Have you ever loved something and wanted to leave it? Missed someone and known you shouldn't go back? Felt grateful for what you have and still wanted something different?There's a word for that: AMBIVALENCE (am-BIV-uh-lence).Ambivalence is the experience of having conflicting feelings, beliefs, or attitudes toward the same person, decision, situation, or experience. And contrary to what we sometimes tell ourselves, conflicting emotions don't automatically mean you're confused.Sometimes two things are simply true at the same time.In this Word of the Week episode of the Room2Breathe Podcast™, we're making room for the AND.We're talking about loving something you've outgrown, grieving something you chose to leave, feeling gratitude and dissatisfaction simultaneously, why familiarity can sometimes feel safer than change, and what happens when healthy reflection turns into decision paralysis.We'll also unpack why your feelings don't need a unanimous vote before you move forward.You can love them AND need space.You can forgive AND not trust them yet.You can be grateful AND want more.You can miss it AND not go back.You can be afraid AND move anyway.You can grieve AND heal.

What happens when the funeral ends, the calls slow down, the flowers fade—and everyone else seems to return to life while you’re still learning how to live with the loss?On this Featured Voice Friday episode of the Room2Breathe Podcast™, Shawnta Hill sits down with Kelly Edmondson, nurse, certified grief counselor, bereaved mother, and founder of Timely Presence, for an honest conversation about the part of grief we don't talk about enough: what happens after everyone else goes home.After experiencing the loss of her son Darius, Kelly discovered that even her professional experience as a nurse could not fully prepare her for personal grief. Her journey eventually led her into grief counseling and inspired the creation of Timely Presence, a year-long grief support service designed to help families feel seen and remembered during the emotionally significant days that follow a loss.Together, Shawnta and Kelly explore grief beyond the funeral, the loneliness that can follow loss, faith during grief, emotionally significant dates, the pressure to “move on,” and what meaningful support actually looks like when someone you love is grieving.We also turn the conversation toward the people supporting someone through loss. Because you don't always need the perfect words. Sometimes you simply need to remember, reach out, and continue showing up.Presence doesn't expire.💚 If you're grieving, this conversation is permission to honor your process without rushing it.💚 If you love someone who's grieving, let this conversation challenge you to keep showing up beyond the first few weeks.Connect with Kelly Edmondson🌐 Timely Presence Instagram: @TheTimelyPresenceFacebook: TimelyPresenceKelly Edmondson on LinkedInConnect with Room2BreatheVisit SelfCareClub.org for the Room2Breathe community, resources, music, and more.If this conversation speaks to you, LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE—and send it to someone who may need a little room to breathe today. 💚

Can you be open to love without losing yourself?After you've been hurt, protecting your heart can feel like wisdom. But what happens when the walls that once protected you begin keeping healthy love out?In this episode of TGIT: Thank God It's Thursday, we're exploring Ezekiel 36:26 and God's promise of a new heart through the lens of spiritual self-care, emotional healing, healthy boundaries, vulnerability, and learning how to receive love again.We're talking about the difference between boundaries and walls, discernment and defensiveness, protection and isolation—and why having a soft heart doesn't mean becoming naïve.You can forgive and still say no. You can love someone from a distance. You can protect your peace without closing your heart. And you can remain open to healthy love without abandoning yourself. Because a soft heart and strong boundaries can exist in the same person.Are you truly open and willing to receive the kind of love you've been praying for?Drop a 💚 in the comments if you're healing, growing, and learning how to remain open.

What does it really mean to love someone without losing yourself in the process?This week's Room2Breathe Podcast™ Word of the Week is AGÁPĒ (uh-GAH-pay)—a Greek word commonly associated with selfless, intentional love rooted in genuine concern for another person's well-being.But here's where we're taking the conversation deeper: unconditional love does not have to mean unconditional access.In this episode, we're unpacking the difference between love and self-abandonment, support and rescue, forgiveness and restored access, compassion and over-functioning. We're also talking about something many of us struggle with: learning how to actually receive healthy love after becoming accustomed to being the giver, fixer, caretaker, or strong one.We'll explore why you can love someone and still say no, why boundaries don't cancel love, how rescuing can prevent growth, why healthy relationships require reciprocity, and why you deserve to be included in the love you so freely give everyone else.💚 Reflection Question: Where in your life have you confused loving someone with losing yourself?Drop a 💚 in the comments if you're learning to love deeply without abandoning yourself.Explore more from the Room2Breathe community at SelfCareClub.org.

