Surviving Sarah

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

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

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

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

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 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

I am so happy to welcome Tara Bremer BACK to the podcast. I had so much fun the last time we chatted that I wanted to have her back. Tara is the founder of House Peace which helps us find order in our homes and lives. She has a team of people who work with her and in fact, one of her team members, Kendra, came to my house back in Atlanta and helped me create systems for the lack of storage we had.    Tara joins me today to talk about managing our digital clutter. We talk about all things digital: texting, photos, apps, desktops, and emails. This episode feels like you are getting to sit at the table with two friends. It is so easy to chat with Tara. We recorded via video so we literally walk through our phones together and share tips to declutter our digital lives. I’ll be sure to link everything we talk about in today’s show notes over at SarahBragg.com in case you are in motion while listening and can’t take notes.   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 to the table Cindy Wang Brandt. She is an author, podcaster and host of the Parenting Forward conferences. A friend told me about her years ago and since then I’ve read her book, Parenting Forward, and always enjoy her podcast by the same name.    We recorded conversation while I was hunkered down in the safest room in the house during a tornado. You guys, if that isn’t commitment to you then I don’t know what it is. In this conversation, we talk about how to create a space for kids to cultivate their own spirituality, advice on how to raise kids without unnecessary shame in regards to their sexuality and how to raise citizens of the world—that is, how to help shape conscious kids.   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 my friend, Monica DiCristina, to the show today. Monica is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Atlanta where she lives with her husband and three kids. Monica has such a desire to help guide others in their process of becoming who they were meant to be. She is the host of one of my new favorite podcasts called Still Becoming. You definitely want to hit subscribe to that show along with following her on Instagram—she always shares such helpful content there.    Today, we dive into the topic of boundaries. This is one of those episodes where I pretend to be asking all these questions for a friend but it’s really because I need all the help in setting boundaries. We talk about what they are and what they might look like in everyday life. We also dive into setting boundaries with two important relationships: our children and our in-laws. So much helpful content is shared in this episode so go ahead, 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 Emily Lex to the table. She is a watercolor artist, longtime blogger, and the author of Freely and Lightly. She has been featured on HGTV and in Better Homes and Gardens and The Magnolia Journal. She resides outside the Seattle, Washington area with her husband and four children.    I have been reading Emily’s blog and following her online for years so it was such a pleasure to get to chat with her. And let me just say that Emily is so genuine. I have interviewed a lot of people over the last 6 years and her essence is pure gold. This conversation felt exactly like that—a conversation. I feel like Emily was as interested in me as I was in her.    This conversation centered around her new book, Freely and Lightly. We talk about what her journey looked like to go from striving to be fulfilled and seen as enough to living freely and lightly knowing that she is valuable and lovable. She shares how a 4 month road trip with her family helped them take a deep breath and figure out who they were as a family. We talk about how sometimes growing requires us to let go of good things—not just bad things—in order to become—and how that has looked even in our friendships. And lastly, she turned the table on me and asked me what was in my survival kit. I think you are going to love Emily if you don’t already.   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 Jeff and André Shinabarger back to the show. Jeff is the Executive Director of Plywood People and André is a physician’s assistant at Grady Hospital here in Atlanta. Together they host the podcast Love or Work.    They recently completed the largest research study on working married couples in the U.S. and spent the last few years interviewing couples who want to stay in love, change the world and raise a healthy family. They share the results of that study along with stories from their own lives in their book Love or Work.   I asked them to come back on the show to talk about a topic that no one really wants to talk about yet everyone wants to actually talk about it. I bet you know what it is—sex. We talk about why we want to talk about it but can’t talk about it, why its so important that we talk about it, and how our upbringing often informs how we view sex. We also talk about how important mutual pleasure is in the relationship and what to do when you want to amp up your sex life. I think this is such a good and helpful conversation.

