The FEEL Podcast: Women’s Empowerment, Emotional Wellness and Self-Leadership with Melissa Crook

Content Note: This episode discusses domestic violence, abusive relationships, trauma, and safety planning.

What does domestic abuse really look like, and how do we begin reclaiming our identity, safety, and self-trust after experiencing it?

On this episode of the award-winning FEEL Podcast, host Melissa Crook welcomes Beatrice Cortes, domestic violence survivor, advocate, and founder of Project Thirty Five, for an important conversation about recognizing abuse, understanding the complexities of leaving an abusive relationship, and embracing healing with curiosity and compassion.

Domestic abuse isn't always physical. Emotional abuse, psychological manipulation, financial control, and other unhealthy relationship dynamics can make it difficult to recognize what's happening or know where to turn for support.

As we walk through the FEEL Framework together, Beatrice shares insights from her personal journey, the inspiration behind Project Thirty Five, and why awareness, support, and safety planning are so important.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Recognizing the warning signs of domestic abuse beyond physical violence.

• Why leaving an abusive relationship can be complicated and dangerous.

• The importance of support systems and individualized safety planning.

• How trauma and unhealthy relationship patterns can affect identity and self-trust.

• Approaching healing with curiosity and compassion rather than shame or judgment.

• Setting healthy boundaries and recognizing your own needs.

• The inspiration behind Beatrice's advocacy and Project Thirty Five.

• Why embracing every layer of ourselves matters as we continue healing.

Ways To Engage:

• What parts of yourself have you learned to judge, hide, or dismiss because of someone else's expectations?
• What might change if you approached those parts of yourself with curiosity and compassion instead?
• Healing isn't about pretending difficult experiences never happened. It's about learning to recognize your needs, honor your experiences, and make choices that support your safety and well-being.

You are valuable because of who you are, not what you've experienced or what others have led you to believe about yourself.

Resources:

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, confidential support is available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Call: 800-799-SAFE (7233)
Text: START to 88788
Website: thehotline.org

Content Note: This episode discusses domestic violence, abusive relationships, trauma, and safety planning.

Join us as we continue building a community where women feel seen, known, heard, and safe to embrace every layer of who they are.

Timestamps:

Prioritizing Self Care - ( 2:05 )

Confidently Setting Boundaries - ( 3:02 )

Taking Care of Your Emotional Health as much as Your Physical Health - ( 5:03 )

Support self & other women unapologetically - ( 7:34 )

Coming Back to Your WHY and Your VALUES - ( 14:06 )

Living Out of Your Own Expectations - ( 17:00 )

Accepting the Layered Aspects of Yourself - ( 24:26 )

Living out FEEL, how does it affect your relationships - ( 32:46 )

5 Activities That Nourish You - ( 34:52 )

5 Words for How You Want to Feel in the Next Six Months - ( 35:46 )

Original Music by Rio & Valencia Saint-Louis

✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad

In this empowering bonus resource, we’re giving you a free sneak peek into the Embracing a F.E.E.L Fueled Life course! This downloadable PDF guides you through reconnecting with who you truly are—beyond your roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

Become a Paid Subscriber and help us continue creating conversations, resources, and community that remind women they are valuable because of who they are, not what they do. -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@thefeelpodcast⁠⁠

Are you listening to what your mind, emotions, and body are telling you?

Our mental health, emotional wellness, and physical well-being are connected. But when we're overwhelmed by responsibilities and expectations, it's easy to overlook what we're experiencing and what we might need.

In this week's Empowerment Tuesday episode of The FEEL Podcast, host Melissa Crook explores the mind-body connection and why recognizing our mental, emotional, and physical needs is an important part of intentional self-care.

As we continue exploring Part Two of Embracing Layers Unapologetically, we're learning to approach ourselves with curiosity instead of judgment.

In This Episode:

• Understanding the connection between mental, emotional, and physical health

• Recognizing changes in sleep, energy, concentration, and emotional well-being

• Why listening to our needs is an important part of self-care

• Approaching our experiences with curiosity instead of self-criticism

• Making intentional choices that support our overall wellness

THREE WAYS TO ENGAGE

💙 NOTICE: What is your mind, body, or emotions telling you?

🩷 REFLECT: Are you giving each area of your well-being the attention it deserves?

💙 CHOOSE: Take one intentional step to care for yourself this week.

