? Rate the podcast.

My goal each week is to encourage you to survive in this very thing called life. If you were encouraged or inspired or entertained, head over to iTunes and leave a brief review with a 5 star rating.

Here is a recent one from "Carollovespodcasts". She said, "I look forward to this podcast every week! It's refreshing, encouraging and just fun! Thank you for all the work you put into this so we can join you at the kitchen table."

Your review will help get the podcast in front of new listeners who are just like you looking to know that they aren't alone in life. Thank you for being awesome!