What if your loved one is the one suffering?  They toy with the idea of suicide as a way out, a way out from the pain and PTSD of actual protecting-our-country-battle.  They served and come home with wounds.  Amber Jeann Parker’s husband is the one who experienced trauma.  She became caregiver, support person, and advocate number one.  Yet she wondered, How long will this go on?  It’s been a long, grueling process.  Amber wanted to make sure she wasn’t missing anything along the way.  Now they are big-time healing and wanting to share their story in the hope of encouraging others to find their way out.  Amber is our guest this week for “Let’s Talk About Mental Health.”

You can find Amber at Choose Joy in the Midst.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

Yes, you do believe what they tell you.  You start out as a kid, you don’t know any better.  So if your family of origin is dysfunctional, and they constantly put you down you, you feel small, unseen.  That messes with how you see yourself.  Why wouldn’t you believe it?  It’s all you know.  Cindy Attar is our guest for the “Let’s Talk About Mental Health” series.  She shares moving out of that house at 18 began the changes that are still taking place today.  Through various modes of healing, most notably hypnotherapy, she took the long journey back to herself.  And now she knows she’s good enough.

You can find Cindy at cindyattar.com.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

This is our annual “takeaways and looks ahead” episode.

The end of a year brings a time of reflection along with a look into the hope of a new year.  I’m part of a mini-mastermind that is a fancy way to say we hold each other accountable, we encourage and support one another.  This week my friends Mary Ann Mariani, Amy DeFehr and I talk about the things we liked about 2024 like road trips, writing a book and appreciating the flow that comes with getting better at something.  Then there was learning new things like Canva to help with work and Lagree for exercise.  Looking into 2025 with the words we’ve each chosen to guide us: amplify, alive and abide.  It was an inspiring conversation amongst friends.  Consider starting a small group yourself.  It’s well worth your time.

Amy has been on the show before in Walking Off a Cliffand I Know Because I Know.

Mary Ann has been on the show before inA Passionate Artist of Storyand I Was Mad at Myself.You can find her at [email protected].

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, this time of year is full of holidays, celebrations, family, food and friends.  It’s a time to draw close and to enjoy traditions or maybe some needed time on your own.  You get to show up in your life as you see fit and I hope you are making the most of it at this time of year.  In the same way I encourage you to be you, I also get to be me.  It’s no secret I am a woman of faith.  This podcast has given me the opportunity not only to be myself but also to hear your stories as a way to connect, to offer hope, and to inspire.  So today at Christmas time I am sharing with you one such story.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

It’s a family affair.  That is the name of a song that was made famous by a group called Sly and the Family Stone way back in the day (feel free to Google).  Today for your listening pleasure, we have Shaun and the Family Stone, as in a fun play on words.  Dedicated to family, and one family in particular with the last name of Stone, Shaun and I take a conversational approach to the Christmas movie, The Family Stone.  We watched it together this year in preparation.  Here are our insights, thoughts and feelings.  Oh, and maybe a verklempt moment or two.  There is a lot of love for this movie, and for me, with good reason.  Shout out to Hillary and Robyn, fellow Family Stoners.

I was so excited to have this conversation that I forgot to plug in my mic!  Forgive the less than stellar sound quality…

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

Isn’t your parent the one who is supposed to keep you safe and protect you?  Well, yes, but it doesn’t always go that way.  Cindy Benezra knows this all too well.  Her abuse came from her father while her mother lacked the courage to make it stop.  If only this were an unfamiliar story.  Sadly it is not.  Our Grief and Gratitude guest understands how her family looked from the outside but appearances can be deceiving.  Thankfully she created tools to help her survive and later, to thrive.  And now Cindy knows she learned so much that she is compelled to share it.  No doubt there are many more out there with a similar story who need the inspiration and encouragement.

You can find Cindy’s book here Under the Orange Blossoms.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

Maybe grief is like a boulder set in your path that you have to figure out how to grow around.  It’s not going anywhere, you can’t move it, so you find ways up, over, around and beyond it. That is the metaphor Kelsey Ellis used in describing the grief of losing her sister from Covid complications.  Kelsey is our Grief and Gratitude guest this week.  I also appreciated her expression that “grief is love with nowhere to go.”  Well then, what do you do?  In Kelsey’s case you start an organization that creates a place for grief.  One that is out in nature, near the water, where you can remember your loved one, honor them, and be grateful for the love you shared.  She started Waves of Grief for that very purpose.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

When you flip the tables and swap roles you have a new vantage point.  From there you can see more clearly what you believe.  Someone is asking you what you think, how you feel and you answer.  Such was the experience I had in this conversation with Donna Cravotta.  She is known for helping women stay visible with her campaign of The Real 50 Over 50 of which I am privileged to be a part of here.  In this replay of the live-streamed conversation we talk about the importance of being authentic, of connecting, of collaborating of being exactly who you are.  It’s a beautiful thing.

This is me sharing gratitude during this US Thanksgiving week.  I am thankful for each listener, each reader, each guest, each friend of the show.   Unabashed You takes my experience, my passion and turns it into purpose.  The purpose of having conversations that will inspire and encourage you to be more.  More you.

Donna has been on the UY podcast before in Our Stories Cannot Remain Untold episode 191.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

What happens when your childhood is less than idyllic and you run away from home at age sixteen?  That is the beginning of your journey out. Out of abuse, out of trauma.  Our Grief and Gratitude guest, Havva Ramadan began a long journey of grief with lots of stages to get to a healthy place of healing because she was determined it would end with her.  And guess what?  She was able to break the cycle and be the catalyst for change in her family.  Through work and commitment, Havva and her family came together in the best of ways before her dad died unexpectedly.  A new kind of grief entered.  Yet she is thankful for the good that came as she continues to wrestle with the loss of a changed man.   

You can find Havva on Instagram.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐

What do you do when someone you love dies?  Especially when it isn’t the natural order of things?Well, you can do what I did.  You let yourself feel, all of it.  You don’t want to but you need to.  You don’t run, hide or look for a shortcut although I would definitely have gone for that.  I’m your Grief and Gratitude guest this week and I recount the time when our child died.  Not just the sadness of it all but the hope that can be found during, and especially after.  In fact I turned the whole experience into a project (book) Standing Tall: A Collection of Hope.

I know I’m sharing something I stand to profit from.  That’s not my point at all and in fact I care little about that.  My intention is to support you in a time of need and for you to realize you are hardly alone.  Beyond that, that you would seize the hope. It’s there.  It’s ripe and it’s ready for you.

And the gratitude?  Yes, it’s there in abundance.  My advice there?  You have to practice gratitude to get good at.  Just like anything.  Check out the blog to see what I mean.

Thanks for being part of the UY conversation.

The Unabashed You website has a page for each guest of photos, quotes and a blog with embedded audio at unabashedyou.com. You can find the show on other podcast platforms.  Want to lend your support and encouragement? We invite you to follow, rate, review and share.

Social media (direct links):

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

If you have questions or comments email us at: [email protected].

We build upon on website visits, social media and word of mouth to share these episodes.  We appreciate growth knowing these conversations help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way.

So be encouraged and continue to listen, read and be inspired. 🍐