Best-selling author Alex Elle is the first to acknowledge that learning to love and be loved has been a lifelong effort for her. The renowned speaker tells Ashley that her mother-in-law was “the first woman to make me feel worthy of love.” She recounts her earliest memories of receiving that unconditional love, and admits that she didn't think she was capable of loving others before she met her husband. “I needed to be willing to love myself,” she says, before she could receive love. The healing expert gets frank about initially mistaking dysfunction, chaos, and heartbreak for love. Today, Alex focuses on making intentional space to craft her legacy, because “the joy work” is integral to break the cycles of generational trauma.