I am so happy to welcome Sarah Bessey to the table. I’ve wanted to chat with her for a very long time because she embodies a sense of generosity about her. Her presence welcomes you wherever you are on your faith journey. Sarah is the author of the popular and critically acclaimed books Jesus Feminist, Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith, and Miracles and Other Reasonable Things. Her recent book A Rhythm of Prayer is a New York Times best seller.    Sarah joins me today to talk about faith and prayer. She shares a little bit of her faith journey and how her view of prayer was affected through it. As we open the episode, you get to sample what my Patreon supporters get to hear every week for just $3 a month. If you like what you hear and want that every week, go to Patreon.com/SurvivingSarah   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram    

I am happy to welcome Tiffany Bluhm back to the show. She is the author of the books Prey Tell, She Dreams, and Never Alone. She is cohost of the podcast Why Tho and speaks at conferences and events around the world. As a minority, immigrant woman with an interracial family, Bluhm is passionate about inviting all to the table of faith, equality, justice, and dignity.    We talk about why we silence women who speak up and how to speak up for others. Tiffany shares some great advice on how to raise our girls to not be silenced and to not stand for silence around them. She also shares what we can do to be women who stand up for other women.   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’m very happy to welcome Robyn Downs to the table. Robyn uses simple, science-backed strategies to help people cut through life’s clutter to uncover small shifts that create huge change. She holds a Master’s degree in education with an emphasis in behavior change, and 4 years of public policy & health change at the doctoral level. Her work taps into cutting edge science around psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness, and habits. Recently named one of the Most Influential Women in Wellness and she recently published a book titled: The Feel Good Effect: Reclaim Your Wellness By Creating Small Shifts That Create Big Change.    Let me just say that I loved this book. It is practical and helpful while making sense of why I sometimes find myself in ruts when it comes to my wellness. In this episode, we talk about why we struggle to think that we have to do it all. We talk about the unrealistic expectations we put on ourselves, and the guilt that follows. Robyn shares some tips on how to break that guilt cycle, what to do with an all or nothing mentality and how to move from a should to good mentality. We cover so much helpful content in a short period of time. If you feel like your own health and happiness is not even on the "pay attention to" list then you will really be understood by Robyn.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Pre-order Sarah's book: A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon.  

I welcome Kelsey Chapman back to the show. Kelsey and I met years ago when she was a guest and we’ve have kept a friendship going ever since. Kelsey is an author, community builder, online educator and host of The Radiant Podcast. But to me, she is one of the greatest resources and cheerleaders I know. Her first book, What They Taught Me: Recognizing The Mentors Who Will Take You From Dream To Done captures her perfectly. Mentorship is truly at the heart of who she is and what she does.    In this episode, we talk about several different mentors in her life, how to go about finding a mentor whether its in your career or in your personal life and then lastly, she shares some advice on how to be a mentor to someone else.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Pre-order Sarah's book: A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon.  

I am so happy to welcome Laura Tremaine to the table today. Laura lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Jeff, and their two children. She is is a writer and podcaster. On her weekly podcast 10 Things To Tell You, she encourages listeners to take the episode prompts to a friend or to their journal, because meaningful connections come from good conversations. Her first book Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First. will release in February.    Today’s conversation is all about connection. And as her book suggests, Laura goes first —she steps into vulnerability first. We talk about friendships, why it sometimes feels so lonely in this season of adulthood, what helps her find all different levels of connection and she shares such a great tip for all of us who are longing to build more connection in our lives. I always enjoy chatting with people who are authentic and show up as themselves. I enjoyed this conversation and I think you will too.   I want to make sure you know about my monthly survival kit newsletter. I send it out at the end of every month which as of today is nearing. Each month, I share a short essay from me along with what helped me survive: think books, shows, movies, podcasts and things I’m just simply loving. This is a great way for us to connect outside of iTunes. To sign up, go to SarahBragg.com. And as a gift for signing up, you’ll receive my free downloadable planner pages that will help you be more efficient and productive with your time.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter Pre-order Sarah's book: A Mother's Guide to Raising Herself   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram Check out bonus content from today's episode over on Patreon.

