Surviving Sarah

I am really excited about the conversation going into your ears today. Both of these guests have been on the show separately, but now we had a conversation all together. I am happy to welcome Pete Enns and his daughter Lizz Petters back to the show. Pete was on episode 181 and Liz joined me for episode 229. Pete is a college professor who has been teaching, writing and speaking about the Bible for over 20 years. He is a storyteller which is one reason why I love his writing but I also love that Pete isn't afraid to lean in and ask hard questions. He values hearing the stories of everyday people and their struggles with the Bible. That drives so much of what he does with his writing and with his podcast, The Bible For Normal People. He has authored many books which include his most recent one Curveball: When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming or How I Stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God. Liz is a writer, co-host of the Deconstructing Mamas Podcast, and mom to two. She is passionate about creating space for spiritual misfits to find a sense of safety and belonging on their faith journeys. She is especially passionate about empowering young moms and parents who are doing the hard work of healing while raising kids. In this conversation, they share both of their perspectives about growing up and faith. And we really wrestle with the tensions we feel around raising kids while deconstructing and what that means when it comes to church. I really appreciate the honestly and vulnerability here. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

I am happy to welcome Kimberly Stuart back to the show. She joined me way back on Episode 155. Kimberly is an author, podcaster and writing coach. She's published 8 novels and her most recent nonfiction book titled Star For Jesus: And Other Jobs I Quit. Her podcast, which I've been a guest on twice, is called For Real with Kimberly Stuart. And is a writing coach along with Bob Goff. In this conversation, we talk about what fiction she's been reading and why it's good to read fiction. Then, she talks about what grace has looked like in her life. She unpacks that through humorous storytelling so pull up a chair and join the conversation. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's Survival Kit Newsletter

I am happy to welcome Ally Fallon to the show. I've been interested in having her on the show for a long time so when I saw her name come through my inbox, I was very excited. Ally is an author, speaker, and founder of Find Your Voice, a community that supports anyone who wants to write anything. She is a self-described writing coach. I read her most recent book titled Write Your Story: A Simple Formula to Understand Yourself, Your Story and Your Purpose in the World. In this conversation, we talk about how and why writing your story is so important and powerful—even if you only write for your own eyes. We also talk about how we've been in a creative drought and overall burnout as people and even a country. Her thoughts on creativity and how to get out of burnout were very helpful. Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

I am happy to welcome Danielle Bayard Jackson to the show. She is a female friendship coach and educator who speaks nationally about the science of women's platonic connections. She is also the author of Fighting for Our Friendships which comes out in May. Danielle's coaching business, Friend Forward, is dedicated to teaching women how to create and maintain better female friendships, and her expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Psychology Today, Wall Street Journal, Oprah Magazine, and Good Morning America. As former high school teacher, Danielle now uses her teaching skills as an educator to coach women through common friendship conflicts. As a member of the American Sociological Association, she uses the latest research to create practical, tangible strategies to help women create more depth in their platonic relationships. Companies like TikTok, the NBA, NFL, and Etsy have all booked Danielle as a speaker to address the topic of connection psychology. In this episode, we lean into her expertise. She shares some really practical ways for us especially as women in their 30's and 40's to build friendships. You will definitely want to make some mental notes, buy her book and follow her online because she so helpful. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

I am so happy to welcome my friend, Retha Nichole, back to the podcast. She is no stranger to the show. She was on episodes 74 and 255. She and I go way back and found each other when we were both starting out as podcasters. Retha's expertise includes real estate, small business operations as well as helping small business companies figure out how to include diversity and inclusion in their business. She really comes alongside the client to help them find their authentic self. She is a sought after speaker, trainer and executive coach with a unique perspective on various issues and challenges facing the professional woman. This is exactly why I had her on the show today. We dive into what to do when you feel stuck—whether that is in business or life. She packs so much wisdom and clarity into this short conversation. I took many notes while chatting and I think you will too. So pull up a chair and join the conversation. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for her monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

