Finding Your Authentic Self Through Community Journaling: A Conversation with Amanda Stern

In this episode of Wonder Boldly, host Christine Santos interviews Amanda Stern, a journaling advocate. They discuss Amanda's journey from a corporate career to following her passion for building a journaling community. Amanda shares the power of journaling in self-discovery, compassion, and self-love, emphasizing reflecting on personal truths.

The conversation also covers group journaling's impact on connection and growth and how Amanda plans to focus on this as she transitions to full-time community building.

01:11 Meet Amanda Stern: Journaling Advocate
03:43 Amanda's Journey to Leaving Her 9-to-5
08:03 The Power of Reflection and Self-Discovery
12:47 Creating Safe Spaces for Vulnerability
26:26 The Magic of Group Journaling
30:34 How to Join Amanda's Journaling Community

More About Amanda Stern:

Amanda Stern has been journaling since she was an angsty teenager. She credits her practice to helping her thrive through the divorce she didn’t see coming, discover her voice, and become the person she always wanted to be. Now she empowers her clients and community to embrace journaling as a path to self-discovery, self-compassion, and self-love so they can own their worth, find success on their own terms, and write their way to a life they love.

Website: https://www.journalingforgrowth.com/membership

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandasternjournaling/

7-Day Journaling Adventure - https://www.journalingforgrowth.com/challenge

Transcript

I'm Christine Santos, ex corporate woman, turned founder of my own boutique podcast production company. And it wasn't that long ago that I lacked the knowledge, the time, and the community to focus on growing my small but fun and exciting business. Through it all, I've had many challenges and failures and lessons learned.

Today I have so much fun helping others change lives and having the time and choices that allows me to spend more time with my family. I created the Wonder Boldly podcast to give you inspiration with actionable steps to help you go after your someday dream now.

If you're ready to take your days, weeks, months, life back into your own hands, or you're just curious what it means to create a business that makes an impact in a life you love, you are in the right place. Let's go.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Wonder Boldly. Today I have with me This amazing woman that I'm actually just meeting face to face for the first time ever here And I produced a podcast that she was on and I thought Immediately I needed to have this woman on the podcast to share with all of you to share her knowledge to be in her place energy in her space.

So I reached [00:01:39] out to her and I asked her to come on and she said she would and I'm so thrilled that she is here with us today. Her name is Amanda Stern and she has been journaling since she was an angsty teenager and she credits her practice to helping her thrive through the divorce she didn't see coming, discover her voice, and become the person she always wanted to be.

That's such a powerful statement. This morning I was even chatting with somebody and we were talking about being our authentic selves. And coming myself, I'm corporate for 30 years, it's taking a lot to shed those corporate layers and that work persona. So that's so resonates with me. She now empowers her clients and community to embrace journaling as a path to self discovery, self compassion, and self love, so they can own their worth, find success on their own terms.

And write their way to a life they love. So I love this so much. I'm sure you can already tell just from hearing her bio, that she is someone that will speak to us here, because on our journeys of wondering boldly and thinking about taking that next step, we can hesitate. We can wonder if it's the right thing.

And one of the most powerful tools we all have is the ability to journal. So I welcome you here today, Amanda. Thank you so much for being here with us and sharing your insight. Hi, Christine. I am so excited to be here. Thanks for having me. Of [00:03:18] course. So this morning I. Saw a post that you had on LinkedIn.

You're very active on LinkedIn and I love that and you have so much engagement there. And so you had a lot of engagement. You always do under this topic that you posted and there are actually two. And the first one I want to hit is the topic of this very big. exciting time that you have in front of you where you have decided to leave your nine to five.

So can you share with us, a lot of us here, I myself left my nine to five and a lot of us here consider that and it can be a very scary time, so I would love to hear your insights on maybe how you decided to do that, all those feelings, and where you are right now. Yeah, oh my gosh, where to start.

So I'm gonna first start by telling you that I hardly ever talk about my nine to five on LinkedIn. It's funny because I came to LinkedIn about three years ago because I heard it was a place of opportunity. And I was at a weird place in my job where I was feeling very comfortable to the point where I thought, I'm too comfortable here.

I need to start thinking about what's next. And I had heard LinkedIn was a place of opportunity. And I guess I thought I'll come to LinkedIn, I'll like, I don't know, post some things, engage a little bit and end up with a new job because that's what I knew LinkedIn was. And immediately I discovered it was a place of learning and growth and connection and community.

