I Totally Relate!

We are sharing another faith transition this week as part of our self empowerment series. We are so excited to introduce you to Madi.

Shelby and Madi were room mates in college, just as Madi was returning home from her mission. She was born in Provo into a very religious family. Her father is a BYU professor, and she has all sisters who have also exited the religion. Madi was very invested in the LDS church. She was baptized, served a mission, worked in the temple, and was married in the Provo temple.

She takes us right into her mission where she discovered critical information about her mental health. She describes for us the shame and negative narrative she learned in the church culture. We jump into a conversation discussing the premise and ideologies of the religion including polygamy, following the counsel of the prophet, as well as the effect of the patriarchy on the minds of young women and how that created a "not good enough" effect.

One of the most important messages Madi shares is that those who leave the church do not need your pity or worry. There is peace and joy outside of the LDS church, and they do not hold a monopoly on spirituality. She is fresh in her exit from the religion and is still deconstructing and finding her footing on spirituality. She is helping us learn to put words to some of our experiences in this culture. Even if we are not perfect, it's worth trying to share and connect with honesty in our experiences. We are so honored that Madi shares her story and thoughts with us. It is vulnerable and real. We hope you enjoy this conversation as we meander through her experiences and breaking down some of the toxic aspects of the Mormon church.

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Trigger Warning: We discuss the topic of sexual assault and the abuse of power within the Mormon religion. This is a heavy conversation in which Carissa shares her exit story from the LDS church. There are parts of the story that are upsetting. Although we continue this conversation with humor and levity, it may leave you feeling triggered or in despair. If you need to pause and come back, please do, because on the other side of this gross abuse of power, there is freedom, joy, and peace. We hope you can listen to the whole story.

We will spend the next several episodes sharing exit stories from the LDS church, and the specific circumstances that lead each of these people right out the door. This is not meant to be mean to those who are part of the religion, it is a call to hold those in power accountable, and to see each person in their story, their pain, and heartbreak. These decisions are not made haphazardly. They are full of difficult, gut wrenching decisions. We want to share our stories so that others know they are not alone.

It is important to point out the toxicity of the culture in eliminating the option for personal boundaries. Individuals have undue pressure put on them in regards to the eternal salvation of those you love. This hierarchy deliberately pits family members against each other in order to keep each individual feeling stuck in the church. The leadership, those in powerful positions making the decisions for the whole, utilizes control over the individuals. They control what you wear, down to your underwear, how you spend your money, what you do with your time, and they exercise power over children instead of allowing parents to take responsibility for the safety of their children. This is a mighty over reach, and the power is abused all too often.

We begin the series with Carissa sharing her very personal experience inside the religion. Carissa shares her feelings as a young girl of concern for her father's salvation. Those men who put this idea in her mind were out of line, and her father is a phenomenal man and his eternal salvation never needed to be worried about. She walks us through her high school experience, marriage in the temple, and the straw that broke the camel's back.

We reference the ExMo Candle Co as well as the book No Man Knows my History

Stay tuned for additional stories from some incredibly brave and loving human beings. If you have a story you'd like to share, or are looking for support with this topic, we are here for you.

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

To be honest, we had a different episode planned for you this week. We had secured an absolutely amazing interview, who cancelled on us last minute. So rather than have a conversation about boundaries that we were so pumped about, we met the moment where it was and recorded a conversation processing our feelings about disappointment.

We begin by giving some back ground information about the situation at hand, and then we go into processing our feelings together. We share how it felt to get the disappointing news, how our own minds reacted to it, and what surprised us about this experience.

Halfway through the conversation we share a four step process of how to deal with disappointment in your life. Spoiler alert... this won't be the last time we feel disappointed.

Can you relate? We would love to hear from you! After the year of 2020, we know that we are all well aquainted with disappointment. Have you been able to navigate the circumstances? What has helped you process these complex and uncomfortable feelings? Connect with us and let us know!

In the mean time... thank you for listening, and know that you are loved.

SURPRISE! It's Friday and we have a bonus episode to drop in your feed. We share a bonus episode monthly on Patreon, and we felt this would be a good episode to share with all of you to give a great idea of what the bonus episodes are like. Sometimes they are extra snippets from the conversation with an interview, and other times it is a conversation between the two of us about a more personal topic.