Today, is the launch day for my book: Is Everyone Happier Than Me? An Honest Guide to the Questions That Keep You up at Night I am so excited to share this book with you! To celebrate, I want to give you a gift! It is one of the audiobook chapters that I recorded. I had a hard time choosing which chapter I wanted to give you, but I decided to give the chapter on friendship titled: Does anybody like me? This is pulled straight from the audiobook of me reading that chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for listening to the show and for buying the book! Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

I am so happy to welcome Emily P. Freeman to the show. Emily is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books and host of The Next Right Thing podcast. Emily just has a way about her that can make you feel seen, heard and at ease. Many of us have experienced a lot of change in the last few years. And sometimes, we are left feeling uncertain and unsure on where we are or where we go next or even how to process what happened before. I asked Emily to join me on the show because she published a book titled How to Walk into a Room and it really is such a helpful guide to to navigate this. In this episode, we talk about the metaphor of the rooms we experience, how to know when to leave a room, what to do when you need closure, and how to walk into a room—especially when it comes to making your own decision and not by people pleasing. This is a thoughtful conversation, full of insight. I think you are really going to benefit from it. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

I am so happy to welcome my dear friend, Rachel Macy Stafford, back to the podcast. Rachel is a New York Times bestselling author and one of the most compassionate humans I know. You may know her best as the Hands Free Mama. She has joined me on Surviving Sarah on episodes 58. I asked Rachel to join me on the show again because she speaks to often about how to find your authentic self and how to let go and get unstuck. She most recently has written a book on the subject called Soul Shift along with a retreat that focuses on it. In this episode, we talk about the shifts we can make internally to help us find self-acceptance and how to let go of perfection. Rachel is a compassionate guide as we navigate being human and being in process of letting go from things that keep us from self-acceptance and learning how to embrace ourselves. (As a quick note, you'll hear my dog, Murray, losing his mind in the distant background early on in the conversation. His favorite UPS driver showed up and his enthusiasm was obvious.) Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

I asked my friend Emily Ferrara to join me to talk about how to find a therapist. Emily is a licensed professional counselor based in Atlanta, GA who specializes in anxiety, OCD and work/life balance. We had a really great conversation when she joined me on Surviving Sarah back on episode 171. So you may want to add that one to your listening queue. This conversation is pulled out of a larger conversation that I recorded with her about perfectionism. To gain access to this bonus content--a 3 part deep dive on perfectionism--simply purchase my book Is Everyone Happier Than Me? and then go to my sarahbragg.com/happy to gain access. In that deep divew, you'll hear us talk about what perfectionism looks like and where it comes from in part 1. In part 2, we'll talk about how failure keeps us stuck, the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism and goal setting. And in part 3, we will talk about how perfectionism plays a role in parenting and she'll provide some helpful resources to help you go further. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter.

In this episode, Sarah shares how research shows that we, as adults, have been living in a "fun drought," why that is and what we can do to build more fun into our lives. If you want more helpful content like this, pre-order her new book Is Everyone Happier Than Me? An Honest Guide to the Questions That Keep You up at Night If you enjoy Surviving Sarah, then you will enjoy the audiobook version because Sarah reads it herself. Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter to find out what you should read, watch and listen to.

In this episode, Sarah uses the What About Bob? movie to unpack how we all need to take a vacation from our problems. She helps us figure how what is causing the chaos and what we need to do to find peace. You can download her FREE guided journal, Peace in the Chaos. Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's montly Survival Kit Newsletter

There are countless reasons why we, as adults, don't take time to be creativity. And sometimes we find ourselves burnt out by creativity because we have to be creative to pay the bills. In today's episode, Sarah confronts all the reasons head on and then breaks down how creativity is connected to our overall happiness. Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

In today's episode, Sarah shares 10 books that have saved her life and could save your's too. These are nonfiction books that she has returned to over and over again. She breaks them down into two categories: personal development and parenting. Check out the shownotes for takeaways and links to everything discussed. Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's Survival Kit Newsletter Pre-order Sarah's latest book Is Everyone Happier Than Me? Book launches 3/19/24

As I thought about this next year, I thought about what would be good to leave behind in 2023 and what would be good to pick up in it's place instead. With that in mind, I am going to share 3 things that we can stop doing and what to start doing instead. Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit newsletter