And. And before [00:04:57] I knew it, I was learning and growing so much and looking for something that I could put back into this collective learning economy that I found myself in. And I couldn't figure out what I had to contribute. The things that we do well, that come easily to us, don't always seem important.

or weighty enough to share with others. But I finally decided I can probably talk about journaling for three or four days. Maybe I can stretch it out to a week, and that'll buy me some time to figure out what I want to talk about. And before I knew it, I was talking about journaling full time. It has now been three years and change.

And I've been floored over and over again with how deeply what I share resonates with my community so I I found and built this beautiful community started offering some journaling workshops and journaling services, built a community around that, a membership community. Even though it was the highlight of the work that I do, it was secondary to this nine to five that I had. And so for the last three years, I've been trying to balance how do I grow this thing that's near and dear to my heart while I still show up to my nine to five, which I like very much with Fidelity.

At work, I have a beautiful community. I've got really amazing teammates and colleagues. And I knew that my time there was limited because I knew that this work that I do with journaling is so soul filling. I can't not do that. And I just came to this realization kind of slowly and all at once, like every good realization [00:06:36] tends to come.

That I've reached the end of everything that I wanted to do in the six and a half years I've been in this position. And it was the perfect time of year. I had wrapped up all of my big projects. There was nothing really big. Pressing in the hopper and I thought now is the time to take a step back So I actually was at a big event yesterday.

It was the my swan song I called it the last big event that I planned for work and Started spreading the word that I was leaving at the end of the week and the question I heard from everybody is oh where are you going? What are you going to do? What are you gonna do first? And my answer was I'm gonna take a bit of time to rest and relax and restore myself And then I'm going to put all of my energy into building this community that I started growing that just has so much potential and so many possibilities.

And now that I can dedicate my energy and my time to it, I'm so excited where it's going to take me, and who gets to come along not just for the ride, but on their own journey, parallel to what I'm doing. Oh, I love that so much. I heard there at the end, there were these other people in your life that you were informing.

And how did that feel for you? You knew you were going to see these people, right? Because I've been there. You're going to see these people, they don't know. So how did you feel going into that space? I will say it's really invigorating because I was able to hear myself have the conversations I've needed to have for a long time.

Because in the [00:08:15] role that I played, I was responsible for event planning, for some marketing, but ultimately, I'm a relationship builder, and I thought for the longest time that I was an event planner. But over the last month or so, as I really geared up to move into the next phase I realized I'm not an event planner.

I'm a convener of people. And planning events is secondary to the convening. It's right, the necessary thing that has to be done so I can get people in this, in the room, in the space together. Because I realized the thing. That I do best and I've realized this slowly and all at once over the last few years is that I'm a space creator, that I hold, I create these containers where we can all come and come as not just our authentic selves, but our Favorite selves and get to be the people we want to be and know we're going to be safe in these spaces.

So as I was talking with my community yesterday, sharing where I'm going, what I'm doing, Getting to express that the work that I do, my true soul work that I do, is helping people human better. Because in this day and age a lot of us have forgotten how to human. And those of us who remember how to human, I feel like, are humaning Super double extra time and we're really tired.

So getting to help support other humans and humaning better. And for me, journaling is a huge component of that because the more we journal, the more we know ourselves, the more we. truly understand and know ourselves, the easier it is to be more compassionate. [00:09:54] And I'm sure a lot of your listeners, Christine probably are just like me and are really hard on ourselves.

We have high expectations. We know what we're capable of and we push ourselves to meet and exceed those expectations every time. And when we fall short or when we don't quite, exceed everything, 110% then what do we do? We beat ourselves up, right? But learning to be kinder and more compassionate with myself has just opened the door to self love.

And All things are possible there, right? The way I treat myself impacts how I treat other people, how I treat myself impacts what I allow myself to do, how big I allow myself to dream, how boldly I allow myself to wonder, right? How much I think is possible and I've got goosebumps just thinking about what's next for me and for all of your listeners and the things that they're excited about as as they, as you all embrace journaling and getting to know and love yourselves.

Like what ripple effects we get to have in the world just by being who we are and our favorite version of who we are. It's so exciting. It's so exciting. So I'm like jumping out of my skin here, listening to you for so many reasons. And I want to start with the human aspect. So my background is in corporate.

I was in leadership for 30 years and I had on my board when people would come into my office, let's say like the leadership would come into my office, they would use the word resource. And I would have the word resource [00:11:33] on my board with a big X through it. These are human beings. Let's use the right language.