This Week's FEEL Reflection:

What would change if we treated our mental, emotional, and physical health as equally worthy of our attention?

Because tending to ourselves isn't selfish. It's recognizing that we matter, too.

You're Worth All of It. You're Valuable Because of Who You Are, Not What You Do. And You Get to Choose.

💙🩷 UPCOMING FEEL EVENTS!

Before You Say Yes: A Six-Week FEEL Cohort

Ready to stop automatically saying yes and start making choices that reflect your values, needs, and capacity?

Our six-week guided FEEL Cohort begins November 4!

⏰ Enrollment closes October 30, 2026.

👉 Enroll: https://www.embracinglayers.com/empowerment

🎉 Virtual Kickoff Party — November 2!

Join us as we kick off this FEEL experience together!

👉 Register: [Insert Kickoff Party Link]

Make your YES as intentional as your NO. 💙🩷

Join our Substack community:⁠⁠https://feelpod.substack.com/⁠✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad

Become a Paid Subscriber and help us continue creating conversations, resources, and community that remind women they are valuable because of who they are, not what they do. -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@thefeelpodcast⁠⁠

How can sound help us navigate grief and reconnect with ourselves?

In this episode of The FEEL Podcast, Melissa Crook welcomes Jeralyn Glass—singer, sound healing practitioner, founder of Crystal Cadence, and author of Sacred Vibrations—for a heartfelt conversation about music, loss, and self-discovery.

Jeralyn shares how sound became a source of comfort and connection following the death of her son. Drawing on her background in Broadway and opera and her work with crystal singing bowls, she reflects on the role music has played in her personal healing journey.

This episode also includes a guided sound bath meditation, inviting you to pause, listen, and connect with the present moment.

💛 In This Episode
• Jeralyn’s experience navigating grief after losing her son.
• The role of sound and music in her healing journey.
• Music as a way to connect with emotions beyond words.
• Self-discovery through intentional listening.
• A guided sound bath meditation with Jeralyn.

Put FEEL Into Practice

NOTICE: How do different sounds or pieces of music affect the way you feel?

REFLECT: What has helped you feel comforted or connected during difficult seasons?

CHOOSE: Where could you make space this week for intentional listening or rest?

Allow yourself to experience the meditation without pressure to feel a particular way.

Connect With Jeralyn Glass
Website: https://www.jeralynglass.com/
Crystal Cadence: https://www.crystalcadence.com/
Sacred Vibrations: https://www.crystalcadence.com/sacred-vibrations/

Through the FEEL Framework—Finding Empowerment Embracing Layers—we encourage women to recognize their inherent worth and make intentional choices aligned with their values.

Explore The Embracing Layers Network
Website: https://www.embracinglayers.com/
Substack Community: https://feelpod.substack.com/

Follow The FEEL Podcast for more conversations about embracing your layers and caring for yourself.

Timestamps:

Prioritizing Self Care - ( 2:15 )

Confidently Setting Boundaries - ( 7:04 )

Taking Care of Your Emotional Health as much as Your Physical Health - ( 9:57 )

Support self & other women unapologetically - ( 31:56 )

Coming Back to Your WHY and Your VALUES - ( 37:06 )

Accepting the Layered Aspects of Yourself - ( 50:22 )

Living out FEEL, how does it affect your relationships - ( 55:58 )

5 Activities That Nourish You - ( 1:00:41 )

5 Words for How You Want to Feel in the Next Six Months - ( 1:03:58 )

Original Music by Rio & Valencia Saint-Louis

✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad

In this empowering bonus resource, we’re giving you a free sneak peek into the Embracing a F.E.E.L Fueled Life course! This downloadable PDF guides you through reconnecting with who you truly are—beyond your roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

Do you know who you are but still struggle to trust yourself?

In this Empowerment Tuesday episode of The FEEL Podcast, Founder and Thought Leader Melissa Crook explores how women can build self-trust, move beyond people-pleasing and external validation, and embrace who they are without allowing other people's expectations to determine their worth.

As we begin Part Two of our book exploration of Embracing Layers Unapologetically, Melissa shares why self-discovery and self-trust aren't the same thing, and how embracing our identities means acknowledging our past, allowing ourselves to evolve, and making intentional choices aligned with our values.