One thing I missed the most during the hiatus from the show was my year in review episode with my friend, Merica Stum. We have been recording these episodes every year since the show launched. I was so happy to sit down with her again a couple of weeks ago to recap the year. In this conversation, we share some tips on what can help you process through your own year in review. Then, we talk about what changed for us, what we learned, what we want to try and what was inside our survival kits for the year. Connect with Sarah: Instagram | Website Sign up for Sarah's Monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

In this episode, Sarah addresses the stress and overwhelm that comes with the holidays and shares some really practical, simple advice on how to not let the stress rob of you enjoying this season. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

In this episode, Sarah talks about one of her favorite things: BOOKS! She talks about why it's good for us to read fiction, how to read more and she shares her new favorite book tradition. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instgram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

In this episode, Sarah shares honestly about a time when she found herself feeling busy yet bored in life. If you have ever felt restless in life, this episode is for you. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's montly Survival Kit Newsletter

In this episode, Sarah shares more specifically about what helped her navigate a season of unknown--a season that lead her to pause the podcast. She shares 5 things that helped her take care of herself emotionally, mentally and physically when she felt completely burnt out. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter

In this episode, Sarah talks about what she's been doing over the past two years since she paused the podcast. Sometimes we know it's time to walk out of a room but unsure what room to walk into next. If you are in the middle of an unknown season, you will relate to what she has to say. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Sign up for Sarah's monthly Surival Kit Newsletter

I am so happy to welcome my friend, David Thomas, to the show again. He's been a regular on the show and we co-hosted the first two seasons of the Raising Boys & Girls podcast together along with our friend, Sissy Goff. David is the director of family counseling at Daystar Counseling Ministries in Nashville, TN and is the author of 10 books. Today, we are talking about his latest books—Raising Emotionally Strong Boys and the workbook for kids titled Strong and Smart. He brings his 25 years of practice to the table. We start by talking about what it looks like to be emotionally strong—redefining what masculine strength is. Then, we talk about what to do when you as the mom are clued in to help, but what do you do if the father isn't interested. We talk about what to do when all emotions are channeled as anger. And lastly we talk about how summer is a great time to work on these things. Per usual, David brings a wealth of help to us so pull up a chair and join the conversation. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Hey friends, quick note about today's episode. While I'm not a break from the show and social media to creatively rest and write book 2, I'm running reruns of some past Surviving Sarah episodes. If you need to get in touch with me, head over to my website. You can click the contact button and your email will be sent to me. I will still be writing my monthly Survival Kit newsletter which is a great way to stay connected to you while I'm on hiatus from the show and social media. You can sign up for that through my website as well. And of course, you can purchase my book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself, from your favorite retailer. If you are planning to read the book as a part of a book club, let me know because I'd love to join you virtually. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this rerun episode. Christmas isn't always a merry season. We can have disappointment or pain from loss. Maybe its a grieving season. Maybe life doesn't look like what you hoped. And Christmas can accentuate our pain, grief and disappointment. How do we step into our real circumstances and try to enjoy Christmas in the midst of the pain? With that in mind, Alex conducted a Christmas experiment. An experiment on what it would look like to find hope, joy, love and peace during the Christmas season in the midst of her real life circumstances.

Hey friends, quick note about today's episode. While I'm not a break from the show and social media to creatively rest and write book 2, I'm running reruns of some past Surviving Sarah episodes. If you need to get in touch with me, head over to my website. You can click the contact button and your email will be sent to me. I will still be writing my monthly Survival Kit newsletter which is a great way to stay connected to you while I'm on hiatus from the show and social media. You can sign up for that through my website as well. And of course, you can purchase my book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself, from your favorite retailer. If you are planning to read the book as a part of a book club, let me know because I'd love to join you virtually. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this rerun episode. We talk about the connection between science and faith, how you have the power to turn on your brain in order to get rid of toxins, the science behind captivating your thoughts, how to change your mind and how to help our kids learn to change their thought patterns.