And of course we know what you mean. Of course, we're not meaning any ill will, but just in the language that we use is so significant. I wouldn't want to have my team in the office and leadership saying, okay, what resources do we have? How does that make a human feel? So I love that so much. And one of the things, and I loved how you boiled down what you did as connector, like a connector, say that for us again.

So it wasn't like event planning, but it was Convening. Convening. Convening. I love that. And so when I boiled down, when I first left corporate, it was what am I doing and all the things. It was like, I'm a communicator. I had team members that I communicated with one on one, big teams, public speaking, interviewing, speaking to leadership, speaking to providers.

I was in software. And I'm like, that all is around communication. And it's so interesting. When we take a step back, like you said, and look at, okay, I thought of myself, I was a manager. I'm a manager. This is what I do. But then you really look at what is it? And it's so interesting and powerful. So one question about that I have for you is how did you get to that maybe aha moment, that feeling of I'm a convener.

How did that happen? Yeah. Again, I will say it was slowly and all at once unfolding on the pages of my journal as I really reckon what's going to come next for me. What do I want to go into? Because I didn't [00:13:12] want, I didn't want to just fall into the next thing. I wanted to be really intentional about where I spend my time and energy.

So I started I think a lot of people do, okay what am I doing now? And what do I like about what I'm doing now? What are the critical components of my job and what. What is transferable to something else in a different industry or a different market? And events has been for the last six years a really huge part of what I do, but I think it was in reflecting.

Reflecting in how I spend my time and where my energy goes. What Fills me versus what drains me and really paying attention to those activities that really fill my soul. And it's things like this, Christine, it's getting to have conversations that matter with people that I connect with and building relationships has always been a hallmark for me.

It's how I get my work done. I don't know how to do work any other way except through building strong relationships. And. Little by little, piece by piece I found the words on the page. And I'm talking over a number of months and years even, this coalescing. But really in just the last couple of weeks, seeing it all come together.

I feel like the universe has been rearranging some giant puzzle pieces for me. And All over the last few years is I've been really frustrated that things weren't happening faster, right? My community wasn't growing. Wasn't growing at the speed I wanted it to be. Other things in my life weren't falling [00:14:51] into place exactly then.

But when I look at the experiences I've had this year and the things that I've learned about myself and the ways that I've shown up for myself and for my colleagues and for my community, Really just all of a sudden coalesced into this aha moment of, wow, I'm not an event planner. I am a convener.

I'm a relationship builder. I create these spaces where you can come and you can tell me things. My post this morning, I think you saw it was about what a gift it is. To be a person who's safe for people to tell things to. So often throughout my life, I've heard people say things to me like, I don't know why I'm telling you this, because you didn't ask me, and I never talk about it, but I feel like I should just tell you this thing.

People from all over, and I'm talking people who are close to me, people who are strangers, people I've met in passing at the grocery store. My children laugh, they're like, you make friends everywhere, mom. I thought this was like a normal thing, that if it happened to me, it must surely happen to everybody.

And somebody pointed out to me not long ago this is not universal. This is something about you. It is a gift that you were given. So how are you going to use it? Was the question I asked myself, right? If I have this innate ability to help people feel safe with me, Which is really helping them feel safe with themselves.

What does that look like? And so I love how that manifests in our journaling community. So we do a lot of group journaling where we get together. We [00:16:30] start with the same journal prompt. We do some individual journaling, and then we come together and share where we've been, what we've learned, what our experiences have been like.

And it is amazing to see the level of vulnerability that comes out, whether it is a group of long time friends. Friends who have journaled together for ages or just a group of strangers who are together for one hour And it will be the only hour in the history of the world that we are together that magic shows up And again, I thought it was by accident and I remember her telling a friend a couple of years ago How blown away I was at the level of vulnerability that people showed up with in these spaces And my friend looked at me like I was a little you know A little slow and not quite getting it and she was like this is not by accident, right?

Like you created this container. You make it safe for people to show up just by being you and using the gifts that you have in a way that no one else can do like you. And I think of the people who have moved through my spaces and people ask me all the time. What is the biggest You What is the biggest transformation people see, when they work with you?

And the answer I always give is this piece we touched on earlier about getting to know ourselves, be more compassionate with ourselves and getting to love ourselves. And again, from that place of self love, we can do all the things. I love that. And so I want to summarize. What it was about the aha [00:18:09] moment. And what really stood out for me was what you were saying was reflection. And I think that. If you can give us a little bit more detail on what does that mean to reflect? Am I sitting in a chair with a candle writing in my journal? Am I going on a walk? What does it mean to reflect?

Yeah, so for me, it means a couple different things. And I want to just issue a caveat that everybody is different. This is just what I know works for me. I need to spend a lot of time reflecting on paper. I have always been somebody who loves to write, and connecting my thoughts on the page I always say that journaling slows me down enough to catch up with my racing thoughts, which doesn't sound like it makes any sense, and it makes totally perfect sense, because journaling has always been that thing that forces me to.

slow down so physically, it looks like me sitting on my love seat in front of the sunniest window, early in the morning, watching the sun come up, writing in the pages of my journal. But that's just where, it's where it starts and also where it ends. But there's a lot more in between. The other piece that I'm learning over and over is really important to me is hearing the truth in my own voice as I speak it.

So as I'm having this conversation with you, Christine, part of me as I'm listening to myself is Oh yeah, I do believe that. Oh yeah, that is right. And I'm giving myself goosebumps with some of the things I'm hearing. And that was the case I had yesterday as I had conversations with [00:19:48] colleagues about what's next for me and my desire to really build Bring people together and convene and help people human better.

Just being able to recognize again, that truth in my own voice, and then going back to my journal and capturing that, right? So for me, journaling is where it starts. And then I do some other reflective work and A lot of it's through talking to people and soundboarding and I'm so grateful for those kind people who allow me to soundboard or who serve as a soundboard for me but a lot of it is just in the everyday mundane it's the driving in the car without the radio on it's the moments in the shower when I don't have anything any music or anyone else's words in my ears, so it's just me and my thoughts.

It's a taking a walk around the neighborhood again without something in my ear that's distracting me from what I really think. So for me, having time for myself without someone's words in front of my eyes or in my ears is absolutely critical. And I love being able to capture it in my journal because there's something magical about seeing my truth in my own handwriting.

Even if I don't quite believe it yet, to be able to go back through and say, Oh yeah, I knew that all along because here were the seeds I was planting. Here's the evidence, right? Here's how I grew. Here's how that that thought I had really transformed from teeny little seed to big, beautiful flower that has blossomed.

Yes. And so what I [00:21:27] hear in that too is the word that jumped out to me wasn't said, so I'm reading between the lines here, but was awareness. So yes. I practice as well driving without the radio. I go on walks without, I never actually wear headphones when I go on walks because I want to be present. And that's beautiful.

And also what you're saying, or I hear you saying is awareness to say, what is coming into my brain? What am I cold? Oh, I'm cold. Or I'm thinking, why am I thinking about this? So not only Omitting the outside noise, but being aware of what is then coming to you, right? Is it, would that be true?

That is 100%. And what else is really important are the questions we ask ourselves. And so many times when I talk to people about journaling, they're like what do I even write about, right? Where do I even start? And sometimes it's those simple questions that can help us be mindful. What am I feeling right now?

Something that simple, right? And it has so many layers to it. What am I feeling in my body? I've been sitting in my chair for a while, so my hips are really tight, right? So what do I need to do? When we're done, I'm going to get up, and I'm going to move, and I'm going to stretch, and I'm going to go for a walk around the block, right?

What am I feeling in my body? Like in my body in another level. I'm really excited. I'm really excited for the opportunity That's coming to me for the things that i'm going to get to bring into the world I'm feeling a little anxious right because it's something new how do I take how do I take care of myself is the next logical thing?

So for me through this [00:23:06] process i've developed a much More sophisticated emotional vocabulary and just being able to identify the feeling that I'm experiencing Helps me be able to think of well How do I take care of myself in this place because what I need when I'm sad is different than Then what I need when I'm disappointed or frustrated what I need when I'm anxious is different than what I need when I'm excited, even though anxious and excited or just two sides of the same energy, right?

It's on the same spectrum. So being able to really Get to know myself on all the layers, right? Get to know the thoughts in my head, but also what do I want? What's motivating me? Why do I act the way I do? Why do I want to do the things I do? What's important to me? The direction that I'm moving, does this feel right?

And if it doesn't feel right, what do I need to, what do I need to shift so it does? The things that feel good, why do they feel good, right? And not just accepting on face value, having conversations with Christine makes me feel really good. But why? What is it about it so that I can replicate it?