Healing has a soundtrack. And sometimes healing means learning a new language for love.

Are you actually unhappy in your relationship... or did the internet convince you that you should be?In this Toxic Trends Tuesday episode of the Room2Breathe Podcast™, we're talking about how social media has changed the way we view love, dating, romance, standards, red flags, green flags, proposals, couple content, and even what we now consider the "bare minimum."Somewhere along the way, relationships stopped being something two people built together and started becoming something the internet gets to grade.We're unpacking relationship goals, viral dating advice, TikTok relationship experts, the red-flag obsession, public relationship culture, unrealistic romantic expectations, comparison, and the pressure to make love look impressive instead of making sure it actually feels healthy.Because healthy love doesn't always photograph well.Sometimes love looks like consistency.Sometimes it looks like somebody making dinner when you're exhausted.Sometimes it looks like therapy, hard conversations, compromise, laughter, grocery shopping, paying bills, caregiving, showing up during grief, and choosing each other on a very ordinary Tuesday.And none of that may ever go viral.This episode also follows our Music Motivates Monday conversation around being Safe Enough to Love and asks an important follow-up question:What happens when you finally learn how to receive healthy love... but social media convinces you that healthy love isn't exciting enough?Family, your relationship doesn't have to look like love to strangers.It needs to feel like love when the phone is face down.💚 If this conversation hits home, drop a green heart in the comments and tell me:Has social media ever made you question something about your relationship that you were perfectly fine with before?Visit SelfCareClub.org for more Room2Breathe resources, community, music, and support.#Room2BreathePodcast #ToxicTrendsTuesday #RelationshipGoals #HealthyRelationships #SocialMediaAndRelationships

What happens when you finally experience healthy love... but your heart is still expecting the pain you've experienced before?

Welcome to Music Motivates Monday — where we find the message in the lyrics.

Today, we're breaking down “Safe Enough to Love” by Room2Breathe, but this conversation is especially personal for me.

This song tells part of my own story of learning how to let my husband love me.

Not because he came into my life and fixed me.

Not because I needed him to save me.

But because healing required me to recognize the ways my past experiences were affecting my ability to receive the healthy love standing in front of me.

And through that process, God had to become part of the story.

There are three intentional progressions throughout the song:

“I healed my heart to love again / Did the work, let God step in.”

Then:

“I healed my heart to love again / Trusted God...”

And finally:

“I healed my heart to love again / Let grace replace the fear within.”

Surrender → Trust → Grace.

In today's episode, we're talking about emotional safety, vulnerability, relationship anxiety, healing after unhealthy relationships, learning to receive love, trusting God with relationships, setting healthy boundaries, and recognizing the difference between peaceful love and survival-mode love.

We'll also unpack one of the biggest questions in the song:

Are you responding to the person loving you today—or are you still responding to what somebody did to you yesterday?

Healthy love doesn't require you to shrink.

It doesn't require you to chase.

It doesn't require you to prove your worth.

And sometimes healing isn't about learning how to love somebody else.

Sometimes it's finally learning how to let yourself be loved.

💚 QUESTION OF THE DAY: Which lyric spoke to you most—and why?

Share your answer in the comments and encourage someone else while you're there.

Listen to🎵 Safe Enough to Love by Room2Breathe 🎵

Healing has a soundtrack.

Are you building a life that reflects who you truly are—or one that's built on performance, approval, and expectations?

In this Featured Voice episode of the Room2Breathe Podcast™, Shawnta Hill sits down with media veteran, author, and Expert Authority Coach Christine Blosdale for a powerful conversation about authenticity, personal branding, imposter syndrome, and the courage to stop pretending.

