I am excited for you to read Kara’s story. Kara has overcome some serious health issues and has applied self-compassion during the process. Kara is someone who serves constantly on top of her already very busy life. She’s never too busy to help someone in need. I love that about her. She has a platform and podcast that is called Today I am Enough. I highly recommend it.
Kara’s Story:
One evening in 2016 I was lying in bed with my husband talking about how I just felt like I was falling short in every single aspect of my life. I was frustrated, tired, and beating myself up over all of it. Then, a thought came – you are not alone in these feelings. I knew deep inside that so many other women struggled to feel like they were measuring up to their own standards. I felt compelled to do something about it. At the beginning of 2017 I launched the first episode of the Today I am Enough Podcast. I was excited. I was going to be sharing stories of women who had stories of struggle and of enduring and finding themselves. I loved it. I loved talking to women from so many backgrounds and experiences. As time progressed, I felt a disconnect with my own story. What was my story? After about a year, I became overwhelmed with my own life and the podcast trickled into the background of my life. I’m a mom of 6 kids, who are 7 years apart, and like all moms, they keep me busy. I could feel myself slipping. I did not know my own worth deep down. I knew I needed to do some work on myself in order to really propel my work with Today I am Enough forward. In December of 2018 I was diagnosed with a VERY low thyroid after some unexplained weight gain, excessive tiredness, hair loss, and anxiety. Six months later I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s autoimmune disease. I really struggled to love myself. My body was broken. It wasn’t working the way it was meant to work. I couldn’t do things I loved doing. I couldn’t eat what I wanted to eat if I wanted to help bring this disease into remission. I was so mad at my body for breaking down on me. I have been blessed to know Brittany for a while as a neighbor and friend. She came out with her Self-Compassion workbook and I knew I needed to get my hands on it. I was so grateful for it! Brittany’s workbook really helped me understand how I was thinking about my new found body. It helped me really work through my thoughts and feelings of what was happening to me and what had happened and how I could still find joy moving forward. Learning to change my thought patterns from Brittany’s book was the beginning of my life changing and starting anew! I started to realize the power behind my own thoughts. You can either wallow and allow yourselves to really go places in our heads that you shouldn’t, or you can offer love and compassion to yourselves in a way that only you can do for yourselves! Learning to forgive myself, and learning to redirect my thoughts, to thoughts that weren’t hurting me, but were lifting me, was incredibly powerful. In January of 2021 I was able to relaunch my podcast. I have a renewed mission to help women, as Brittany helped me. Learning that you are enough and have worth is essential. It is always within you. It never leaves. Your worth is a part of you. Each day looks different, but the effort you can put forth today may look different than the effort you put forward tomorrow – but both are enough! You don’t have to be busy and doing things all the time to be enough.Learning to forgive yourself is life changing. When you can learn to forgive yourself life opens up possibilities that were unimaginable before. When you forgive, you start to accept yourselves for who you are without the need for change or judgement. Learning to speak kindly to the women looking in the mirror is going to give you confidence and love for others. She is so important! Be kind to her. Stop saying things to her that you’d never want anyone else to ever hear. She’s worth taking care of, I promise! She’s incredible. She’s enoug
I met Shanan through GOTG. Shocking I know. 😉 After meeting at a rock climbing activity I found out Shanan doesn’t live far from me and we have done several things together since. Always fun. Always. That is one of the things I love about Shanan. She is always up for a good time. She loves adventuring and being outdoors. You will see in her story that she grew up being active outdoors. Mom life took it’s toll and now Shanan is fighting to gain that piece of her back. I’m so grateful Shanan was willing to share her story. I think a lot of us can relate to her.
Shanan’s Story:
Hi, I’m Shanan! I’ve lived in Utah my whole life. I Grew up in Southern Utah with amazing parents and siblings. My parents always took us camping, hiking, Rappeling, boating, snow skiing, riding horses, 4-wheeling & dirt biking. We were always outdoors having fun! I met the love of my life and got married right out of high school. We moved up to Utah county about 8 years ago. I have a wonderful, handsome, hardworking husband and 5 sweet kids that I adore! I got married young and was either pregnant or had a new baby for 12 years. I loved this time of my life, and could just snuggle a newborn all day!! During this busy time in life, I kinda forgot about things I liked to do and any hobbies got put on the back burner. I’ve started to get back into some of them in the last couple of years and am loving it! I love going on little adventures with our crew and see my older kids develop a love for those activities too!
I am no longer a lover of camping, but I do really like Glamping!! Some of my favorite adventures I’ve been able to get back into are hiking, canyoneering, snowboarding, & kayaking. When I’m out in this beautiful world that God has created it brings me peace and so much Joy! It helps me to be able to take a break from the stresses and trials of everyday life. It renews my soul and helps me be a better me! I feel genuinely happy when I’m outdoors doing these things and connecting with others! Women need Women. I’ve developed some close friendships during my adult life, but I am constantly yearning for belonging and more QUALITY friendships. People who love me for me. I love meeting new friends and it’s so nice when you meet someone that you just jive with and could talk to for hours on end. I’ve met some amazing women who have become great friends through adventuring, and I am so grateful for that.
