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

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...

  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!)                                  ...

Note: the following blog was written in 2021, but holds a wealth of truth for us today, in 2022! “Have you thought about what your inspirational word is going to be for the new year?” asked my therapist Dr. A. I didn’t hesitate. I had a perfect inspirational word in mind. It came to me easily. There were signs all around signaling my new inspirational word. And now with the state of our country — between the mounting cases of Covid-19 and actions on our Capitol last week, I believe in this word even more. Cultivating compassion “It’s compassion,” I said to Dr. A. “Compassion with a big C." The world needs more compassion so we can heal from our losses of the past year and the divisions that are creeping into this one. My family and friends need more compassion so they can continue to manage through this raging pandemic and ease into a new normal once it passes. Celebrating another sixty-something birthday last week made me realize that I too need to practice more compassion toward...

  On September 28, 2019, I drank my last sip of alcohol. Well, it wasn’t a sip. More like a bottle or two of wine. Truly, the amount doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole for decades. Alcohol was not serving me and I needed to let it go. At the time, I wasn’t aware it would be my last time drinking. But, as my anxiety surged through the night and crippled me throughout the next day, I finally decided I had enough. If you are fulfilled and happy with your alcoholic drinks of choice, this blog post may not resonate for you. I am not here to judge, diagnose, or preach to you. However, if you are a person that cannot understand why a highly addictive chemical depressant makes you feel like a trash human when everyone else is having so.much.fun…this IS for you. I needed posts like this 2 years ago when I felt like I was the only person on earth that felt that way. Spoiler alert - I am not. If you feel that way too - you are not alone...

This is what I want you to do: tell someone you love them, and dinner's at six. That's the tagline from one of my favorite memoirs on food and entertaining, Bread and Wine, by Shauna Neiquist and this, I believe, is where the good stuff is found. In 2011, I went to visit my grandma in California for the last time. Each morning I’d drive to the hospital, and then each afternoon, I’d walk back out into the parking lot—the one with the little rose garden--and all I ever wanted to do after a day spent there, with its beeping machines gray hospital beds, and smells of plastic, was to gather friends around a big table and pass heaping bowls of food. To eat and drink and laugh into the fading evening light and celebrate—well, nothing more than simply being alive. In fact, it’s the first thing I did when I got home. A call went out to friends, and just like that we were on my deck back in Colorado, filling glasses of wine and eating grilled salmon with lemons and arugula and parmesan s...