Today, is my annual year in review episode with my good friend Merica Stum. This is my absolute favorite episode of the year. You know how you get together with a friend you haven’t seen in a long time and you have one million things to talk about? That was this episode.   In this episode, we look back and compare what we thought 2020 would hold and what actually happened. We talk about some of the overarching themes of the year, what we learned, good habits we developed, thoughts and feelings on planners, our favorite books and shows and then we look at 2021 and what we hope for. This episode is full of laughter and goodness so pull up a chair and join the conversation.   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 good friend, Melanie Dale, back to the show. If you have been listening to the show for awhile, then you know that back in 2017-2018, Melanie and I did an episode together every month. It is always fun to have friends on the show. In case you don’t know Melanie, she is an author, speaker and podcaster who lives outside of Atlanta. She and her husband are raising 3 kids from 3 continents.    And today, she joins me to talk about her new book Calm the Heck Down: How to Let Go and Lighten Up About Parenting. In this episode, we talk about a few things in regards to parenting that we need to calm down about. I go first and share something that I need to calm down about. We could have easily talked about every single topic in Melanie’s book but instead we narrowed it down to a few things we need to calm down about: school, sex, work.   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 Jeff and André Shinabarger to the show today. Jeff is the Executive Director of Plywood People and André is a physician’s assistant at Grady Hospital here in Atlanta. Together they host the podcast Love or Work.    They recently completed the largest research study on working married couples in the U.S. and spent the last few years interviewing couples who want to stay in love, change the world and raise a healthy family. (They even started this journey traveling in an Airstream!)    They asked this question of 100 working couples across a multitude of industries, including professional athletes and artists, entrepreneurs and CEOs, fashion icons and church leaders, while simultaneously surveying 1600 working professionals in partnership with Barna Research: Is It Possible To Change The World, Stay In Love And Raise A Healthy Family?   They share not only the results of the survey but also stories from their own lives in their new book Love or Work. I have to say that I don’t tend to like marriage books but this one is a must read. I wish I had read it years ago earlier in our marriage. They are vulnerable, candid and address real tensions in honest ways. In this episode, we talk about what helps them stay in love when you grow and evolve over time, how to navigate the tension between work and raising kids and how that affects your relationship. They also share what helps them communicate with other each.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Today, I welcome Wendy Speake back to the table. This is her third time on the show. She is the co-author of the popular parenting book Triggers: Exchanging Parents Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses, and host of the annual 40 Day Sugar Fast. Her new book, The 40 Day Social Media Fast just came out earlier this month.   We sit down to have a conversation about social media. Now more than ever, we are required to be online more. And if you are anything like me, it is shocking if I step back and see how much I turn to social media as a way to cope with the state of my world. And even though there are many times where I would like to break up with social media, so much of life is online now. Which leaves me to sit in the tension of how do I handle social media when so much of my life is online?    In this conversation, we talk about how to tell if you need a break from social media, how to fast when you have to be online for everything right now, what surprised her after fasting from social media, and how to reenter social media after taking a fast.    Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I feel like 2020 keeps delivering. I imagine that you are feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders like I do which is why I’m so happy to welcome Dr. Chinwé Williams to the table today. She is a clinical mental health therapist who helps kids, teens, and adults navigate difficult life seasons and transitions. She specializes in anxiety management and relational trauma recovery.   We tend to be aware of the anxiety in our kids but we don’t notice it in ourselves. And at this point in 2020 after facing so many stress and anxiety inducing things within our country, I think its important for us to stop and do some self evaluation. Chinwé walks us through what it looks like when anxiety is no longer operating in the normal realm and has moved more into a disorder and needs to be addressed. She also shares what we can do to care for ourselves during these kinds of season.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted 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 excited to welcome Kelsey Murphy to the table. Kelsey is a Business & Life Coach who has worked with Fortune 500 companies, like Facebook & Twitter, industry thought leaders like Marie Forleo. Her coaching work has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and Huffington Post to name a few. She also hosts a fabulous podcast called Whiskey & Work where she shares advice on navigating the waters of business, life, and relationships.   I had so much fun chatting with Kelsey. I didn’t want the conversation to end. She has so much wisdom to offer. In this episode, Kelsey helps us figure out how to visualize the life we want to live whether that is in our work, in our relationships or with ourselves. This is one of those episodes full of practical advice that you can start implementing today.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted 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 Ruth and Patrick Schwenk to the show. You may remember Ruth, who is known online as The Better Mom, from when she joined me back on episode 176. Ruth and her husband, Patrick, are no strangers to the blogging and publishing world. They are the founders of ForTheFamily.org and TheBetterMom.com. They also started a brand new podcast in 2020 called Rootlike Faith.    Today, they join me to talk about their latest book, In a Boat in the Middle of a Lake: Trusting the God Who Meets Us in Our Storm. After surviving 5 miscarriages and Patrick’s cancer diagnosis at the age of 43, they share about what it looked like to feel like you are in the middle of a lake. They talk about walking through the cancer diagnosis with their kids, what the suffering felt like, the difference between discipline and correction, what helped them wait when they didn’t see an end and how this shaped their view of life now. No matter what kind of hardship you’ve walked through, it likely felt uncertain and chaotic. I hope that this episode will encourage you in you feel like you are stuck on a boat in the middle of a lake.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted 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 Kari Kampakis to the show. She is an author, speaker, podcaster, and blogger from Birmingham, Alabama. Her new book for moms, Love Her Well: 10 Ways to Find Joy and Connection with Your Teenage Daughter empowers mothers to help and guide their daughters through adolescence.   I have read the book and it is so helpful. As you will hear in this episode, I put into practice some of her advice the moment after reading it. In this episode, we talk about raising teenage girls. Kari has 4 daughters so she shares something that we need to know about teenage girls. She also talks about how to connect with your teenage daughter, how to elevate relationship over rules, how to love your daughter as she is, and how to choose your words and timing carefully. I’m telling you—so much good stuff in this episode.    I want to make sure that you know about my monthly survival kit newsletter. Each month, I send out an email that contains a short essay from me along with all the things that have helped me survive—things like what I’m watching, listening to, reading and just loving. Go to SarahBragg.com to sign up today.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Today, I am so happy to welcome Amy and Jeffrey Olrick to the show. Jeffrey is a clinical psychologist who has worked with children and families for over twenty years. Amy is an author whose work and writing has been featured in the Guardian and USA Today. Together, the Olricks are the authors of The 6 Needs of Every Child: Empowering Parents & Kids through the Science of Connection.   I can’t tell you how much I wish I had this book when I started parenting. Most of the books I read in those early years focused on behavior and getting to the motivation behind their behavior. But this book focuses on building connection. This book really gives you handlebars on how to pay attention to their behavior and yours and then how to see what you and they really need.   So that’s what we talk about in this converation—how to build connection with our kids by paying attention to the 6 needs that they are wired to have.    Let me say that recording the podcast has been just like everything else in 2020. I have experienced so many technical issues this year. And so this episode, will sound a little different from a technical standpoint than usual. Sorry about that. And towards the end, a rainstorm happens which sounds like we are chatting under a waterfall. 2020 is wreaking havoc. Thank you for always being so supportive as you listen!   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted 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 welcome Brooklyn-based educator, podcaster, + soon-to-be author, Kat Harris, to the show. She is Co-Founder of the online publication The Refined Woman, and host of The Refined Collective Podcast. She has also been a full-time photographer for the last decade with her work featured in: Vanity Fair, GQ, Forbes, People, Who What Wear, US Weekly, Glamour UK, and more.   Kat has been working from home, for herself, for the last 10 years and when I came across her, I knew she would be a great person to gain some advice from about working from home. For so many of us, our work environments have changed. Some of us used to work in offices but are now working from home. Some of us have been working from home but now our kids are doing digital learning from home. There are a lot of tensions around how to work well from home right now. Kat brings her experience and expertise to the table. She gives us some really practical tips that will help us work well from home.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit Newsletter   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Today, I am happy to introduce you to my new friend, Mary Marantz. You are going to love Mary as much as I do. She is an author, speaker, and podcast host of the Mary Marantz show who has a fascinating story of growing up in a single-wide trailer in West VA and ultimately went on to attend Yale Law School. She captures her story in her book, Dirt: Growing Strong Roots in What Makes the Broken Beautiful.    We talk about what it was like growing up in a trailer in west VA, how what she experienced growing up shaped her worth and the idea of success, and how we can shift our idea and expectation of success. There is so much goodness packed into this episode. I know you are going to really enjoy her story.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Before we jump into the conversation, I want to give you a heads up about the audio quality. When COVID happened, I no longer could record out of my home studio and moved to a studio that did not have my children lurking around the corner. And with that, I tried some new audio equipment. And I didn’t do it well. I don’t know about you but I don’t handle mistakes or goof up’s really well. I hate messing up but messing up is just part of life. I say this because you might notice a difference in the audio quality in this episode. Sorry about that! And thank you for sticking with me. I have had to put into practice the phrase “Be kind to yourself, we all make mistakes.” That phrase is on repeat in my head.   This episode is such a good conversation. My good friend, Sarah Anderson, came back on the show. If you’ve been listening to the show for a while, then you will know her name. She’s been on the show two other times over the past couple of years. Today, I am excited to talk about her new book The Space Between Us: How Jesus Teaches Us to Live Together When Politics and Religion Pull Us Apart. She has a unique connection to politics and religion. Her dad ran for President in the 2000 election season and everyone in her family has had a career in politics and her career has been spent in the religious world. She knows firsthand what it's like to navigate the waters of politics and religion which can be so divisive.   In this episode, we talk about why she was compelled to write a book about such hard topics like politics and religion, how to navigate fear when it comes to voting, and how to remain connected to people you love when positions change or are different. This conversation comes at the perfect time.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram    

I am so happy to welcome my new friend, Christen Shefchunas to the table. She is a former Division I Coach that saw too many women missing out on their dreams because of a lack of confidence. So she now works 1 on 1 with females as a confidence coach, speaks to women about confidence, and makes Confidence Nuggets bracelets (which you’ll hear more about in the episode).   We talk about why we as women tend to lack confidence and how we can build it. We also talk about how to build confidence in the girls that we are raising. If you have felt stuck, afraid to step out, afraid to try, afraid to fail, afraid to let others see who you are and what you really want then this episode is going to really help. I feel like I could listen to this one over and over.   Be the first to hear updates about Sarah's upcoming book by signing up for her monthly newsletter!   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome Elizabeth Petters to the table. I met her through her father, Pete Enns, who you may remember from being on the show. After recording, he told me that Elizabeth would be great for the show and he was absolutely right. Elizabeth is a mom to two and is passionate about breaking the stigma of mental illness in the church.    She shares her struggle with anxiety which started all the way back when she was in the 3rd grade. She talked about what anxiety looked like for her, what helped her move forward, how it affected her faith, advice for parents who are raising anxious kids, and what she does on a daily basis that helps her take care of herself. I’m thankful that Elizabeth shares her story and for normalizing her experience for others. Whether you are raising an anxious child or you are an anxious grown up child, I think you will resonate with her.   Download Sarah's FREE planner pages to help you or your kids be more efficient and productive with their time.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so very happy to welcome my friend, Dr. Deborah Tillman, back to the podcast. You may know her best as America’s Supernanny. She is a Consultant, speaker, author and founder of Happy Home Christian Leadership Academy for Early Learners, Inc. The Washington Post labeled her “A force for good” which I completely agree with. She joined me back on episode 163 where we talked about raising strong willed kids.   Today, we talk about something that I know Dr. Deborah is passionate about and so am I. We talk about harsh parenting. What that looks like, misconceptions about why people feel like they should discipline harshly, what the goal of discipline really is and alternative ways for all ages. This is such a helpful conversation and a much needed dialog that we as parents need to partake in.   Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survival Kit newsletter and receive downloadable planner pages for FREE.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am so happy to welcome my good friend, Morgan Tyree, to the show. Morgan is a professional organizer, writer, and fitness instructor. She runs her own personal organization and time-management business and lives with her husband, David, and their three children in Colorado.  She has such a helpful podcast, too, called Morganize With Me.    Today, we have an interesting conversation around her latest book called Your Hospitality Personality. We talk about how we are all wired for hospitality and how that looks for different personalities. This episode is as if the enneagram met the hostess.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am releasing some older episodes as re-runs this summer. These are some conversations that I enjoyed. Running re-runs allows me to take a few weeks to finish my manuscript. For more updates about my upcoming book sign up for my newsletter at Sarahbragg.com and you can follow me on Instagram @sarahwbragg Thank you for your continued support.   Shannan has experienced over the last few years what it's like to get the life you always dreamed of only to realize through losing it that it wasn't what she truly wanted.    Click here for the original show notes to this episode.

I am releasing some older episodes as re-runs this summer. These are some conversations that I enjoyed. Running re-runs allows me to take a few weeks to finish my manuscript. For more updates about my upcoming book sign up for my newsletter at Sarahbragg.com and you can follow me on Instagram @sarahwbragg Thank you for your continued support.   We start by talking about the personalities of our kids. And I’ve been thinking so much how important it is that we understand our kids’ wiring so that we can figure out how to communicate with them—especially if they are teenagers. We talk about doing the hard work of parenting, why kids need a caring adult in their lives, and how to better understand teenagers. If you have teenagers or work with teenagers or have kids who will eventually be teenagers, then you will certainly enjoy this conversation. We talk about moving from an air traffic controller in the early years to a coach in the adolescent years.   Click here for the original show notes to this episode.

I am so happy to welcome Knox McCoy back to the table. You may already know him as one of the hosts of the popular podcasts The Popcast with Knox and Jamie and The Bible Binge. He is the author of the books The Wondering Years and All Things Reconsidered. Knox and his wife Ashley are dear friends of ours. And they are people that we trust to walk alongside life and faith with.   Knox and I talk about the idea of reconsideration. So talk about what gave him permission to begin to reconsider different aspects of his life, himself and his faith; what it looks like to reconsider things alongside a partner and as a parent; and one thing that he reconsidered about himself.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

Today’s conversation is going to be so helpful because I bet I’m not the only one who has completely lost their mind and exploded in anger at their kids especially during this season of self-isolation. A few weeks ago, certified professional life coach Natalie Hixson joined me to talk about anger and motherhood. Natalie is a mother to three daughters and knows firsthand what it is like to experience destructive anger and burnout. In this conversation, we talk about how anger played a role in her motherhood, how to overcome the pattern of destructive anger, and how to rebuild broken relationships because of anger.    Her story hits so close to home for me. I never knew how to handle negative emotions which made it hard to teach my kids how to handle negative emotions. You’ll hear Natalie coach me through how to handle my emotions when my kids are fighting. And before we jump into the conversation I need to let you know that we experienced some weird technical difficulties about midway through the conversation. Skype actually dropped the call and then we had to try to pick back up where we left off.   Download Natalie's Trigger Tracker here   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram    

Today, I am so happy to welcome Kelly Minter to the table. She is an author, speaker, and singer/songwriter who lives in Nashville, TN. Our mutual friend, Sissy Goff, had highly recommended her for the podcast. And since she recently published a beautiful cookbook called A Place At The Table, I decided that this would be the perfect time to have her on the show.…and let me just say that this cookbook is so very pretty and full of easy, delicious recipes.    Kelly was booked to be on the show way back before the pandemic because I wanted to have a conversation about community and the power of inviting people around the table to see how food brings us together. Well, then COVID happened and we recorded this episode just a few weeks ago in the middle of quarantine. So life and community look a little different now for all of us. I really enjoyed this conversation as we navigated what community looks like now and how to lean into where we are. We also talk about how even though you may not be able to gather people around your table you can still use food to cultivate creativity, joy, and meaning.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram

I am excited to welcome Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers to the table. You may know them as the hosts of the popular Pantsuit Politics podcast. They are also the authors of the book I Think You’re Wrong But I’m Listening: A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations. And I want you to know that this conversation was recorded the week before everything started to shut down so again, you won’t hear a lot of conversation about COVID19.   I invited these ladies to be on the show because since 2020 is a big election year, I wanted someone to help me know how to have conversations with my kids about politics. Talking about politics, in general, can feel uncertain and scary but then trying to navigate those waters with your kids adds a whole other layer of vulnerability to it. I think you will find that this conversation is very helpful not just in how to talk to your kids about politics but also how to help yourself feel more confident and curious about politics.   Check out bonus content from David Thomas & Sissy Goff from Raising Boys & Girls along with deleted content from today's episode over on Patreon.   Connect with Sarah: Website | Instagram