In This Episode:

• Why knowing yourself and trusting yourself are different

• How to stop seeking approval and questioning your worth

• Why personal growth doesn't require rejecting your past

• How to build self-trust through everyday decisions

• The connection between healthy boundaries, people-pleasing, and self-worth

• Why embracing yourself includes compassion and accountability

• How to recognize your value beyond productivity and accomplishments

Three Ways to Engage:

1. Recognize: How have you grown or evolved over the past five years?

2. Reflect: Where are you still seeking others' validation instead of trusting yourself?

3. Choose: Make one intentional decision this week based on your own values and needs.

A question to consider: What would change in your life if you trusted who you are instead of continually questioning whether who you are is enough?

Join the Before You Say Yes Six-Week Cohort!🎉

Are you tired of automatically saying yes, overcommitting, or feeling guilty when you prioritize your own needs?

Join Melissa Crook for "Before You Say Yes": Making Choices Based on Your Values, Capacity & What You Actually Want.

Beginning November 4th, 2026, this six-week small-group FEEL experience will help you explore healthy boundaries, people-pleasing, communication, self-trust, and making intentional commitments.

Register for the Six-Week Cohort:⁠https://www.embracinglayers.com/empowerment⁠

Before You Say Yes Virtual Kickoff Party — November 2nd!Join us two days before the cohort begins to connect and learn more about the experience.

Register for the Virtual Kickoff Party: ⁠https://www.embracinglayers.com/contact⁠

Connect & Explore

The Embracing Layers Network:⁠https://www.embracinglayers.com/⁠

Join our Substack community:⁠https://feelpod.substack.com/⁠

The FEEL Framework: Finding Empowerment Embracing Layers

You're Worth All of It. You're Valuable Because of Who You Are, Not What You Do. And You Get to Choose.

#SelfTrust #SelfDiscovery #SelfWorth #WomensEmpowerment #PeoplePleasing #HealthyBoundaries #EmbracingLayers

Become a Paid Subscriber and help us continue creating conversations, resources, and community that remind women they are valuable because of who they are, not what they do. -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@thefeelpodcast⁠⁠Content Note: This episode discusses infant loss, sexual assault, grief, trauma, and sobriety. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

How do you begin healing when life changes in ways you never imagined?

Grief, trauma, sexual assault, and loss can profoundly affect how we see ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us. But healing isn't about pretending those experiences didn't happen or expecting ourselves to simply move on.

In this episode of The FEEL Podcast, Melissa Crook welcomes Nicole B. Gebhardt for a deeply personal conversation about navigating devastating loss, surviving difficult experiences, choosing sobriety, and discovering what it means to rebuild a life with intention.

Nicole shares experiences that have shaped her journey, including sexual assault during college, the heartbreaking loss of her baby, and the choices that became part of her healing. We also explore her advocacy for military spouses, her recognition as National Guard Spouse of the Year, and how she has used her experiences to support others.

Together, we consider what it means to acknowledge our pain without allowing it to determine our worth or every choice we make moving forward.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Healing after trauma and loss: Navigating grief and experiences that change our lives.

• Sexual assault and institutional accountability: The impact of not receiving the support or response we need.

• Sobriety and coping patterns: Recognizing when the ways we've learned to cope may no longer be helping us.

• Self-care during difficult seasons: How small rituals and intentional practices can support emotional well-being.

• Military spouse advocacy: Building community and support through shared experiences.

• Resilience and finding purpose: Exploring what it means to move forward without minimizing what we've experienced.

• Personal agency and self-worth: Recognizing the choices available to us as we navigate healing.

  
  

A FEEL Reflection:

Are the ways you've learned to cope still supporting the person you are today?

Healing doesn't have to follow anyone else's timeline. And we don't have to turn every painful experience into something positive for our lives to have meaning.

You're Worth All of It. You're Valuable Because of Who You Are, Not What You Do. And You Get to Choose.

Ways To Engage:

1. Notice how you respond to unexpected challenges. Do you acknowledge what you're experiencing or feel pressure to keep pushing through?

2. Examine your coping patterns. Are the ways you've learned to cope still helping you?

3. Consider what support might look like today. Is there a person, resource, or practice that could help you navigate this season?