This month we are sharing a portion of our interview with Abigail. This episode contains some incredible relationship advice, as well as some specific tools and examples of boundaries and keeping centered with ones own self.

We hope you enjoy this extra content, and if you would like to receive more benefits like this, head over to Patreon!

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

Get ready for an incredible conversation that is going to uplift you and share profound insights that will help you grow! We cannot wait for you to hear from Abigail!

This episode begins with Abigail introducing herself and sharing some of the titles she carries, one of which being a stroke survivor. She walks us through her experience, and very profoundly the moment that she decided to TRUST HERSELF! We discuss the tools she used to help her move through this life altering situation, don't be surprised when she discusses affirmations and journaling. We talk through her feelings of sadness, grief, and hope.

One of the outcomes of this experience in her life is that she had the dedication and determination to follow her life path and fulfilling one of her purposes. That purpose is teaching adaptive yoga. She is a yoga instructor and teaches the classes herself, as well as teaching other yoga instructors how to be inclusive with adaptive yoga for any student in their class. If this is something you are interested in learning, she is teaching this in an upcoming workshop, which you can sign up for here.

This conversation was a real treat for us, and we both feel like we learned so much from Abigail, we can't wait for you to give it a listen.

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

You can also give Abigail a follow on instagram!

If you have been interested in joining us on Patreon, may we give you a little budge? Join us before October 1st, we have some really exciting news coming, and chances are... you won't want to miss this!

This conversation is the story of how Shelby meets yoga. In our Self Empowerment series, we have turned the conversation to how we connect with our bodies, and therein lies the empowerment we seek. Well... at least it is a part of it.

Shelby takes us back a few years to share how she was introduced to yoga and the very serendipitous reconnection with the practice years later.

One of the resources that was incredibly instrumental in guiding Shelby towards a consistent practice is Yoga with Adriene and if you have been interested, we encourage you to check it out. This ultimately led Shelby to get her Yoga Teacher Training through The Yoga Underground where she currently teaches every Tuesday.

Shelby gives us some background information on the roots of yoga and helps us understand why yoga is meditation. We dip into the differences between the two, and how they are ultimately connected. We wander through the difference between being religious and being spiritual and what that means to us. We also share what our practices look like and how we implement these ideas into our routines and rituals, as well as the benefits we feel and experience when we are consistent in a meditation practice. We wrap up the conversation by sharing the biggest lessons we have learned in yoga and how it changes our perspective off the mat.

On Patreon we will be sharing the resources that have been impactful for us, so head over to access this resource. This conversation is about how you can reframe exercise and yoga provides a connection to self. We hope you enjoy the episode and click to listen if you feel called to explore ways you can connect with your body. We would love to hear from you about what yoga has taught you, and different ways you connect with your body.

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

This episode is a conversation about running. Yep, running on the treadmill, running marathons, and running with women. We know this seems like a very niche topic, stick with us here... we see running as a metaphor for life. Whether you like to run, or have a real disdain for the activity, this conversation is about so much more, and we believe there is something here for everyone. We are interested to understand how do you connect with your body? Going for a run is one way that Carissa feels connected to her body, as well as our guest, and we spend time talking through how running accomplishes this.

This week we are pleased to introduce to you Annie Osmond. We kick off the conversation with some background information on how our paths crossed. Annie is a running instructor at our local recreation center. Carissa started attending the treadmill class that Annie leads, and that is where the story begins. Annie introduces herself and shares how she got interested in running, and the women who have influenced her along the way.

We dig into the topic of women supporting each other and dismantling the idea that women are our competition. Annie shares several examples of moments that have made an impact on her through cheering on her comrades and feeling supported and influenced by strong, ambitious, and empowered women.

If you are interested in preparing to run for a marathon or otherwise, Annie gives us an idea on how to prepare, and what to expect. One of our favorite parts of the episode include her description of coming up against her own failure, and proving to herself that she is strong enough.

Half way through the conversation we turn to the idea of body image. We get Annie's take on how to be in an environment that is all about bodies and how to keep from comparing yourself. She talks about a shift in our culture that is more accepting of all body types.