Hey friends, quick note about today's episode. While I'm not a break from the show and social media to creatively rest and write book 2, I'm running reruns of some past Surviving Sarah episodes. If you need to get in touch with me, head over to my website. You can click the contact button and your email will be sent to me. I will still be writing my monthly Survival Kit newsletter which is a great way to stay connected to you while I'm on hiatus from the show and social media. You can sign up for that through my website as well. And of course, you can purchase my book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself, from your favorite retailer. If you are planning to read the book as a part of a book club, let me know because I'd love to join you virtually. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this rerun episode. Clay wrote a book last year called How To Lead When You're Not In Charge. And let's be honest, so many of us are leading somewhere—in our home, in our work, in our church, in our schools. Each one of us has the ability to leverage influence yet many of us are stuck waiting to be given the authority to lead rather than tapping into the influence that we have. So we talk about the difference between authority and influence, the challenges that keep us from tapping into our influence, how to survive working for someone you don't respect, what to do when you crave more influence, and how understanding our identity is crucial in cultivating influence.

Hey friends, quick note about today's episode. While I'm not a break from the show and social media to creatively rest and write book 2, I'm running reruns of some past Surviving Sarah episodes. If you need to get in touch with me, head over to my website. You can click the contact button and your email will be sent to me. I will still be writing my monthly Survival Kit newsletter which is a great way to stay connected to you while I'm on hiatus from the show and social media. You can sign up for that through my website as well. And of course, you can purchase my book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself, from your favorite retailer. If you are planning to read the book as a part of a book club, let me know because I'd love to join you virtually. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this rerun episode. I am so excited to welcome Heather MacFadyen to the show today. You likely know her from the Don't Mom Alone podcast. If you don't know her already, she's a mom to 4 boys. We talk about fears that we have and how fear is the root problem to other emotions we have like anger; we talk about guilt and shame in motherhood and what to do when shame is driving your identity.

