Hi! I am so glad that you found Wax Strong! My name is Heather. I am a Certified Family Life Coach. I provide life coaching services for individuals struggling with stress or anxiety... let's face it... life! I have had my own battle with anxiety for the past several years, ranging in levels of severity, and making impacts on my life in both small and large ways. Do you know what I have learned? It is possible to manage anxiety! In fact, it is possible to make anxiety work for you and literally become a tool for good. I promise! I invite you to explore my website, watch some videos, and make an appointment if you feel that stress or anxiety coaching may be just what you need.

I am willing to bet one of the first things you think of when you hear the words "life coach" is GOALS. Goals! Why do we have them? What good are they? How can we possibly survive them? Can I be honest? I am a Certified Family Life Coach. I am here, I am concrete in the work I do, I am on a mission. But you know what? I do not love goals! Call me crazy, but goal work is hard for me to do! I am quick to leave, to quit, to abandon all hope the moment I start to realize that my job is going a lot harder. My job as the person working on the goal... not my job as the goal setting coach. I have learned how to survive the hardest goals and how to make them feel a bit more realistic and easier to handle. I have learned the value of setting smaller goals rather than a giant goal. And I have learned that sometimes daily goals are just what we need to accomplish a bigger task. I promise that you'll never be upset after accomplishing a goal.

Part two of goals talk with a spiritual aspect. Have you ever considered Heavenly Father being the ultimate example of goal setting? Me neither. But it makes sense! Almost like He is the ultimate spiritual coach! Why would goals be beneficial to our spiritual selves? How can we incorporate more faith into our goal setting? I don't know... but I love to think about it.

One thing that I like to work on, whether it is in my personal life or in life coaching, is the idea I call the blame game. This is the idea that we place blame on people, situations, experiences, things that we feel are causing us distress. The reality? We are causing our own distress. What would happen if we backed off for just a minute and let ourselves change perspective? We can choose to take action, reframe the situation, recognize our feelings, and work through the situation. This helps us to find peace, find calm, and move forward without holding any unnecessary anger or contention.

What comes to your mind when you think of being acted upon? Have you heard those words before? The idea that rather than acting for yourself, you allow situations determine your choices. Here is what can happen: sometimes we may get too fearful, anxious, worried, or nervous causing us to become paralyzed in inaction. Meaning... we don't do a thing. OR the idea of failure can paralyze us and cause us to refuse to act. But what if we didn't? What if we recognized the paralyzed feeling and chose to stand up and move? It sounds empowering, doesn't it? Let me tell you... it's possible! It's possible to stop the paralyzed part of us from moving forward and choose to move.

Are you a people pleaser? Do you know someone who is? Sometimes we get caught up in people pleasing or making sure the happiness of other's is first on our list. Sometimes we forget ourselves because of what others say about us. In any case, standing for who we are and what we are becoming is the greatest way to help others, and ourselves, find happiness. But it can be a tricky two way street. Are we people pleasing? Or are we literally doing something to make someone happy because they need it? It is such a confusing thing! But... when you know, you know. How do we break through people pleasing? I don't know. What would you say?

This time, we're doing things a bit different. I am opening up and being vulnerable. Something that I have learned to enjoy. I became a Certified Family Life Coach for a reason. I choose to focus on stress or anxiety coaching, mindfulness tips and techniques, and wanting to help others find relief because of my experience. I have learned that the more we share, the better we feel AND we put ourselves in a position to help others. We have no idea who needs to hear our story or learn about our situation. We need each other. We really do! Please enjoy story time and reach out to share your own personal story.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our church, we have The Book of Mormon. Have you heard of it? It's a second witness and testimony of Jesus Christ. Yep. That Guy. This book is FULL of amazing stories. One of my favorites is named Amulek. Here's why: In Alma 15:18 in The Book of Mormon, we read that Alma took Amulek home to administer to him because of some kind of mental situation. Leading up to this verse, Alma and Amulek are ministering and preaching to a king, teaching him all the good things, changing his life... going to prison... getting out of prison... seeing some things... experiencing some things. It's been a lot. And then Amulek needs to go home and Alma takes care of him. I first recognized this verse as a mental health verse when I was in the midst of my own anxiety battle. I felt that I could relate so well to this part of Amulek's story, which is why I chose to share with you all why Amulek is my personal scripture hero.

How often have you used the word "broken" to explain how you feel or where you have been? Any hands? I am no stranger to the word myself. I wonder if we could say something different... like "stretched". Hear me out. Broken is an idea of something that may or may not be fixed. It can be a permanent word. It can be lasting. Regardless of the stress or anxiety that we feel, it does not have to last forever. Sure, it can feel that way sometimes. But we all know that bad days come to an end. The anxiety does not stay around forever. We end up stretched, but we don't break. I like that idea. Stretched. Maybe worn and torn. Not broken.

Have you ever thought about what kind of stigma you carry toward your own personal mental health? I know I get in my own way and knock myself into the ditch, shut down, put up blockers, become upset... we always hope to break the mental health stigma in others, but do we consider breaking it within ourselves? When we hear break the stigma, do we ever wonder how to get to work, hoping to help others but ignoring our own need? The thing is, mental health hits all of us. Good mental health, poor mental health, mixed mental health, depressed, anxious, worried, sad, and all the above. There is not one person that is free from it... and that's okay! It is time to tell ourselves it is okay and to work toward acceptance and moving forward.

They say there are two sides to every story. But I think there are usually more than that. One of those sides falls under religion. How does the mental health stigma show up religiously? Have you ever considered that? Studying a a life coach, I realized how religion and spirituality play a large role in my life. Every aspect of what I deal with has a religious element to it. I have leaned on my faith many times while going through various battles. The thing is, sometimes this stigma shows up in my faith too. 

My personal journey has been a huge player in what I want to do as a family life coach and how I want to help others. Post-partum anxiety... it doesn't get talked about enough. I'm a small player in this fight, but it's a fight that I want to take on. Women shouldn't feel afraid while pregnant, at delivery, or afterward. Anxiety is a beast. It may provide growth, but it's not fun to experience in the moment. Mental wellness is important at any stage of life. Don't be robbed of the joy that you are meant to have.

Peace in Pregnancy is a new anxiety program that I have created. It walks with you from the beginning of your pregnancy until one year AFTER the birth of your baby. It can be done on your own with my workbooks... as an offline coaching option with me just a bit by your side... or in full coaching sessions where we spend time together talking and taking on this journey.

Anxiety can turn our brains into a real bully. Navigating between thoughts and facts can become challenging when we are caught up in overthinking, overwhelmed anxious thoughts. So... how do we do it? We weigh the evidence. We choose to be vulnerable. We share our battles to find strength. And at some point, we begin to laugh at the things we think of. In all honesty, we are all amazing creators and inventors of stories and imaginary situations. If we all wrote books, the shelves would be filled with hundreds of stories to share with one another. Unfortunately, that's not what we do. Instead, we hold those stories inside and create new narratives in our minds. Before we know it we lose sight of what was actually true... the reality of the situation. Then what? Sometimes we begin to talk down on ourselves. Sometimes we begin to feel guilty. Sometimes we choose to keep feeding the imagination. Weighing the evidence helps us to navigate truth from fiction, and thought from fact.

Thoughts Are Just Thoughts: How to Stop Worshipping Your Anxious Mind, Michael Stein, 2019, https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/thoughts-are-just-thoughts