I feel like I’m entering a new phase of life where I am able to explore and learn about myself through the outdoors and truly find things that I love for me. I’ve been in mom mode for so long and focused on such young kids that it’s been difficult to get to know myself well. Now that my baby is almost 3, I have a little more time to try new things and learn more about myself. I’m so thankful for such a wonderful and supportive husband who lets me have time for myself. My goal is to get him and my kids into all of these outdoor activities so that we can do them as a family as our kids continue to grow!
Sheri is my mom’s bf and coworker. For years I have heard how amazing and how adventurous she is. Every word was true. Sheri is a woman who has values and knows her value. I have loved getting to know her through GOTG activities. Now I know why my mom loves her so much. She is fabulous!
Sheri’s Story:
I grew up as the youngest of 6 children. A belief that I held in my childhood was that I needed to fight for attention. That felt that I was unwanted and unloved. This carried over into adulthood and into a marriage that was unhealthy. This situation created more self-destructive beliefs about who I was. I believed that I was hard to be around and unlovable. I believed there was nothing special about me at all. I ended up in a divorce that was a roller coaster ride. I started dating and this was a train wreck. One thing I did gain from dating is that I did have qualities that were at least likable. I learned through so many years of self-doubt and self-disapproval that I was unable to love myself. This caused me some serious self-reflection. I am very skilled in self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy.
I am a professional at self-reflection. I like to examine every story that I find bouncing around in my head. This can be both good and bad. Through self-reflection, I have learned some habits of self-compassion. I ask myself- Is this true? Then I reflect on how the story that is my head is from my perspective. Did this person intentionally think “how can I make Sheri’s life horrible?” And the answer is always no. They have their own story. This process is something that I ask about myself as well. Did I intentionally hurt myself or others? And the answer is always no. Do I know better now? Was I doing the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time? This helps me from feeling shame or disappointed in myself. This is a practice I DO EVERYDAY. How can I use the experience to learn and grow? When I ponder truths that I know about myself, such as I am a divine daughter of God and I was created with special talents that I need to create a life full of love and compassion for myself and others. That I am sent to earth to fulfill a purpose that only I can fulfill. When I think about these things I am able to process the frustrations of life. Sometimes when thoughts come into my head I ask myself is this true? And when it is not, I visualize the thought on a conveyor belt and tell myself “It was just a thought it is not your truth” This helps me be more compassionate with myself and others.
When I went on the retreat with Get out their girl, I expected to be the uncool and socially awkward one in the group. After meeting and being around all the women at the retreat I realized that we are all the same. We all feel insecure at times. I was blessed to get to know and be around such a fun group. I felt love and acceptance from each of them individually and as a whole group. I will continue to work on my self-compassion every day until I am a self-compassion, self-love guru.
Sheri is my mom’s bf and coworker. For years I have heard how amazing and how adventurous she is. Every word was true. Sheri is a woman who has values and knows her value. I have loved getting to know her through GOTG activities. Now I know why my mom loves her so much. She is fabulous!
Sheri’s Story:
I grew up as the youngest of 6 children. A belief that I held in my childhood was that I needed to fight for attention. That felt that I was unwanted and unloved. This carried over into adulthood and into a marriage that was unhealthy. This situation created more self-destructive beliefs about who I was. I believed that I was hard to be around and unlovable. I believed there was nothing special about me at all. I ended up in a divorce that was a roller coaster ride. I started dating and this was a train wreck. One thing I did gain from dating is that I did have qualities that were at least likable. I learned through so many years of self-doubt and self-disapproval that I was unable to love myself. This caused me some serious self-reflection. I am very skilled in self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy.
I am a professional at self-reflection. I like to examine every story that I find bouncing around in my head. This can be both good and bad. Through self-reflection, I have learned some habits of self-compassion. I ask myself- Is this true? Then I reflect on how the story that is my head is from my perspective. Did this person intentionally think “how can I make Sheri’s life horrible?” And the answer is always no. They have their own story. This process is something that I ask about myself as well. Did I intentionally hurt myself or others? And the answer is always no. Do I know better now? Was I doing the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time? This helps me from feeling shame or disappointed in myself. This is a practice I DO EVERYDAY. How can I use the experience to learn and grow? When I ponder truths that I know about myself, such as I am a divine daughter of God and I was created with special talents that I need to create a life full of love and compassion for myself and others. That I am sent to earth to fulfill a purpose that only I can fulfill. When I think about these things I am able to process the frustrations of life. Sometimes when thoughts come into my head I ask myself is this true? And when it is not, I visualize the thought on a conveyor belt and tell myself “It was just a thought it is not your truth” This helps me be more compassionate with myself and others.