In this episode, Sarah talks honestly about how she has been feeling over the last year and a half, how to handle the daily stress and what to do about the things causing the stress. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Alexandra Kuykendall back to the show. She has been on Surviving Sarah a couple of times over the years. She is a co-host to the popular podcast The Open Door Sisterhood and is a writer and speaker. Today, she joins me to talk about her new book "Seeking Out Goodness: Finding the True and Beautiful All around You." Seeking out the goodness around you. That is so easy for us, right? I mean, we aren't bombarded with what is hard and conflicting at all. Alex's book is perfectly timed for where we are not only in culture but also as the holidays approach. We talk about how even though life can be hard it can also be beautiful. And we dive into some practical ways to find the good in the people we disagree with. So pull up a chair and join the conversation. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Jessica Hottle to the show. She is a faith-based fitness coach, podcast host, best-selling author, and speaker. She is the author of the upcoming book "Face Off with Your Feelings: Break Up with the Lies from Your Past and Embrace the Truth for Your Future" Today, Jessica shares 5 steps to help manage emotions when they arise. We talk about how to help our body move through those emotions. This is something that you can start to put into place today so pull up a chair and join the conversation. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Allison Baggerly to the show today. She is a blogger, podcast host, and founder of Inspired Budget. As a teacher and small business owner, Allison combined her passion for teaching and finances to help others learn how to start budgeting. She has built a community of over 120,000 Instagram followers that turn to her for budgeting advice and inspiration to save more money. Allison shares about how she and her husband paid off over $111K of debt on 2 teacher salaries while growing their family. And we tackle the emotions we feel surrounding debt and how to move past the shame we feel about it. I was definitely inspired and motivated by Allison. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Let me just say that you are blessed because you hit play on today's episode. This is time for another installment of the quarterly review with our good friend, Merica Stum. I love these episodes so much. We look at the last quarter—July, August and Sept—and talk about how we felt about the last few month. Then, we talk about what we read, watched, listened to and loved along with updates on planners. And lastly, we talk about what we are looking forward to in this next quarter. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Anne Bogel to the show. I have known of Anne and followed along with her for years now. And I have to say that I really enjoyed chatting with her. For as long as I can remember, I have loved books. In fact, my favorite thing to do back in college was go to Barnes and Noble to just look at books and journals and sip coffee. It was a dream. Anne is an author, blogger and podcaster. She has a popular blog called Modern Mrs Darcy and two podcasts, What Should I Read Next? and One Great Book. Her latest book is a reading journal titled My Reading Life: A Book Journal. Today, we have a conversation about how to create a reading life that you enjoy. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Christy Wright back to the show. Christy is a #1 national best-selling author, personal development expert, and host of The Christy Wright Show. Since 2009, she has served at Ramsey Solutions, where she teaches on personal development, business, and faith. Christy was a guest on Surviving Sarah a couple of years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with her so I was so happy when she reached out to come back on the show. Christy has a new book titled: Take Back Your Time: The Guilt Free Guide to Life Balance. She is addressing a tension that we all feel about our time. We talk about the idea that we can do it all and the fall out that comes from that belief. Then, Christy shares wisdom around what balance actually feels like, how to give yourself grace when seasons are full and stressful and how to watch out for the time traps that distract us from what is right for us right now. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome authors, Tricia Goyer and Amy Parker, to the show. These two best selling authors team up to create a beautiful, helpful children's book titled The Grumbles. The Grumbles is a picture book perfect for your favorite 4-8 year old that helps teach kids how to approach life with a gracious mindset. This conversation feels like an author spotlight. Between the two of them, they have published an incredible amount of books. So they talk about what they've learned about life through their years in the publishing industry. And then we dive into the topic of grumbling—what that looks like in our homes and what helps us create a mindset of gratitude. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome my friend, Ashely Abercrombie, back to the show. She is a speaker and writer whose authored the books Rise of the Truth Teller and Love is the Resistance. This latest book, Love is the Resistance, is all about learning to disagree and resolve the conflicts you've been avoiding. Sounds totally irrelevant, right? Note the sarcasm. I think Ashley's book, which comes out today, is so timely for the world in which we are living in. And for some of us, conflict is the word we would use to describe our homes and relationships. It doesn't matter who you are, conflict is something that we all face. Ashely shares so many helpful things about handing conflict that I know its going to be helpful to you. In fact, listen up because she shares a phase to use that will help you enter into a conversation about a conflict. I literally took so many notes. You will definitely want to deep dive her book. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Today, I wanted to round out book launch week with an episode just from me. I also wanted to include one more chapter from the audiobook as a way of celebrating. This has been a good week. If you subscribe to the newsletter or follow on Instagram then you probably know that our family got hit with Covid about two weeks ago. Scott and I were vaccinated but Sinclair hadn't received hers yet. And after 3 days of school, she tested positive. So we spent book launch in isolation at home. Going into it, I was quite disappointed. I had fun things planned for the whole day which all had to be cancelled. But once the day came, I have to say that while the day at home was very quiet and normal—the girls did digital learning, Scott worked—the day online felt very extraordinary. The day was filled with you guys showing up and celebrating with me online. You shared the book over and over. That simple action of sharing the book (or even the show) may seem so little but I promise you that it feels so big to me. It was so fun to see the book top the amazon new release in motherhood charts. It also hit the best seller list for the motherhood category. I was just overjoyed. I just wanted to say thank you for showing up. Thank you for buying the book. Thank you for cheering for me. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome Korie Robertson to the show. She is a New York Times best-selling author and star of A&E's Duck Dynasty. She works in the family business Duck Commander, is co-owner in Tread Lively Productions. Korie loves doing life with her husband, Willie and their six kids and four grandbabies in their hometown of West Monroe, Louisiana. In honor of my book launching, we talk about what raising kids taught her. We also talk about what its like being a grandparent, advice she's giving her kids as they step into marriage, what to do to foster a future relationship with your kids, and some really good advice about raising teenagers. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

