I am so happy to welcome David Thomas and Sissy Goff back to the show. This felt like a reunion since we haven’t been able to sit down together like this since 2019. They are no stranger to the show. They have been on a few past episodes of Surviving Sarah. But in case you are new here, David and Sissy are counselors at Daystar in Nashville, TN. They have written some my favorite books on parenting and I had the privilege of hosting the first two seasons of their podcast, Raising Boys and Girls. Today’s conversation feels like a nod to our days on their podcast. We dive into a topic and tension that we feel in parenting and then they walk us through it with some really practical advice. Today, we talk about power struggles. They break down by developmental stage for girls and boys—what it looks like, why its happening and what to do about it. And lastly, how to disengage when the power struggle happens.
We are just under 4 months until my book, A Mother’s Guide to Raising Herself, launches out into the world and with that, I wanted to take a few minutes and unpack what it means to raise yourself.
I am so excited to be doing quarterly episodes with my friend and your friend, Merica Stum. Now that we live in the same city, we want to sit down every quarter and unpack what happened. In this episode, we talk about what we learned, what changed, what we’ve loved, what we’ve read. We dive into what we what more of and less of for this next quarter and of course we shares what’s helping us survive. You will feel like you are sitting right there with us in my house and you’ll even get to hear an appearance by my dog, Murray, so brace yourself.
Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself
I am happy to welcome Dr. Kelly Flanagan back to the show. He is a clinical psychologist and author to the books The Marriage Manifesto, Loveable and True Companions. If you’ve been listening to the show awhile, then you heard him on Episode 94 where we talked about shame and learning to accept yourself. This conversation is built upon that. We talk about the paradox for companionship: the ability to be lonely. With that, we look at embracing our loneliness and how we can find companionship through it. I always enjoy chatting with Kelly so pull up a chair and join the conversation.
I am happy to welcome Retha Nichole back to the podcast. She first joined me in the early days on episode 74. Retha is life and business coach who loves helping people uncover their purpose. Retha is one of those people that I am always drawn to because they are truly authentic and care deeply about helping you live your best life.
In this conversation, we talk about something that Retha has been doing for years to help her week run more smoothly. She unpacks something she created Sunday Planning which helps you create a plan to grow in your life and business consistently. You will walk away from this conversation not only inspired but also with an action plan.
I am happy to welcome Ashtin Cope to the table. She is a meal planner and is all about helping families save time and money when it comes to meal planning. She wants to take the guilt and stress out of it. Today, we talk about the tensions we feel behind preparing meals that often look like guilt. Then we chat about the benefits of meal planning and lastly she shares some actionable steps that you can start doing today.
I look back on this month and while I’m surprised that we are at the end, I also feel like we’ve lived a lot. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not excited for what this new year could hold. I’ve been on record saying that I love the start of the new year. There is something hopeful and fresh about it. I tend to find myself ending a year completely ready for a reboot. And this year is no different.
Can I let you in on a secret?
While I love the start of a new year, I’m not great at goals and resolutions. Maybe I just like the theoretical reset button that gets pushed in January. But I’m actually not one to really set goals and resolutions.
In this episode, I share what’s been helping me create the life I want to live in a way that doesn’t result in feeling judgmental towards myself.
Today, I am so happy to welcome Hannah Brencher back to the show. Hannah is an author, blogger, TED speaker and entrepreneur. She has authored three books and today we discuss her most recent one, Fighting Forward.
We talk about how to go about making change in your life—how to find your way forward when you want to fight for more, when you want to find a better life or better version of yourself. With that, we talk about what gets in the way of moving forward and changing our lives and what helps you maintain that change you created. This is such a good episode and it was so timely for me again as I edited it. I felt so pumped up after listening. I think you will, too.