Who didn’t want the gold star on their paper in elementary school?! It was shiny and it meant something. It meant you’d done it right. That the teacher approved. Accolades & acknowledgments feel good. It shows us that other people think highly of us or see possibility in us. We drink that up! But, what happens when someone-especially someone of authority-is disappointed? It feels lousy at best & for sometimes terrifying. My client Elaine developed a habit a lying anytime she

Madeline is uncomfortable. One kid is off at college & the other has one foot out the door. For 20 years her priorities have been them - with a side business that got her time when she had any. IT wasn’t the priority, THEY were. She’s got an itch for a second act, a passion, something that’s HERS. But they still expect her to be the mom who drops everything to answer her daughter’s phone call-because she always did. And the school foundation still expects that she’ll pu