Timestamps:

Prioritizing Self Care - ( 4:06 )

Confidently Setting Boundaries - ( 15:42 )

Taking Care of Your Emotional Health as much as Your Physical Health - ( 19:10 )

Support self & other women unapologetically - ( 25:29 )

Coming Back to Your WHY and Your VALUES - ( 34:18 )

Living Out of Your Own Expectations - ( 36:16 )

Accepting the Layered Aspects of Yourself - ( 39:51 )

Living out FEEL, how does it affect your relationships - ( 42:55 )

5 Activities That Nourish You - ( 47:17 )

5 Words for How You Want to Feel in the Next Six Months - ( 48:38 )

Original Music by Rio & Valencia Saint-Louis

✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad

In this empowering bonus resource, we’re giving you a free sneak peek into the Embracing a F.E.E.L Fueled Life course! This downloadable PDF guides you through reconnecting with who you truly are—beyond your roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

Why is it so difficult for women to prioritize self-care, even when we know how important it is?

Between work, family, relationships, and everyday responsibilities, making time for ourselves often becomes something we'll get to when everything else is finished.

But what happens when everything else is never finished?

In this Empowerment Tuesday episode of The FEEL Podcast, host and thought leader Melissa Crook explores how to prioritize self-care without guilt, set healthy boundaries, recognize overcommitment, and make intentional choices that support our mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

Self-care isn't about putting yourself first in every situation or abandoning the people who depend on you. It's about recognizing that your needs matter, too, and making room for them within the realities of your life.

In This Episode, You'll Explore:

• Why self-care isn't selfish: Moving beyond the belief that you must earn time for yourself.

• How to make time for self-care: Identifying realistic ways to prioritize your needs during busy seasons.

• Recognizing guilt and people-pleasing: Understanding why women often put everyone else's needs ahead of their own.

• Healthy boundaries and saying no: Why every commitment involves a trade-off.

• Aligning your calendar with your values: Examining whether your time reflects what matters most to you.

• Communicating your needs: Learning to express expectations and ask for support.

• Mental, emotional, and physical well-being: Recognizing when something needs your attention

  Three Ways to Engage1. Look at your calendar. Where have you intentionally made time for yourself?

  2. Identify what's getting in the way. Is it guilt, overcommitting, or believing everything else must come first?

  3. Choose one way to prioritize your care this week. Make time for something that genuinely nourishes you.

Self-care isn't another obligation to perfect. It's a conscious choice to recognize that your well-being matters.

Join the Before You Say Yes Six-Week Cohort!🎉

Are you tired of automatically saying yes, overcommitting, or feeling guilty when you prioritize your own needs?

Join Melissa Crook for "Before You Say Yes": Making Choices Based on Your Values, Capacity & What You Actually Want.

Beginning November 4th, 2026, this six-week small-group FEEL experience will help you explore healthy boundaries, people-pleasing, communication, self-trust, and making intentional commitments.

Register for the Six-Week Cohort:
https://www.embracinglayers.com/empowerment

Before You Say Yes Virtual Kickoff Party — November 2nd!Join us two days before the cohort begins to connect and learn more about the experience.

Register for the Virtual Kickoff Party: https://www.embracinglayers.com/contact

Connect & Explore

The Embracing Layers Network:
https://www.embracinglayers.com/

Join our Substack community:
https://feelpod.substack.com/

The FEEL Framework: Finding Empowerment Embracing Layers

You're Worth All of It. You're Valuable Because of Who You Are, Not What You Do. And You Get to Choose.

Become a Paid Subscriber and help us continue creating conversations, resources, and community that remind women they are valuable because of who they are, not what they do. -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@thefeelpodcast⁠⁠

What happens when the life you're “supposed” to want no longer feels like the life you actually want to live?

On this episode of The FEEL Podcast, Melissa Crook is joined by author Annie Jomphe, whose book Sailing Back to Life: 1 Sailboat, 2 Years, 3 Kids; The Adventure of a Lifetime tells the extraordinary story of Annie, her husband, and their three young children leaving behind the life they knew for two years aboard a sailboat.

From the outside, their life looked successful: careers, financial stability, a home, and a family. But Annie has shared that underneath it, they had lost touch with themselves and what they valued. With no previous sailing experience, they sold most of their belongings and chose an entirely different way of living. 

But this FEEL conversation isn't about suggesting we all need to sell everything and buy a sailboat.

Instead, Annie takes us through her story using the FEEL Talking Points, exploring identity, self-care, expectations, values, relationships, letting go of perfection, family connection, and what she discovered when she stopped living according to what life was supposed to look like. 