My book A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself launches out into the world tomorrow on August 17! I wanted to give you a little bonus treat today in anticipation of tomorrow. Today, you get to hear the audiobook version of the Introduction. You will get to hear what the book is about, why I wrote it and what I hope you gain from it. If you want to access the pre-order bonuses, this is your last day! Purchase the book from your favorite retailer and then take your order number to my site. From there, we'll walk you through how to access the secret podcast feed and download the free printables. Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome Sandra Stanley back to the show. This is her third appearance on the show and every time, I walk away with so much. If you don't know Sandra, she is the author of The Comparison Trap and Breathing Room. She is married to Andy Stanley and they have grown children. I wanted to have Sandra back leading up to my book launch for A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself because I feel like she has a lot of wisdom to share. This episode is all about parenting. We talk about how parenting produced growth in her. We talk about lessons like connection over efficiency and relationship over rules and honor over obedience. I also ask her to share what helped them build a future relationship with their kids and between the siblings and lastly, how to help our teens make wise choices. I'm telling you, so much good stuff packed into this one episode. You're going to love it! Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome my friend, Erin Moon, to the show today. She is the host of the Faith Adjacent podcast, as well as the resident Bible scholar on The Bible Binge podcast. She is an author and the Senior Creative at the Popcast Media Group. She is an absolute delight to follow and curates one of my favorite newsletters called The Swipe Up. Erin and her family live in Birmingham, Alabama. I asked Erin to join me as part of a series of podcasts to help launch my book. I have benefited from following along with Erin's parenting and faith journeys. So I asked her to come on the show to talk about how raising kids has been a catalyst to her own faith journey. We talk about what that journey has been for her, why it's good to wrestle with our faith and resources for those on their own journey. And of course, I had to talk a little pop culture and motherhood as well. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Today, I have something special for you! I have one of the chapters from the audio version of my book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself. I've learned over the last 13+ years of parenting, that parenting is less about raising kids and more about raising ourselves. Raising kids pushed me to come face to face with my own uncertainties, fears, tendencies towards perfectionism, and inauthenticity. And as I wrestled with those things, certain phrases started to rise to the surface. I began saying these phrases to myself in order to grow up, to become, to be raised. This book highlights over 20 phrases that helped raise me. Instead of being given a list of steps or a specific formula, you will receive a list of phrases that will guide you to becoming your truest self. The more freedom you find for yourself to be yourself, the more accepting and loving you become. And the best gift we can give to our children is a mom who is true to herself, who shows up and is brave enough to do the work. The phrase I'm going to share with you today comes from chapter 22 titled You Can Do Hard Things. I have been hearing such good things from early readers of the book. And I had so much fun recording the audiobook because it felt like what I do with you every single week on the show. I absolutely loved getting to tell you about this as if we were sitting across from each other. So, here is the first listen of A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself and then access your pre-order bonuses here. Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Will Hutcherson to the show. He is a pastor, speaker, and founder of Curate Hope, non-profit that partners with parents and educators to heal despair in kids and teens. He is also the co-author of the new book, SEEN: Healing Despair and Anxiety in Kids and Teens Through the Power of Connection. This is such a practical and helpful conversation. He unpacks in such a clear, understandable way what is happening in the brain when we our kids feel despair or anxiety. Then, we talk about what we can do as parents to help our kids when they are in a state of despair, how we as parents are such a valuable tool in helping our kid when they feel despair, and what empathy looks and sounds like. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so very happy to welcome Lesley Graham to the show today. She is one of my closest friends and may remember hearing from her on the Dopesquad episode which was episode 79. Lesley is such an inspiration person who has such a heart to see women succeed in life and work. She lives on a farm in Georgia with her leather making husband Sam and their two girls. She is currently serving as a mentor and coach to her wellness community, as well as sharing their journey to fix up 35 acres on her blog at www.lesleywgraham.com We talk about what raising kids has taught her, advice about work & motherhood, what helps us get out of a scarcity mindset and what she would go back and tell herself as a young mom. Plus, you get to sneak in on what my Patreon supporters hear every week. I almost always ask to hear what they find meaningful. I decided to keep Lesley's answer to that question in the main part of the episode. I did this because she's in the middle of a transition—not just her but her family, too. And so she's walking through this transition with her kids and I thought that maybe some of you could relate to what she had to say. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Ginger Curtis to the show today. She is the founder of Urbanology Designs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas. She has been recognized and received so many awards from the Interior Design world from Interior Design Society to HGTV to Houzz.com. She has created a design book called "Beauty By Design" which I've read and found very helpful. It is highly resourceful along with being full of inspiration. We talk about how the struggles that she has faced in life informed her now career in design. We talk about how to create a safe, cozy haven in your home, where to go to find your style and we get practical on designing a home on a budget. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome my friend and yours, Merica Stum, back to the show. It is time for another quarter catch up with her. But this time we do something different. We start the episode catching up about what happened in this past quarter, but this is episode is really dedicated to my upcoming book. Merica asked me months ago if I would be up for her interviewing me about my book and the writing process. And I have to say that this conversation was so fun for me. I loved peeling back the curtain on the process of writing and on the content itself. We talk about the in's and out's the writing process, the catalyst for writing this book, what I feel like went well and what I wish I did better. She also reads a couple of excerpts from the book and I shed from insight behind those quotes. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome Shelly Robinson to the show today. She is a certified holistic family wellness coach, cycle-breaker, conscious parenting educator, and founder of the Raising Yourself movement. Her passion in life is to empower moms to turn their midlife crisis into midlife magic by teaching them how to reparent themselves, disrupt generational patterns, and take radically good care of their needs. I found her on Instagram and have absolutely loved following her. She offers so much wisdom and advice around the idea of raising yourself—which you know that I am all about given the topic of my book. In this conversation, we talk about what it looks like to raise yourself, how to be more curious about yourself and others and we debunk the idea of what a "good mom" should look like. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Kathleen is a temperament communication expert helping people become their best, authentic self and speak kindly to each other. She is the author of I Said This, You Heard That and her latest book is called A Grown-ups Guide to Kids' Wiring. We have such a good conversation around the temperaments and specifically parenting. You know, we are all looking for connection with our kids and Kathleen just really opens our eyes about how to do that and I think that what she says can be a game changer for our parenting. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am happy to welcome Desiree Hartsock Siegfried to the show. You may best know her as an ABC Bachelor contestant and star of Season 9 of ABC's The Bachelorette. Many viewers quickly fell in love with this down-to-earth girl looking for love. But those shows were really only the beginning of her journey that led her to marrying her husband who she met on the show, becoming a mother of two boys, creating her own Bridal line, hosting The Heart of Purpose podcast and writing her book The Road to Roses: Heartbreak, Hope, and Finding Strength When Life Doesn't Go as Planned. We talk about how she found herself on the Bachelor and what that was like to how she ended up as the Bachelorette. We talk about what it was like to face rejection on national tv and how she was able to move on to find love and happiness. She shares some great insight about what she learned through that experience about rejection and heartbreak. Just like many of you loved her on TV, you are going to love her here as well so pull up a chair and join the conversation. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome Mazi Robinson to the table today. She is a licensed professional counselor and speaker specializing in helping women discover their true voice as they navigate self worth/self esteem challenges, relationship concerns, and life stage transitions. She is also a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator presenting workshops and retreats based on the research and methodology of Dr. Brené Brown to individuals and groups. This is one of those conversations that I think you will return to. You will want to take notes on this one because Mazi is a trusted guide to help us navigate the waters of rejection. She helps us understand how the rejection of our childhood shows up in our adult life, why it's important to grieve when we feel rejected and how rejection shapes our belief of whether we are lovable or not. And of course, I ask her on behalf of all of us raising kids, what to do when our kids face rejection. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with my mentor, Kellee Hall. If you missed part 1, I encourage you to go back and listen to it. This week, Kellee talks about what she learned about herself by raising her kids. And today, in part 2, Kellee tells us her story of 2020. She walks us through how her husband, Stuart, ended up in ICU near death from Covid19 and what helped her make it through that month. She also shares what it was like to walk with her young adult children through the political and social unrest and how through it all, what she learned about love and making things personal. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I want to introduce you to someone I loved dearly. She has been my mentor since I was about 20 years old. She has had a front row seat to the evolution of who I am. Kellee Hall is married to Stuart Hall and is raising 3 adult kids. She runs a couple of businesses, one is called The Echo Group which is a management service for speakers and influencers. She manages people like yours truly, Mo Isom and our friends from Pantsuit Politics. I've been gleaning life wisdom from Kellee for over 20 years and I wanted the opportunity for you to do the same. She came up to TN one day and spent a lot of time around the table talking. So much so that I decided to break this episode up into two parts. The first part will include an introduction to who she is and to our relationship. Then, she talks about parenting. She talks about how raising kids has helps raise herself. Next week, we will dive into her up close and personal story of surviving COVID19 as her husband was near death. Order Sarah's book, A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram