Surviving Sarah

We are still in the summer series of re-releases of parenting episodes. This week marks the anniversary of my friend Wynter Pitts passing. Wynter meant so much to me. She was a strong, beautiful, creative woman who not only encouraged me in my work but also in motherhood. I am so thankful to have known her. This episode was my first conversation with Wynter where we talked about so many aspects of motherhood. We talk about how God changed her perspective on being a mom, how to know when your child is ready for social media and how to foster the relationship between your daughters. And if you want to hear more with Wynter, she and her husband Jonathan joined me on Episode 97 where they talk about raising their kids.   Connect with Sarah: Website // Instagram

We are still in the summer series of re-releases of parenting episodes. I am excited to put this conversation back in your ears! This was the first conversation between me and Wendy Speake in which we have a big conversation about the big emotion of anger. We discuss all the internal and external triggers that we have as moms. There is so much helpful content packed into this episode. And if you want more from Wendy, she came back on the show on Episode 46 to talk about creativity and motherhood. Connect with Sarah: Website // Instagram

I'm excited to put this conversation back in your ears! This was my first conversation with Sissy Goff from Daystar Counseling Center. We talk about raising girls--anxiety, parenting different personalities, how to assume the best in your kids and how to develop our girls' self-worth. You can check out more episodes with Sissy over at the Raising Boys & Girls podcast. Connect with Sarah: Website // Instagram  

I'm excited to put this conversation back in your ears! This was the first time David Thomas from Daystar Counseling Center came on the show. We talk about raising boys, child development, dealing with your child's aggression and adjusting our parenting expectations. If you want to hear more with David, check out episode 91 of Surviving Sarah and our other podcast, Raising Boys and Girls. Shownotes Connect with Sarah: website // Instagram

I want to have a conversation with you about where we are in life. If you have ever felt stuck where you are and unhappy with how life has turned out, then this episode is for you. I talk about how powerful acceptance is—accepting where you are and who you are. And how acceptance starts by naming what reality you are resisting. Connect with Sarah: Instagram

I am happy to welcome Justine Froelker to the show. She is a licensed professional counselor and certified Daring Way and Dare to Lead Facilitator which is based on Brené Brown’s research. She has 19 years of experience in mental health. She is a best selling author and her latest book is called The Complicated Gray.   We have a really meaningful conversation about hard times. We talk about what to do when life doesn’t turn out like you hoped, dreamed and planned. She walks us through her story of infertility and how she discovered resilient redemption. Your big, hard parts of your story don’t have to be the end. You don’t have to end up a sad, bitter, resentful woman. We talk about what it looks like to be face down in the arena of something hard and how to rise strong from it.   Come find me on Instagram and say hello! And be sure to sign up for my monthly Survival Kit newsletter that hits your inbox at the end of every month. When you sign up, you'll receive my FREE planner pages as a thank you.

I am so excited to welcome Pete Enns to the podcast today. Pete is a college professor who has been teaching, writing and speaking about the Bible for over 20 years. He is a storyteller which is one reason why I love his writing but I also love that Pete isn’t afraid to lean in and ask hard questions. He values hearing the stories of everyday people and their struggles with the Bible. That drives so much of what he does with his writing and with his podcast, The Bible For Normal People.    I have read two of his books, The Bible Tells Me So and How the Bible Actually Works, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading and wrestling through them. I want to let you know upfront that this is a vulnerable conversation. But it’s exactly what I want to model for you. I want us to have permission to ask questions. Permission to doubt. Permission to lean into the uncertainty that we feel about life. Permission to be critical thinkers when it comes to our faith. All of these things aren’t problems for our faith—they can be exp

We have a special episode today because I teamed up with my good friends over at the Open Door Sisterhood Podcast, Alexandra Kuykendall & Krista Gilbert, to bring you a crossover episode about summer. And then, we decided to invite our friends Kate Merrick and Morgan Tyree to join us, too. All five of us join forces to talk about surviving summer. This is a two part episode so after you listen here be sure to find the other part to this conversation at The Open Door Sisterhood Podcast.   On this part, we talk about our biggest challenges in regards to time and summer. Morgan Tyree is an organizational expert and has a book coming out this summer that is all about time called Take Back Your Time. So we put her in the hot seat and fire questions at her.    And what is so great about the women at this table is that we represent kids between the ages of preschool and college age. So no matter where you fall in the stages of kids, we’ve got you covered. We talk about chores, juggling schedules, how to create m

Today, I want to have a conversation with you about what surviving looks like. In our culture, it’s easy to operate out of a do it all and do it well mentality. We are told to thrive in every situation. And then the pressure builds and we live in a state of "supposed to's." Somewhere along the lines, surviving got a bad rep. But what if surviving is something noteworthy? What if surviving was actually admirable? In this episode, I will talk about what surviving means to me—what I think it actually is—and how we need to give ourselves permission to show up where we are as we are. Connect with Sarah on Instagram. Sign up for Sarah's monthly Survivial Kit newsletter to find out all the things that have helped her survive the month. And as a gift, you will receive FREE downloadable planner pages to help you survive your week, your day and your meal plan.

