Lifted, By My Girls! — The Archives — Formerly Vented Uplift

Violent. Disruptive. Tumultuous. These are words used to describe storms. Both actual and metaphorical. When you hear the word STORM, what do you think? By definition, it ensues chaos. I bet you've never thought of JOY, though. Having the clarity of mind to choose joy during a storm brings freedom. Perhaps even purpose. Most will tell you to push through to the other side of the storm. What happens when you have to sit in it? Recently I walked out to my car to run errands. As I looked up, dark clouds were moving in. I thought to myself, oh wow, a storm is coming. I got in the car, and I saw a raindrop, and soon I was consumed. The rain poured droplets that reminded me of the size of rain in the movie "A Bug's Life." I sat in my car as it rocked and felt like it would be swept away. I watched garbage cans fall over and spill trash in the streets. The rain was heavy, and the wind was strong. There I sat in the car, watching the storm move and change the scenery. The rai...

  When my son was two, he bit another child in his daycare room. He went on to do it six more times in a few weeks, and I was horrified.   I sought the counsel of our pediatrician. He was old and wise and usually knew how to make me feel better. I told him I was scared there was something wrong with my child. What would make him do this?   I couldn't sleep, and no amount of reassurance from his daycare teacher that this was "normal" helped. I hoped my pediatrician could offer something of use. He confirmed everything the daycare teacher had already shared: why my son might be biting and why he would likely soon stop. But none of those made me feel any less alone.   I talked about how much I worried about the other mother--The one that has to pick up her kid and find out he was bitten AGAIN. Then he said the one thing that made me feel a teeny tiny bit better: "Mrs. Lennon. I've been doing this for a very long time. Biting happens, and it will stop. Tha...

  When I started my spiritual awakening in March of 2017, my world shifted instantly. I left a session with a spiritual healer knowing that I was on this Earth to heal myself and to heal others. How I would do that was for me to discover. This healing all started with turning back towards the Divine and allowing myself to heal the traumas that clouded my perspective and kept me from seeing the world from a place of Love instead of survival. Last year I had a moment of clarity in which an idea for a spiritual business came to mind. I wrote down those ideas, and later a name came to me: Twelve Moons Studio. I bought the website domains, securing the foundation of this seed of an idea with no intention to do anything with it quite yet. Not long after I purchased those website domains, my mom got sick, and I spent four months taking care of her. That seed of an idea was planted deep within the dirt without any chance of sunlight. Or, so I thought. November came, and it brought a new p...

  It better be the last FUCKING Chapter! Today is 3 weeks from my exchange surgery. 3 weeks since those horrible hard expanders with metal nipples came out. 3 weeks since the squishy girls went in. It's also 3 weeks of not lifting and learning to be taken care of again. 3 weeks of getting used to the increase in size that I questioned at first. 3 weeks of immense gratitude. 26 weeks from the mammogram that saved my life. 26 weeks from the first time I heard, "Mrs. Canny, I think you have DCIS". 26 weeks from the day I knew I had cancer. Exactly 1/2 a year of my life that has been centered around cancer. Exactly 1/2 a year that my family has worried about me. Exactly 1/2 a year of trying to turn lemons into lemonade!   ...

Hi, I am Meredith Van Ness, founder of Balanced + Well Counseling, a therapist, and a life coach. I support and empower women to overcome their stress and anxiety, release the limiting self-doubt holding them back, and build confidence so they can focus their energy on what matters most. We’ve all experienced more stress than usual in the last couple of years as a result of the pandemic. This worldwide pandemic topped with normal stresses may be putting you in a constant place of feeling out of control or overwhelmed. Although some stress is a natural part of life, we must learn to handle it in a healthy way. Being in touch and admitting that we are stressed is a great place to start. It’s when we’re honest with ourselves that we can begin to do the work. Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. When it is working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. Stress can also help you rise to a challenge. It’s what keeps you on your toes dur...

  I didn't realize how winning the FCC $10000 grant helped me until I sat down to write this. See, I told Rebecca Minkoff in a DM that I would love to tell her how my life has since changed, and I put it out there, hoping we could continue the conversation. And then she replied with a yes, and I was like, "Well, now WTF do I say?  "Ok, great… I'll write something tomorrow"…and now tomorrow is today, and it hit me… wow if I didn't win that grant, I would not have been so prepared for my breast cancer diagnosis two months later. And before you think Rebecca and I have this amazing DM relationship, I had simply shared my virtual ticket for the upcoming FCC event in Texas. I went to the one in Brooklyn two years ago before the world shut down, and I just loved it. I met the most amazing women! I highly recommend you go or buy the virtual ticket! But anyway, back to the point… as a business owner, sometimes you can make unique connections from Instagram. This year...

  Ready to give that energy of yours a boost? Here are the top 5 things you can start doing today and make the shift! 1- Create a morning routine My morning routine takes just under two hours. I can't stress enough the importance of a great morning routine; it will set you up for a successful, energetic day and life. I experimented with a few different things and figured out what worked for me. You should do the same, and soon you'll know what works for you, and you'll enjoy starting your day that way. 2- Eat real, high-quality, fresh food Purchasing and eating freshly-grown fruits and vegetables is the best way to ensure there are no preservatives, chemicals or dyes added to your food. It keeps your body running on clean sources for energy and naturally you'll feel more vibrant and energetic. (try the smoothie recipe below!)                                  ...

I was speaking with a friend the other day and she told me about a promotion that came with a hefty raise she got at her job. Another $30,000 a year in her paycheck sounded really good at the time she accepted the offer. But the workload sucked and the time away from her family was taking its toll, and she was so damn focused on getting that promotion that she lost about 3 years of her life working for it. With tears in her eyes, she said, “And $30,000 more sounds like good money, but it’s still not enough. We are struggling to make ends meet and the difference in my actual paycheck after taxes, it’s already spent.” My heart broke. Oh how I know this feeling. And oh how I know that what we feel is a direct mirror into our own hearts. Was my friend, while on the surface struggling with work overload and the money sinkhole, actually feeling like she was not enough herself? Another friend was offered a dream opportunity. She tentatively said yes, but inside was scared. She didn’t feel rea...