So it's this connection piece. It's speaking my truth. It's helping and uplifting and supporting, right? Those are the elements. Whereas, before I started this process, I was like, Oh I'm an event planner, right? There's such, it's so different because I'm sure there are people listening who are like, I love planning events and I love the logistics of planning events.

I love working with the venue and I love putting the [00:24:45] schedule together. And I love making sure everything runs on time. There are people like this, but learning that Nope, this is just a thing I do so that I can have all of those other pieces, was this huge self awareness moment for me. And so I'm gonna add to that. The word awareness is also action. And what I mean by that, cause what I heard you say was, why am I enjoying this time with Christine? So I'm enjoying this time. I'm aware that we're having this really fruitful conversation, right? And it feels good, but why? So that's what I mean.

So taking action probably isn't the right word, but it's digging deeper. Why is it? And I love that. That's so helpful. 

So I want to transition us to your post on LinkedIn you shared this passage from something you were reading and I'm going to read it and then I'm going to ask you to expand on it and why you felt it was so important to share.

So you said, in quotes, I don't know why I'm telling you this. You didn't ask, and I never talk about it, end quote. Then you wrote, it took me a long time to realize that this didn't happen to everyone. That this ability I have to hold space for you, is a gift.

These words jumped out at me from the book I read this morning. It's a privilege to have someone trust you enough to show you those pieces of themselves, the most vulnerable and tender, the least polished. You write, I felt it in my soul. This is what happens in our community [00:26:24] spaces when we journal together.

you go on to say more, but I'm going to stop there and ask you to expand on that and share that to give the listeners sort of an insight into you and your journaling community. Yeah. Thank you so much. So I will tell you I was just reading a book. It's just a work of fiction.

It's a contemporary romance. The author I'm sure did not intend for me to get this message from the book, but as I read it. That passage just jumped out at me, what a privilege it is to be that somebody people feel so comfortable with to share those parts of themselves, because those parts of ourselves.

And we all have them our shame, our embarrassments, the things we wish we could fix, the things we feel are wrong with us, we don't want to tell anyone about, and we're secretly so embarrassed, or maybe openly so embarrassed that we are the way we are, But I've learned over and over in these spaces as we journal together, we are more alike than we think.

That even though our circumstances and our situations feel so personal and they feel so unique to us, that nobody else could possibly understand what is happening to me right now in my life. Nobody has ever had a conversation like this. No one else has ever done this thing. No one else has ever been disappointed like this.

Accept that we have. What is happening to us, even though it feels so unique and personal, is more universal than we think. And we spend, I spend so much time, I've spent so much time in my life comparing myself with other [00:28:03] people, putting other people on pedestals. Wow this person, I'm thinking of a client that I worked with who the very first time I saw her, I was so intimidated.

I was like, she's so beautiful. smart and accomplished and she's beautiful and holy cow, I could have listed a whole page of reasons why I admired this woman. And then we started journaling together and realizing, holy cow, she's going through the same things. She's having those same experiences and maybe they look different.

But they feel the same, right? That she knows what it's like to be disappointed in the way I was disappointed that one time. Someone else in our group knows what it's like to feel that good, to have our nervous systems be so dysregulated because we feel so good and we're so uncomfortable in our bodies because we're not used to this level of joy and awe that we're allowing ourselves to feel right now, right?

So being in these spaces. We have an opportunity not only to discover about ourselves, but then to get to share with others what we're experiencing. And no one is ever required to share. No one is ever expected to read what they wrote. But sharing is our currency. That's what makes these sessions so special.

That's what makes our community so special. Because we realize we're all in this together. That we're not as alone as we think. Our weird is not so weird. So weird that no one else will ever get us or like us that we are in this together. And I think of that beautiful quote by Ram Dass that says, we're all just walking each other home.

And that's 100 percent how it [00:29:42] feels in the spaces that That I'm in that I've created that other folks have co created with me and getting to be that safe person for others to be that person who creates the container where people can come and they can say, Here's what happened. And here's how I felt.

And here's what I need. Trusting that our community is going to take care of each other to walk us home is the greatest, most beautiful privilege of my life. of my life. Oh, that's beautiful. So this is group journaling. I just want to make that really clear because I think typically, and I could be wrong, but I think typically that people, when you talk about journaling, when one talks about journaling, we're thinking we're alone journaling.

So this is a group community thing. Can you tell us maybe a little bit about the specifics, how it all happens and then how people can become part of it? Yeah, absolutely. So there, you are absolutely right. When most of us think of journaling, we think of something we do by ourselves. And I will say, I totally believe that everybody who wants fun can and should have an individual journaling practice.

And also, there is magic in journaling with other people. Just like what I described, this feeling of connection and community and learning and growing together and walking each other home. It's so magical is the only word I have to describe it. So in our community, I want you to have the tools for both.

So I provide daily journal prompts so that you can do the solo piece together and always have something fresh to write on. And then once a week, when we gather together in [00:31:21] community, in these magical group sessions, we have a chance to continue to journal together, to have these conversations. Deep conversations to explore what's coming up for us.

And again, we each get to do it to our own comfort level. So you can dip your toes in, or you can jump right in, dive right into the deep end. Whatever feels most comfortable for you on any given day. And having a blend of both just is a really amazing way to build a journaling practice and get to know and love yourself for sure.

And so the best way right now to join our community is to get a hold of me. You can do that on LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn just about every day. Send me a message there. Connect with me. I ask folks to please connect, don't just follow, because when you connect, I know you're there, and we can have that conversation.

Or you can find our landing page, journalingforgrowth. com slash membership, and that has more details about what the sessions are like it's got the schedule of what all the topics are, every month we focus on a new topic, so that'll tell you what we're doing for the next year, and then have the registration page as well.

And so during the session, are you sitting in a group over zoom in silence with music? What does that look like? Yeah. So it is over zoom. I do not play music in sessions because I'm particular. I like to journal in quiet and sometimes I just don't like other people's music choices. So I will never inflict that on anyone else.

I always tell my group members that journal journaling to is your jam, have your playlist queued up. But yeah, we we gather together, I give a [00:33:00] journal prompt, I set my handy dandy timer, and when the timer's going, you do what feels good to you. I keep my camera on, I mute everybody, but I keep my camera on because I think it's good to have a visual some people keep their cameras on, other people turn them off and then when time's up, I bring everybody back, wrap up where you've been, come on back, and then we have a chance.

to share. And sometimes we share all together. Sometimes we break out into smaller groups for conversation, just depending on the size of the group that day and what, what we're called to do. But just making sure that everybody has a space to share and to share at a level that's really comfortable for them is paramount.

And so people that have been in your community, what are some of the, things that they have said about being in this community that really have stuck with you and made you feel like this is really powerful work? Yeah, I think of one of my very first participants in the very first group I ran. She is the reason I started this.

She sent me a message on LinkedIn and she said, I really want a journal. I know it would be really important for me, but I just can't make myself do it for me. But I think I would do it if I was accountable to somebody else. That's how this started for me. So I thought let's see. And I pulled a group of women together.

We scheduled five mornings. Five mornings before work for 30 minutes, let's get together and do it. And it was just an experiment to see if she would show up, to see if I like how it felt. And every day we journaled a different way. I showed this group lots of different techniques we could use.

And then on the last day, we talked about how to put the pieces together to really build a practice that [00:34:39] we love. And she looked at me and she said, I can do this. I always thought I would need it. Half an hour, maybe two hours to do this kind of work. But I see how much I just wrote what I discovered in just five minutes.

She's I can do this. And she's gone on to do so many amazing things. She's written a book, she's growing her business. She just moved into a new office, hired some new staff. And I'm not going to say it necessarily is because she journaled with me for 30 minutes a day for this week, right? But learning that she had the capacity to do this, that she could show up for herself in meaningful ways.

And I think that is something that's universal for people in my community. Showing up for yourself, learning to meet yourself where you're at learning who you are and why you are loving who you are as you are, even if you have room to grow because we all have room to grow, but if we love ourselves along the way.

Oh, life is so much better and so much sweeter. Thank you so much for sharing all of that, for being with us today. I will absolutely put everything in the show notes. So if you're looking to join Amanda's community, find out more, you can just go right to the show notes and I'll put the links there for you.

Make it really easy. Is there anything else you'd like to leave us with before we end this episode? I love to say that good things come to those who journal, and you deserve them. So journaling should never be something that we do just to check the box. It should never be something that we feel like we have [00:36:18] to do if we are journaling because it's something we should do.

Then reach out, let's have a conversation, and let's Let's turn it into something you love to do, a practice that supports and sustains you, that helps you show up for yourself, helps you know and love yourself and helps move your life forward and beautiful, wonderful, bold, wondrous ways. Beautiful. Thank you so much for that.

I really appreciate it. Thank you for being here, Amanda. Yeah, this has been my pleasure, Christine. Thank you.