This week of August is a deeply reflective one for me, having two back to back anniversaries to commemorate.

On the 9th of August, my sweet 26-year-old son, Cole, left this earth, and on the 10th of August, I would have been married for 38 years. (My husband Ross passed away in 2014.) As you can imagine these are not necessarily celebratory occasions for me.

Last week I introduced you to someone very special to me, David Meltzer.

On one of his Friday ‘lives’ (streaming on Clubhouse and IG to name just two) that he does at 9am CST, he had a guest who said “Stop Grinding for God!” Wow, this really resonated with me!

One of the biggest blessings in my life is that I am associated with some of the biggest game changing thought leaders in the world.One of those people is David Meltzer. I was introduced to him a few years ago by my friend, Sharon Lechter. I cannot tell you how much I love these two humans.

Dave is brilliant in so many areas of life, both personally and professionally, and has said some of the most profound things to me. In one of our mentor calls a few years ago I shared my story of losing my husband and son with him and how I feel when I first wake up in the morning because of these losses. I have since shared, with so many people, the next words Dave said to me and it has made a huge difference in their lives as well as mine. He said,

"Carey, there is only one original thought in your day and that is the first thought you have. Every other thought is a reaction to that first thought which then directs how you will choose to feel and act that day.”

For me, this year has been filled with many personal and physical changes. These changes have all been 100% my choice, but I am not going to lie, it’s been very challenging.

Physically, I have put myself in an entirely new environment and it is taking time to adjust, moreover, I have let go of ‘doing’ all the things that I had been accustomed to doing.

I strongly felt that I needed to make space for something bigger; something I am envisioning to come.

Have you ever felt or known that you have "outgrown yourself" and felt the pull to expand, even though it meant changing your environment inside and outside?

Oftentimes when people are asked to think about the dreams and desires they have for their life they think about the things they would like to possess or achieve. I am a big believer that there is nothing wrong with wanting a beach house, nice cars, or being able to travel the world. As a matter of fact, most of the time I see people hold themselves back from thinking really big for fear that they don’t deserve it or that they are being greedy.

July always causes us to reflect on how grateful we are to live in this free country and how grateful we are to the men and women who have fought and are fighting to protect it. I am always filled with gratitude when I celebrate our freedom with family and friends!

This month I am giving much thought to the other freedoms I believe we all desire. My focus will be directed toward the areas I am working on that are designed to continue creating my freedom. I don’t know that we think about the mental and emotional things that keep us in bondage as much as we think about the physical things like where and how we live.

“All unhappiness stems from comparison”. A very good friend of mine shared this with me years ago and I would say this is truer today than even when I was growing up. Not only does comparison lead to unhappiness, it causes some people to also lose their focus and to lose all hope and joy.

Two weeks ago I was at the first annual convention of a personal development company, called Oola. I met the founders a year ago. Our vision and our mission were so in sync that I have now aligned myself with Oola and recommend everyone use their tools and programs!

My heart is so full today.

I don’t know if you know this about me yet, but I have a HUGE heart and deep concern for what is happening to our children and young adults in our world right now. They are under attack and it is coming at them from all directions. This is absolutely breaking my heart.

Suicide and the rate of suicide is particularly heart wrenching. . Here are some statistics and an article from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) on this heartbreaking issue. I also listened to a recording on Apple News not too long ago where in the interview with a licensed counselor he revealed that we now have FIVE YEAR old's taking their lives. I broke down in tears.

As I write this today, it would have been my husband, Ross’ 61st birthday. It is difficult to believe he has been gone for almost eight years now.

When milestone days like this creep up it gives me pause to reflect on the way I had envisioned my life before losing Ross and later losing my son.

In this very challenging world we live in where it seems it is just one tragedy after another I know if can be hard to hold on to hope. My heart is so heavy for the families in Uvalde, Texas as I know yours is, too. I just want to wrap all of those people in so much love and prayer.

How do we hold on to hope when we are feeling helpless, discouraged, sad, and defeated?

My Virtual Assistant and I (who is amazing by the way, if you are looking for one!) agreed in an email chat this week that we both can sense a ‘Society is tired’ kind of feeling going on in the world right now. Are you feeling that, too?

Maybe it’s just me and the state I am in personally, but I see so many people questioning all the things they do and have in their life, and some are making some big, bold shifts. I shared with you in my last email and post that I have had this overwhelming tug to do less and allow space in my life to really follow God’s will and vision for my life. This might also have something to do with the fact that I turned 60 this month - yikes! Yet, everywhere I look, I see people (even the high overachievers like yours truly) being courageous enough to let some things go, even if it means changing financial status, careers, and relationships.

'Dissolve to Evolve' A new friend of mine posted this phrase on Instagram the other day and it so resonated with me. In multiple ways this has been my life for the past almost 10 years. It’s a painful but necessary process in order to be who God truly intended us to be and to carry out our purpose.

I could write (and I have) so much about how through the journey of our childhood relationships and education growing up most of the time shapes a false identify that we live in for many, many years. Unless we take the time to become aware and do the internal work to follow our own truth, most of us die feeling unfulfilled and have a lot of regrets. So sad.

Choosing to really know who you are and what you are uniquely called to do requires dissolving: to cause to disperse or disappear. To bring to an end.

It has not escaped me that it is Mental Health Awareness Month. It is my mission to help people live with hope, vision, and purpose. I am not a professionally trained counselor or doctor in this area, but I do believe from my own life experience of losing two family members (my husband and my son) to suicide that I have some very strong feelings about what we could be doing as a society to change the trajectory of this epidemic. My heart is really hurting for our kids and young adults right now as they are growing and starting their lives in a very challenging world.

I truly cannot believe these words are coming out of my mouth, but I am turning 60 today! I am in a complete state of disbelief as I just turned 40 YESTERDAY!

Every year in the month of my birthday I usually take a beach trip (going soon!) and spend some quiet time reflecting on my life.

As we wrap up the National Month of Hope, I can’t help but reflect on all the good that has come from it.

This has been a time to reach out to those who need encouragement and kindness and to focus on how we can make hope more central in our lives.

If you're looking for ways to make hope a bigger part of your life, here are some tips that might help…

I am continuing to honor National Month of Hope by sharing tips for finding hope in this very unpredictable world we are living in. Not only have we all come through two years of unforeseen challenges together, but I am certain you have had some personal things happen in your life to shake your faith and test your positive outlook.

How I Got Through Losing My Husband and Son to Suicide

It occurred to me that I have several new connections here that don’t know my story or my passion for purpose and vision. So I would like to introduce myself briefly and would love to hear about you, too!

At a conference years ago, one of my mentors said something that hit me right in the heart (in a good way). Not only have I never forgotten it, I’ve also taught it to all the people who have heard me speak: One of the foundational characteristics of a great leader is learning how to manage emotions.

I’d had to learn it for myself – after making some terrible mistakes with my choices in reactions – but mostly I recognized the importance of this statement because it had been exemplified very subtly by the people I revere.

Can we all just take a pause from busyness, please?

We have become so accustomed to filling up our days with working on so many things and living for ‘someday’ that we take for granted the beautiful day we have right now!