Her memoir also reflects on motherhood, marriage, resilience, simplicity, and intentional living. AbeBooks

Ways To Engage

Ask yourself: “Does the life I'm living reflect what I say matters to me?”

Identify one part of your life you've accepted simply because “that's just what we do.”

Ask: “What would moving one step closer to the life I actually want look like?”

Your step doesn't need to look anything like Annie's.

Maybe it's one conversation. One boundary. One change in your calendar. One experience you make room for. Or one expectation you decide you're ready to reconsider.

Because living from your own expectations isn't about rejecting everyone else's.

It's knowing yourself well enough to recognize the difference, and trusting yourself enough to choose.

Topics: intentional living, living authentically, breaking free from expectations, self-trust, family adventure, motherhood, personal growth, life transitions, self-care for women, values, choosing the life you want, sailing with kids, Annie Jomphe, Sailing Back to Life, The FEEL Podcast, Melissa Crook

Timestamps:

Prioritizing Self Care - ( 3:30 )

Confidently Setting Boundaries - ( 5:57 )

Taking Care of Your Emotional Health as much as Your Physical Health - ( 7:55 )

Support self & other women unapologetically - ( 20:54 )

Coming Back to Your WHY and Your VALUES - ( 25:47 )

Living Out of Your Own Expectations - ( 30:36 )

Accepting the Layered Aspects of Yourself - ( 43:17 )

Living out FEEL, how does it affect your relationships - ( 47:57 )

5 Activities That Nourish You - ( 50:44 )

5 Words for How You Want to Feel in the Next Six Months - ( 51:32 )

Original Music by Rio & Valencia Saint-Louis

✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad

In this empowering bonus resource, we’re giving you a free sneak peek into the Embracing a F.E.E.L Fueled Life course! This downloadable PDF guides you through reconnecting with who you truly are—beyond your roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

Become a Paid Subscriber and help us continue creating conversations, resources, and community that remind women they are valuable because of who they are, not what they do. -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@thefeelpodcast⁠ .

How much of the life you're living is actually yours—and how much has been shaped by what you've been told you should want, do, or be?

In this Empowerment Tuesday conversation on The FEEL Podcast, Melissa Crook is joined by Dr. Amanda Wilson for a candid conversation about what it really means to live out of your own expectations instead of everyone else's.

Amanda's story challenges the idea that there is one right way to build a career, raise a family, define success, or create a fulfilling life.

Together, Melissa and Amanda talk about the myth of “having it all,” the hidden pressures women carry, raising gifted children, old trauma that can continue influencing our choices, and the coping mechanisms we sometimes develop before we fully understand what we need.

Amanda also shares why her no-BS approach to consulting works for her, and what can happen when we stop trying to make ourselves fit expectations, systems, or definitions of success that were never designed for us.

At the heart of the conversation is a question worth asking:

Whose expectation is this?

And then:

Does it still align with who I am, what I value, and the life I actually want to live?

Melissa and Amanda explore the pressure on women to “have it all,” recognizing when expectations aren't actually our own, parenting and the hidden challenges of raising gifted children, how past trauma can continue shaping present choices, neurodivergence and understanding ourselves more fully, coping behaviors without shame, creating a career around the life you actually want, and why living by your own expectations doesn't mean rejecting everyone else's.

Ways to Engage

1. Identify one “supposed to” in your life.
2. Ask: “Whose expectation is this?”
3. Choose one expectation to examine instead of automatically following it.

You don't have to reject every expectation that came from someone else.

You just get to decide whether you still want to carry it.

Topics: living out of your own expectations, expectations vs reality, women and expectations, how to stop living for others, people pleasing, self-trust, women and success, having it all myth, gifted children, neurodivergence in women, trauma and personal growth, women entrepreneurs, work life balance, Dr. Amanda Wilson, Straight Smile Solutions, Melissa Crook, The FEEL Podcast, Empowerment Tuesday

#SelfTrust #IntentionalLiving #WomensEmpowerment #PersonalGrowth #FEELPodcast

✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad⁠⁠⁠⁠

In this empowering bonus resource, we’re giving you a free sneak peek into the Embracing a F.E.E.L Fueled Life course! This downloadable PDF guides you through reconnecting with who you truly are—beyond your roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

For more Support reach out to Melissa here - ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.embracinglayers.com/contact

Become a Paid Subscriber and help us continue creating conversations, resources, and community that remind women they are valuable because of who they are, not what they do. -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@thefeelpodcast⁠⁠

What if caring for your health didn't require separating yourself from the foods, culture, traditions, and experiences that are part of who you are?

