Hello again.

Thank you for attending the QCC Preschool Workshop ‘THRIVE’. Thank you for the work you do day in and day out to support families, students, learning, each other and the community. This webpage will be available until June 28, 2025.

PLEASE TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO COMPLETE THIS QUICK FEEDBACK FORM AND HELP ME IMPROVE HONE MY SKILLS. THANK YOU.

I also appreciate you sharing your time and energy with me.

On this page you’ll find:

  • The THRIVE tips and 3 Rs of Burnout,

  • Recognizing burnout,

  • Info on the Reticular Activating System and a link to a short video to learn more,

  • Recovery discovery and resiliency building questions,

  • Affirmations & mantras to support your journey,

  • A button to SIGN UP for my FREE weekly emails which gets you access to 70 powerful affirmations for your practice,

  • Links for my 2 TEDx talks, 2 bonus Boundaries videos and a link to subscribe to my YouTube channel,

  • Links to connect for speaking and coaching services.

    GO AHEAD & GET STARTED.

THRIVE Tips

  • Tend to Your Boundaries

  • Honor Your Wins

  • Recover Basic Needs 

  • Identify Your Tribe & Invite Help  

  • Value Fun & Joy

  • Engage a New Story

The 3 R’s of Dealing with Burnout

  • Recognize

  • Recover & Reverse

  • Resilience

RECOGNIZE

Causes of Burnout:

  • Self-neglect

  • Pressure to be the perfect

  • Keeping up with the “Whoevers”

  • Taking on too much

  • Not asking for or accepting help

  • Pretending that everything is fine

  • Not having a safe space to have real conversations

  • Actual exhaustion from sleep deprivation or consistent sleep interruption due to stress

  • Feeling that the demands of work and life are greater than your resources

  • Feeling detached from your work (as a coping mechanism)

  • Unrealistic work demands

  • Doing work that isn’t aligned with strengths

Signs of Burnout:

  • Physical exhaustion

  • Fatigue, insomnia or sleep issues

  • Easily annoyed, agitated or irritable

  • Increased illness

  • Loss of appetite or increased appetite

  • Anxiety and/or Depression

  • Emotional exhaustion

  • Mentally drained

  • Detached or indifferent towards work

  • Increased cynicism, negativity or pessimism

  • Feeling as if you’re not good enough

  • Feeling as if you’ll never get it right

  • Feelings of hopelessness

  • Feelings of shame or guilt

When to get help:

  • Extremely low self-esteem

  • Feelings of hopelessness

  • Feelings of depression

  • Suicidal thoughts

RECOVERY & RESILIENCY

Four Things are Needed for Change

  1. Practice awareness. Pay attention and be aware of what is happening. Do not minimize it or maximize it. See it for what it is.

  2. Ask questions. Ask yourself and others about what you do want. Knowing what we don’t want can help us get very clear about what we do want. Sometimes the only thing that separates ‘what is’ from ‘what is wanted’ is the right question.

  3. Make a decision. Just one decision that feels more like peace is all you need to create a life you love. Be sure that the decision aligns with your values and priorities.

  4. Take action. Not taking action causes greater anxiety, fear and stress. Take action. If you fail, be aware of that, question it and make a new decision. It is a delicious way to learn. If you take action and it’s a win, celebrate.

    Rinse and repeat.

Reticular Activating System:

This part of the brain helps us find evidence of whatever we focus on.

When we shift our stories- our mindset, attitude and energy to the possibilities, to the positivity and to our potential, we activate this part of the brain to find evidence that supports that focus.

Use your reticular activating system in your favor by aligning your thoughts and words with the future and life you want to create. 

Use your Reticular Activating System to your benefit: https://extension.umn.edu/two-you-video-series/ras

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from life’s challenges, rejections, and obstacles. Resilient people don’t just survive, they thrive.

Recovery Discovery & Resiliency Building Questions

  • Can I give myself 2 minutes to take deep breaths?

  • What boundary do I need to set here?

  • What in my life is going right?

  • What do I have to be grateful for?

  • What can I celebrate about myself and others?

  • How will I celebrate?

  • What basic need do I need to take care of?

  • Did I drink enough water today?