Together, they explore why true visibility isn't about becoming someone different—it's about becoming more of who you already are.

If you've ever felt overlooked, questioned your worth, struggled with imposter syndrome, or wondered how to build a meaningful personal brand without sacrificing your authenticity, this episode is for you.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why so many people perform instead of living authentically

The hidden emotional cost of building an inauthentic personal brand

Imposter syndrome and self-trust

How authenticity creates sustainable confidence

The difference between visibility and validation

Building a brand that reflects your real identity

Letting go of people-pleasing and external approval

Becoming the expert you were already created to be

Whether you're an entrepreneur, creator, coach, leader, or simply someone navigating your healing journey, this conversation will encourage you to stop shrinking and start showing up as your authentic self.

💚 Remember: You don't have to pretend to be who you don't intend to be.

Connect with Christine Blosdale

🌐 Website: https://expertauthoritycoach.com

📘 Book: The Expert Authority Code: How To Get Seen, Trusted, and Paid For What You Already Know https://a.co/d/0bGFj39p

📧 Email: [email protected]

🎙️Subscribe for new episodes every weekday featuring conversations on:

Self-care

Mental wellness

Personal growth

Boundaries

Healing

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Relationships

Community

Have you ever carried something for so long that it started to feel like part of who you are?In today's Thank God It's Thursday (TGIT) episode of the Room2Breathe Podcast™, we're reflecting on the powerful story found in Luke 13:10–17—not just the miracle, but the eighteen years before it. Together, we'll explore what happens when survival becomes normal, when invisible burdens shape our identity, and how healing often begins by simply acknowledging the weight we've been carrying.This isn't a sermon. It's a heartfelt conversation about self-care, emotional wellness, boundaries, resilience, and rediscovering the version of yourself that exists beneath the pressure, pain, and expectations.Whether you're carrying grief, burnout, people-pleasing, anxiety, disappointment, or simply feeling emotionally exhausted, this episode is an invitation to pause, breathe, and remember... just because you've carried something for a long time doesn't mean you're meant to carry it forever.💚 Scripture Reflection: Luke 13:10–17✨ If this episode encourages you, like, comment, subscribe, and share it with someone who may need a little Room2Breathe today.

What did you leave behind while you were surviving?This week’s word is Sankofa—or Sankɔfa—an Akan concept from Ghana meaning “Go back and retrieve it.” It teaches us that moving forward does not require us to abandon every part of our past. Sometimes healing means returning—not to relive the pain, but to reclaim the joy, confidence, voice, softness, dreams, and wisdom we lost along the way.In this episode of the Room2Breathe Podcast™, Shawnta’ Hill explores the difference between reflection and rumination, the lasting effects of survival mode, self-forgiveness, reclaiming joy, and learning how to take the lesson without carrying the shame.You are not going backward. You are gathering what you need to move forward whole.Take the wisdom. Release the weight. Carry the lesson forward.What part of yourself did you leave behind while you were surviving—and are you ready to reclaim it?Drop a 💚 in the comments if you’re going back for you.Visit selfcareclub.org for healing-centered resources, affirmative apparel, motivational merch, music, and community.Subscribe for more honest conversations about mental wellness, self-care, boundaries, healing, and personal growth.

What happens when going viral becomes more important than being yourself?In today's Toxic Trends Tuesday, we're having the conversation a lot of creators, entrepreneurs, and everyday social media users need to hear. Somewhere along the way, we stopped posting because we had something to share and started posting because we needed validation.We're talking about the emotional cost of chasing likes, followers, views, and algorithms—and what happens when your identity becomes tied to engagement instead of authenticity.If you've ever questioned your worth because a post flopped, compared your journey to someone else's highlight reel, or felt pressured to perform online, this conversation is for you.Remember...The algorithm knows your content. It doesn't know your heart.If this episode encouraged you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and join the conversation in the comments.Drop a 💚 if you're choosing authenticity over algorithms.🌐 Join the Room2Breathe Community: https://selfcareclub.org#Room2BreathePodcast #HealOutLoud