On this episode of The FEEL Podcast, Melissa Crook is joined by Leonila Campos for a practical conversation about nutrition, self-care, cultural foods, sustainable habits, and caring for ourselves as whole people.

From “Add yourself to the lunchbox list” to challenging the belief that “I'm a lost cause,” Melissa and Leonila explore what can happen when women move away from shame, perfection, and all-or-nothing expectations and toward habits that can actually fit into their lives.

They also discuss why food can't always be separated from culture. Food can carry family, tradition, memories, connection, and identity, and honoring those layers can be part of caring for ourselves too.

This conversation asks us to consider a different approach to health:

Can we nourish ourselves without judging ourselves?

Can we make changes without believing everything has to change at once?

Can healthy habits be sustainable enough to actually live with?

And while we're caring for everybody else, have we remembered to put ourselves on the list?

 Because caring for yourself doesn't have to mean losing the parts of yourself that matter to you.

Topics: Women's Nutrition • Sustainable Healthy Habits • Self-Care for Women • Food and Culture • Cultural Foods • Healthy Relationship with Food • Whole-Person Wellness • Women’s Empowerment • The FEEL Podcast

Timestamps:

Prioritizing Self Care - ( 3:10 )

Confidently Setting Boundaries - ( 5:24 )

Taking Care of Your Emotional Health as much as Your Physical Health - ( 9:59 )

Support self & other women unapologetically - ( 16:03 )

Coming Back to Your WHY and Your VALUES - ( 19:41 )

Living Out of Your Own Expectations - ( 24:44 )

Accepting the Layered Aspects of Yourself - ( 34:26 )

Living out FEEL, how does it affect your relationships - ( 43:02 )

5 Activities That Nourish You - ( 47:08 )

5 Words for How You Want to Feel in the Next Six Months - ( 48:21 )

Original Music by Rio & Valencia Saint-Louis

✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad

In this empowering bonus resource, we’re giving you a free sneak peek into the Embracing a F.E.E.L Fueled Life course! This downloadable PDF guides you through reconnecting with who you truly are—beyond your roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

Become a Paid Subscriber and help us continue creating conversations, resources, and community that remind women they are valuable because of who they are, not what they do. -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://substack.com/@thefeelpodcast .

⁠⁠In this birthday edition of Empowerment Tuesday on The FEEL Podcast, Melissa Crook explores what it means to celebrate yourself; not because of an accomplishment, milestone, or someone else's recognition, but because your life has value.

Melissa shares why her birthday philosophy has become simple: What do I want to do for my birthday this year? And then, as much as possible, she chooses it. Some years that's traveling to Ireland. Other years it's favorite foods and floating in the pool. Neither is a better celebration if both are what she genuinely wanted.

But this conversation goes deeper than birthdays.

Melissa shares how she had to recognize times when she expected other people to celebrate her in a particular way without communicating what she wanted. That realization required accountability, and led to an even bigger one:

You can communicate how you want others to show up for you AND take responsibility for celebrating yourself.

This episode explores self-worth, self-care, unspoken expectations, communication, self-trust, knowing what you want, allowing yourself to receive, and celebrating the human being, not only the human doing.

Ways To Engage:

1. What do you appreciate about who you are, not what you do or accomplish?

2. What actually makes you feel celebrated, and have you communicated that?

3. What's one way you can celebrate yourself without waiting for somebody else to do it for you?

Because you don't have to accomplish something extraordinary to be worth celebrating.

You're valuable because of who you are, not what you do. And you get to choose what celebrating that looks like. 💛

Topics: Self-Worth for Women • Self-Care • Celebrating Yourself • Communicating Your Needs • Self-Trust • Personal Growth • Women’s Empowerment • Birthday Reflection • FEEL

✨ Free Download: Embracing a FEEL Fueled Life Sample Freebie ✨- ⁠⁠⁠https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:02ce6c2f-90ed-4741-bdab-e62e20c2e7ad⁠⁠⁠

In this empowering bonus resource, we’re giving you a free sneak peek into the Embracing a F.E.E.L Fueled Life course! This downloadable PDF guides you through reconnecting with who you truly are—beyond your roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

For more Support reach out to Melissa here - ⁠⁠⁠https://www.embracinglayers.com/contact