  • Have I moved today?

  • Did I eat enough well balanced foods? Did I eat at all?

  • How can I make sure I’m meeting my basic needs?

  • Who are the people in my tribe?

  • What do I need help with? Who can I ask?

  • What brings me joy?

  • What do I do for fun?

  • How can I include more joy and fun into the spaces of my life?

  • What is the story that I’m telling myself?

  • How can I shift that story to make it one that supports my mental and overall health?

“The most powerful thing we have are the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, what that means, and what we are capable and deserving of. Those stories impact and influence the thoughts we allow to linger and take root, the words that we speak, and the actions that we take. Those stories dictate the relationships we have, and how we interact in them. ”
— Maria Milagros

AFFIRMATIONS & MANTRAS

  1. I practice self-awareness and can figure out what honors and supports me and what doesn’t.

  2. I honor my values and priorities with my thoughts, words and actions.

  3. I deserve to protect my energy.

  4. I give myself permission to set boundaries and enforce them.

  5. I embrace my right to set and maintain healthy boundaries.

  6. I’m only one person and doing my best.

  7. I take care of myself.

  8. I intentionally build my resiliency muscles.

  9. I am practicing gratitude and seeing all that is going well in my life.

  10. I celebrate myself and the people around me.

  11. I give myself permission to celebrate.

  12. I am taking care of my basic human needs.

  13. I pay attention to what I need and show up accordingly.

  14. I am resilient and resourceful.

  15. I have already overcome 100% of my worst days. I’m amazing!

  16. I accept myself for who I am in this moment.

  17. I’m always learning, growing and evolving.

  18. I will make mistakes and fail. I will learn from my mistakes and failures.

  19. I am learning to ask for help.

  20. I am learning to let others help me, in their way

  21. I value fun and joy and am intentional about creating it in my life.

  22. I deserve fun and joy. It is my birthright.

  23. I will be intentional about preparing my body, mind and spirit for life’s ups and downs.

  24. I am the author of my life’s story and will create a story of peace and joy.

  25. I am enough.

Get 70 Affirmations by Signing Up for my Weekly Emails.

Videos To Support Your Journey

Radical Acceptance.

Gratitude in the most unlikely of circumstances.

How & Why to to Set Boundaries

Boundaries: Practice Saying NO.

Want More Videos?

Speaking & Coaching

Click HERE to learn more about my speaking services. (schools, colleges, universities, businesses, conferences, events, retreats) Photo from She’s Local Central MA 2022

Click HERE to learn more about my coaching services. (women age 25+, one-on-one or small group, company small groups) Photo by Jordan Kines.

Need a new book for your reading collection?

‘The Love Journey’ Journal

A guided journal for self-love.

Loving ourselves means freedom from the need of external approval.

It means understanding that we are ALWAYS evolving and changing, and we give ourselves room and permission to do so.

It means breaking old cycles that no longer serve us, creating boundaries that support our overall well-being, and cultivating healthy practices that build both.

It means not needing to compare or compete because we’re aware and confident enough to know that we are the only one of us and that is ENOUGH.

It means being able to give from an overflow of love and joy. That means healthier interactions and relationships. Getting back to a place where we love ourselves can feel challenging because we have to shift the momentum and transform our mindsets.

We can do that through intentional and consistent practices. I believe in starting small. Small steps are the most realistic and sustainable. On my own journey I began to realize the power in the minutia of our words. The words that we choose can support or sabotage the new and empowering stories we want to create.

Words. Small. One at a time. One a day.

From that personal practice and transformative experience, I give you- The Love Journey.

My book, Super Sparkly Everything, was written for anyone who is where I was… feeling down and stuck and sick and tired of being sick and tired. I had to finally connect with something greater than myself and take personal responsibility for every area of my life. And it was hard! At that time, I only knew that it was hard work. 

But the more that I did the work, the more that I figured out what worked for me and what didn't, the more that I gave myself permission to enjoy the process and to feel good about all of it, the better I started to feel. I started to feel more alive and centered. 

So I wrote this book to either jump start, help or inspire you to give yourself permission to be happy.
To take responsibility for your happiness and to let it flow so that you can live a life full of joy, peace, health and love.