Annie gives us her top 5 songs for her running playlist:

1. I will never stop by The artist formerly known as James the Mormon
2. Woman Lover Powerful by Daniella Mason
3. Humble by Kendrick Lamar
4. Born for This by Andy Grammer
5. Glorious by Macklemore

We wrap up the conversation expressing our hopes for the future, and Annie shares a little bit about her experience with Motherhood with us. Don't miss the secret ending...

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

If you have not listened to episode 29 "There's an unmet need" we highly recommend you go back and listen. In the previous episode we discuss what our relationship with anger has been like, and how it has shown up in our behaviors and effected our relationships. The awareness is really important and sets up the discussion in this particular episode. We drop you into the middle of a conversation and episode 29 gives this episode context.

This conversation between Shelby and Rissy is led with curiosity. Now that we have taken a hard look at how we have expressed anger in the past, we literally just untangle our anger together. What is anger? What are we supposed to do with anger? We give a few examples of productive anger, or a healthy expression of anger. We process our anger by asking questions, digging deeper, how our anger makes us feel, and how we have tried to get rid of that feeling.

Our anger lets us know when are not safe, when we need a boundary, it protects us. If we can learn to sit with the discomfort of our anger and really listen to what it has to say, maybe, just maybe it can help point us in the direction of our life's purpose.

This conversation is vulnerable and special to us. We hope you enjoy the episode, and lean in with curiosity as well.

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

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The kick off of season two is all about self empowerment. We started this season with the why behind our purpose, we shared an interview about the how-to‘s on achieving self empowerment, last week we shared a story to give the beautiful example of how to come into your own power. We feel like a necessary component to the conversation of self empowerment is in anger.

This weeks episode is the first part of a conversation the two of us host about anger. Before we can really talk about the subject, we felt like it was necessary to come to terms with the relationship that we’ve had with anger, and how that has impacted our decision making in our key and important relationships.

We start off with Carissa describing her relationship with anger. She gives a lot of examples and details of how she tried to keep her loved ones from feeling the discomfort of anger. That codependent behavior was derived from the consequences of being completely exhausted by trying to keep other people from being angry, that lead to deep consequences for her own safety, feelings, and mental health. Then, Shelby shares her experiences which include trying to out run the anger and then an expulsion of energy. She also shares the shame that follows those behaviors.

This conversation feels very vulnerable to us, we truly hope that in naming some of our own feelings, as shameful as they feel, we are able to help anyone who feels like they can relate to some of these feelings. We hope you stay tuned for next week when we go into depth about what we hope anger to do for us in the future.

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]

This is a very powerful and raw story that will help give context to what healing is, a few helpful behaviors, and the gifts of healing. Real quick, we want to give you a heads up that we do discuss suicide, and suicidal ideation. If parts of this conversation are triggering for you, we encouraged you to hit pause and come back to us when you are ready. Amber is very real in this conversation about some of her darkest moments and difficult feelings, and that helps give context to how powerful her healing process has truly been. Also… We dropped the F bomb a few times, so if you normally listen with children around, you might want to listen to this episode in a more mature setting.

We are so excited for you to meet Amber, she is an incredibly brave and empowered woman who is going to let us into her story. She takes us way back to her childhood to uncover harmful messages she was given as a child. Messages such as she was weird, or her emotions were too much, or what she was feeling was bad. 

One of the tools she has used in her healing process is art. We spend some time towards the beginning of our conversation talking about how that has been impactful, how she studied it, and what her process is. For reals though, she is an incredible artist!

Beginning in March 2020 Amber‘s life started to unravel. The pressure of secrecy from a traumatic event she experienced in college came to a head. She found herself staring her biggest fears in the face.

Amber walks us through the beginning and ending of her marriage, loss of life, the closing of a chapter, and starting over again. She recounts how she found her Wolfpack, the group of women in Utah that helped create a safe space for her to reconnect with her true self and heal as she faced her biggest fears in one summer. She walks us through some of her darkest night, and shares the sweet beauty of standing in her own power. She shares the most important tools she utilized in navigating through these perilous challenges. 

It is truly a gift the Amber shares deep vulnerability in her conversation with us. We would love to hear how Amber’s story resonates with you! 

We create and share additional content each week, you can join us on Patreon, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or send us your thoughts and feedback at [email protected]