I’ve found that running with friends is less expensive than therapy.  Having a whole hour to vent while your friends puffs along beside you nodding because she’s too out of breath to form complete sentences in response to you is a beautiful thing.

Are you feeling stuck in a cycle of overwhelm, stress and exhaustion trying to juggle your many responsibilities of work, being a mom and of well just life. 

Does your family rely on your income making you feel like you are trapped in your job with no way out?

If you’re answering yes to either of these questions you are not alone. I talk to so many women who are going through their Passion Shift that are feeling this way.

Natasha Solomons’ latest book, The Gallery of Vanished Husbands is a portrait of Juliet Montague’s life from 1958 to 2006. She chooses her own future by challenging her world both culturally and religiously. Natasha’s main character looks upon herself as an outsider and strives for an independent identity without losing the closeness of her parents and children.

The relaxed pace of summer is, essentially, behind us. Fall is nearly here. Hard to believe, but true. It's time to refocus on "work" - whatever your age and stage in life.

When Lexi crossed the threshold onto the school bus this morning, it was momentous. Not necessarily for her since she rode the bus last year or even because it’s the first day of second grade. While Lexi is excited at seeing friends again and having a teacher who is known for her mad math-teaching skills, she has indicated that the first day is “no big deal” since she knows what to expect-same bus route, same Hello Kitty book bag and lunchbox, same principal and the same expectation that there will be pizza on Wednesdays in the cafeteria.

I have a vivid imagination.  I used to get lost in my head with all the paths my life could take that inevitably seemed to end in different versions of me being rich and famous.  I would imagine my clothes, the parties, the well-known friends and my face gracing covers of magazines.  How I would get there was much less clear or fun to dwell on.   Fame and fortune seemed the solution to all life’s ills during my late teens.

When I was in pre-school my teacher took my mother aside and said, "Mrs. Winbourne, we play pretty intensely here at school - finger paint, playground time, play dough - and I just want to let you know that you really don't need to send your daughter to school in dresses every day."

To which my mother suggested that if she'd like to see me in more play appropriate clothing that she should come over to our home and dress me every morning as I refuse to wear anything but dresses.

Point taken.

Imagine an ENTIRE conference dedicated to serving individuals who are reentering the workforce.  Imagine an ENTIRE conference focused on issues that pertain SOLELY to renetering the workforce.  Imagine an ENTIRE conference geared towards making these people SUCCESSFUL!

Many women are under the assumption (fasley) that they have to take a pay cut when they return to work - JUST because they have been out of the workforce.

Not true.

Want to return to work AND get paid?  Then remember this: a job is worth what a job is worth.  And if you can do the job the same as the next person, you shouldn't get paid less just because you haven't been working.

In the late 70s, Teddy Pendergrass sang a song titled, “You Can’t Hide from Yourself.” The lyrics went on to explain, “You Can’t Hide from Yourself, because everywhere you go, there you are.”  How true!