Tiffany Bluhm joins me around the table and we became fast friends in this conversation. I was blown away at her story and I think that all of us listening will resonate with her in some way. She is an author, speaker, podcast host, wife and mother who shares her personal stories of rejection, failure and what it’s like to overcome adversity to find your dream. She married with two kids, one adopted from Uganda and one biological. She is Indian and her husband is white and she jokes that their family looks like the United Nations.   In this conversation, she shares her own story of rejection—being abandoned as a baby at only two days old to feeling rejected because she was different than others to being rejected from love as an adult. We talk about the tensions we feel about dreaming about the life we were created for or the life we want—what gets in the way and how to take the next step forward. If you’ve ever wondered if this is it in life or feel stuck where you are, then this conversation will encourage y

My friend Amy Wicks joins me today. Amy is one of those people that I met at a conference simply because we sat down next to each other and about 10 minutes later we were fast friends. Amy is a wife and mother to 3. She is the voice of the weekly Simply Wholehearted Podcast which i had the honor of being a guest. She leads The Simply Wholehearted online community on Facebook and serves as Director of Mom's Ministry at Radiant Church in Kansas City. She has recently co-authored with Sara Hagerty The Unseen Way, a book study created for Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to be Noticed.   But for today’s conversation, Amy joins me to talk about creating an intentional summer with your kids. She has created an amazing course called Simply Summer and I highly recommend taking advantage of this course. In this conversation, we talk about what makes summers so difficult for moms, how we can survive summer with intentionality, how we can own our time instead of it owning us, how to create meaningf

Ruth Schwenk joins me today. You may know Ruth from the website she created called TheBetterMom.com. She is a wife and mom to 4 kids. She is an author of several books including the two we mention in today’s episode: The Better Mom Devotional and Settle My Soul.   If you’ve ever felt alone in motherhood or struggled to love every stage of motherhood, you will relate to this conversation. Ruth has such a heart to come alongside other mothers to help them feel seen and known. In this episode, Ruth shares her advice for new moms, the importance of surrounding yourself with women who are a set ahead in life and those who are a set behind you in life. And in that true form, I ask for her advice on how to handle sibling conflict. And lastly, after walking through a year of health hardship with her husband, she shares what brave has looked like for her.   Today's show notes which includes Sarah's takeaways, ways to connect with Ruth and discussion questions in case you want to gather a group of women together to dis

Last month, I asked you to join me in reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown. This is one of my all time favorite books and one that I sit with on a regular basis. I’ve already heard from many of you how this book has been wrecking you in the most beautiful ways. I asked my dear friend, Sarah Anderson, to join me around my table to discuss the book. We had the best conversation that included our takeaways, favorite quotes, things that surprised us, things we are putting in to practice and what is helping live a wholehearted life. Freebies: Sign up for Sarah’s monthly newsletter containing her survival kit Download Sarah’s FREE planner pages to help you be more productive and efficient Be sure to check out the show notes online for links to everything we mentioned and discussion questions that you can use to discuss this book and episode with your friends.

Jordan Lee Dooley joins me today. She is a multi-passionate women who is speaks, writes, podcasts (SHE podcast) and creates (SoulScripts). And she has a book launching in May called Own Your Everyday: Overcome the Pressure to Prove and Show Up For What You Were Made To Do. In the midst of a culture where everybody feels like they need to work within their purpose and/or push their creativity to be a side hustle, it’s easy to feel like purpose and position become blurred. It is sometimes difficult to find the balance between working for income and working with meaning. We talk about the balance between purpose and position; how to discover what you were made for; things that limit us from stepping towards what we were made to do; who inspires her; and what she’s learned in the early years of marriage. Freebies: Sign up for Sarah’s monthly newsletter containing her survival kit Download Sarah’s FREE planner pages to help you be more productive and efficient Connect with Sarah: website // Instagram // Fac

I am happy to welcome my friend, Heather Zempel, to the table today. She is a pastor, author, speaker, wife and mom. She was formerly a biological engineer and a legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate before becoming a pastor. She now serves as the Discipleship Pastor and Ministries Director at National Community Church in Washington, DC. She recently published a book called Big Change, Small Groups which is all about creating community.   There is so much goodness packed into this conversation. Not only do we cover random stories about vultures, but we also talk about some really important ways to connect with others. Finding community in a city is hard enough, but have you ever imagined what it must be like to find community in a city where everyone is defined by which political aisle you belong to?   So we talk about what its like to build community with people that you disagree with, advice on creating a safe place for community to cultivate, how her community showed up for her when she walked through

One of my favorite things is to have reoccurring guests on the show. I love inviting people back to the table who I just really enjoy and today’s guest is one of those people. KariAnne Wood, whom you may know as Thistle Wood Farms, joins me again. She is a home blogger, influencer and author who has written a new book called The DIY Style Finder. If you have ever asked the question, “How do I figure out my decorating style?” then this episode is for you! We talk about  why its so hard to find our style, our biggest design regrets, how to push past the fear of decorating, our favorite rooms to decorate, advice on how to decorate on a limited budget and what to do when your home is temporary. I have never laughed so much in an episode. KariAnne is such a delight. And before we jump into the conversation, I want to let you know that the audio may sound a little different. Skype has been giving me such grief lately, so I apologize that it might sound a little off than what you are used to from me. Okay, now it’s

Way back in January I sat down with today’s guest and as I was editing the episode, I found myself talking about things that I was journaling about and working on this very morning. My friend, Emily Shupert, joined me around my table. She is licensed professional counselor and founder of a boutique counseling and coaching company here in Atlanta called Simplify Life Counseling + Coaching. She is the author of the book The Happiness Map which was written to offer women a personalized navigation tool to find happiness in life right now.   Emily and I have an honest conversation about anxiety (including postpartum anxiety), fear and shame and how that affects us as women. We also turn the table and I step right into the hot seat of vulnerability and allow Emily to ask me some personal questions about fear. This conversation is full of practical and helpful advice—I know you are going to enjoy it.   Check out links to everything we mentioned, ways to connect with Emily, takeaways and discussion questions in today

This month, I chose to re-release my first conversation with Sandra Stanley. If you don’t know her, she is an author and wife to pastor Andy Stanley. She is one of the most likable people and this conversation was one of my favorites from the early days. In this episode, she shares all sorts of advice for moms, wives and women in general. Plus, she mentions an item in her survival kit and is now a stable in my wardrobe. The original episode aired in May of 2016 so you may notice a little difference in production quality. I love how far we've come! Here's a link to the original show notes. Come find me on Instagram or Facebook or stop by my website to download FREE planner pages to help you be more efficient and productive with the time you have.

Today, I want to have a conversation with you about health. I’m not sure that I’ve shared on the show my own health journey. In fact, did you know that I wrote a book all about it that was published when I was in my twenties? It was written for teenage girls and called Body. Beauty. Boys. The Truth About Girls and How We See Ourselves.  That book chronicled my journey through eating disorders and body obsession and the truths that finally helped me see myself clearly. The girl who wrote that book as a 25-year-old had yet to experience turning 30 and yet to experience having babies and yet to experience turning 40. And I’m talking you today and I have yet to experience what turning 50 or 60 is like but I do know that there are some principles that we can adopt now that is beneficial no matter what age we are. There are principles that will help you to have a better perspective on yourself and your health. Connect with Sarah: Instagram Check out the show notes for this episode which includes links to everythin

I have been looking forward to putting today’s conversation in your ears for a long time. Shannon Miles joins me around the table. She is the CEO and Co-founder of Belay which is a staffing company serving businesses all over the US.    When Shannon faced an all too common, yet emotional decision to stay home with her new baby or return to a fast-paced, demanding career (that she loved), she knew that there had to be a way to have both. Shannon shares her story and advice on how she didn’t take no for an option. We talk about her book titled “The Third Option” which is all about figuring out how to have both a career and family. We talk about what to do when you feel stuck and how to figure out that next step.   If you enjoyed today’s episode, would you take a screenshot and share it on your favorite social channels and tag me. I’m @sarahwbragg on Instagram and SurvivingSarahPodcast on Facebook. That’s an easy way to support the show. Another thing you could do is to leave a 5 star rating and review on iTune