When I went on the retreat with Get out their girl, I expected to be the uncool and socially awkward one in the group. After meeting and being around all the women at the retreat I realized that we are all the same. We all feel insecure at times. I was blessed to get to know and be around such a fun group. I felt love and acceptance from each of them individually and as a whole group. I will continue to work on my self-compassion every day until I am a self-compassion, self-love guru.
I’m so excited to share Kami’s story with you. Kami is smart, determined, kind, and genuine. She is one of my closest friends who I admire because of her unconditional love for people, (me included). I love and agree with the advice Kami gave as she shared her story.
Side Note: Kami announced something big to me in this story. See if you can figure out what it is. I’ll tell you at the end so you can see if you were right.
“I absolutely love being a mom! Some may think it’s silly, but that’s all I ever wanted to be when I grew up! From the second I got married at 22 I wanted kids. But my sweet and very smart husband said that I needed to finish my degree before kids or I would never do it after!
It took me 4 long years to finish my degree while working full time, but I did it!! The following month we got pregnant. I was very fortunate that I was able to quit my full-time job and stay home with my little one. Life was amazing for the first couple of weeks while my husband was home and we had family in town to keep me company, but I soon found that being home all day and not being able to get out freely was lonely.
I am shy but very extroverted and I craved being around people. Prior to this precious little bean my husband and I worked out daily together after work, or I went running with friends! I worked out up until the day that I gave birth, and I loved every minute of it! It was my time, where I felt free… I was either having great conversation connecting with friends on runs or listening to music at the gym clearing my mind! It was and still is very therapeutic for me.
Fast forward 8 years and I now have 3 amazing little boys that are 7.5, 6, and 3, with one on the way! They fill my life with so much fun, energy, pure happiness, and love! Yet I still need “me” time.
It took me many years to understand that it was okay to love to be a mom, but also okay to need to getaway! I used to feel guilty when I would complain about a job that I loved and even guiltier when I would say “I just need a break”. Now my family knows that I am a better wife and mom because I make time for myself!! I still go to the gym 4-5 times a week, go running with friends, bike rides in the evening, have a girls night once a week connecting with other women that know exactly where I’m coming from, going dancing every couple of months, and finding new adventures that fill my bucket!
All of the hats that we wear are important and bring value to our lives and others! I haven’t mastered the balance, but it is something that I work towards every day! After many years of feeling like I was losing who I was, I strive to be the best version of myself so that I can in turn be the best mom and wife I can be! You can’t truly make others happy if you aren’t happy yourself!
The balancing act as moms is simply amazing and in my opinion, overlooked every day! For some, you wake up to your kids crying… it’s a day full of putting everyone else first and taking care of their needs and wants! Cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, playing barbies or soldiers, coming up with fun activities, and trying will all your might to teach them to be good people. For others, you wake up to an alarm and get your kids ready so that you can go to work, come home, and do all of the above after a full day in the office! Finding the balance between family and me time is hard but worth the time to navigate!
A couple pieces of advice to both working moms and stay at home moms is know without a doubt that you are incredible and appreciated! Your efforts may go unnoticed now, but one day when our kids are older they will recognize all you did, and thank you! Secondly, live life to its fullest- I know we have all heard that statement a million times, but have you ever sat down and asked what that statement means to you?? My advice is to figure it out and make it happen! Make time doing what makes you happy even if it can only happen once a month and don’t feel guilty about it.”
**Kami announced that she was pregnant with baby #4!!!!**
Jasmine was our yoga instructor on the June Yoga Retreat. Jasmine came to the retreat ready to make friends and be a friend. She was full of life and kindness. Not only did we all love her teaching style but we also all loved her personality. She was such a light on the retreat and I will always be grateful she came.
“One of my favorite things about the retreat was getting to know other inspirational women. We were all so different and in different stages in life, but I felt like we were all cheering each other on.
Sometimes it’s easy to judge when we see each other from a distance on social media. It’s easy to compare, to put on a pedestal, or to criticize unfairly. When you are up close and personal with other women, you see we are all the same inside. We are all just doing our best to live this life, to speak our truth, and to make a difference in our own unique way.
As I hiked with different people, I heard different stories…different voices…but I realized we are all one. Unity does not mean sameness, unity means supporting others to be who they were meant to be.
I asked Brittany what motivated her to create “Get Out There Girl,” as I had not heard her story before. As soon as she answered, I knew she had the vision of unique women supporting each other that I had witnessed at the retreat. I knew that she knew how important it was to connect with each other, to connect with nature, and come back to the core truth that we are all in this together, and the fact that we are alone is just an illusion. Thank you, Brittany, for being willing to step out of your comfort zone and create a space (both digitally and physically) where women can experience growth and healing by forming connections with each other and with nature.”
