Gentle Strength For The Holidays

The holiday table can glow and ache at the same time. We open up about how grief, memory, and pressure can blur the season—and how to meet it with honesty, gentleness, and real-world tools that actually help. Instead of reinventing yourself, we focus on remembering the capable, resilient person who got you this far and is ready to rise again.

We walk through a kinder approach to gratitude that goes beyond listing blessings. Think of it as noticing what carries you: the friend who checks in, the walk that steadies your breath, the small routines that keep you grounded. From there, we rebuild self-belief with evidence—writing down the steps you’ve taken over the last 60 days—and we choose tiny, repeatable anchors for a busy week: a short walk after dinner, water before coffee, a few minutes of quiet before a gathering, protein with each meal. No rules or guilt trips, just rails that keep you steady.

We also name the messy middle: you’re allowed to feel joy and sadness at once. One meal won’t erase progress, one dessert won’t derail health, and one emotional moment doesn’t mean you’re falling apart. To close the year with intention, we offer two questions that re-center your path: What has been the most meaningful thing in your life over the last 60 days? And what is one feeling you want on December 31—not a metric, a feeling? Use those answers to guide the next kind choice and protect your peace without apology.

If this season feels heavy, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to carry it perfectly. Press play for practical ways to navigate holidays, grief, and goals with compassion and strength. If this resonates, share it with a friend who needs gentleness today, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. Your future self will thank you.

Chapters

• 0:57 Remembering Self-Belief
• 2:48 Holidays, Grief, And Mixed Emotions
• 5:44 Permission To Feel And Slow Down
• 8:57 Coming Home To Yourself
• 12:44 Gratitude As A Grounding Practice
• 16:31 Reclaiming Confidence And Small Anchors

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:29

Welcome back, my friend, to Unleash Your Inner Radiance. I'm Lisa, your life, wellness, and transformation coach. And I am so glad that you're here today because this week holds a lot for many of us. In my last episode, you know, I talked about how you didn't lose your self-belief. You just literally forgot where you put it. And that message matters even more right now. Because when life gets heavy and the holidays stir up old memories, when your body is changing to a much slower pace than you want, it's really easy to think that something is wrong with us. But nothing is broken here. Your confidence isn't gone. Your fire isn't gone. Your ability to follow through isn't gone. It's literally still in you, all of it. Just tucked under the noise, the grief, the stress, and the explanations that you have been carrying and the words that you've been saying to yourself and the expectations of others. This season isn't about finding a new version of yourself. It's about remembering the one that you already are, the one who has gotten through every hard thing so far. And she's still right here, ready to rise. So as we are heading into Thanksgiving, I can't believe it's already in a couple of days. And then we roll right straight into the holidays. There are times when life is just really tough, and the holidays seem to get that way. And while this season really brings connection and comfort, it also brings the stress, the pressure, the expectations, and the memories that hit just a little harder than we expected them to. This week is really a tender one for me because last year I lost my dad just days before Thanksgiving. And even now, it feels like the holidays arrive kind of with a mix of love and happiness. And I really miss him. And maybe you felt that too. Maybe you're hearing something this season that makes the lights feel a little bit dimmer. So let's just breathe for a minute. Let's talk about getting through the holidays with honesty, with gentleness, with strength. And talk about how you can use the final weeks of this year to set yourself up for a stronger, clearer, more energized 2026. Because you deserve that. And your future self is already thanking you for starting now. So what do you think of that? So as we navigate the holiday season with, you know, when your heart is heavy, kind of like mine is, I mean, the holidays bring out the best of us and the most overwhelmed parts of us. And so if you are grieving, healing, or trying to find your way, the emotional weight gets heavier. But here's what I want you to remember: you don't have to pretend to be okay. You don't need to hold it all together perfectly. You are allowed to feel joy and sadness at the same time. And you are allowed to slow down and protect your peace. So I want you to ask yourself one question this week. What do I need to feel supported? You don't need a full answer. But even noticing the question and how it shifts your energy is really super important. So take note of that. So this is kind of like a season to come home to yourself. Today we're gonna slow things down and get honest about something that you might be feeling, but haven't said it out loud. Because Thanksgiving brings so much noise. Family, food, expectations, old emotions, new goals. It's a lot. And if you're walking through grief, change, or a major life reset, this week can hit differently. You might feel stretched between wanting to stay present for the people you love and wanting just a little space to breathe. And remember that you're not alone and you're not doing anything wrong because you're human. Back in 2011, I left my ex-husband right before Christmas. Like right around Thanksgiving. So that was a really tough time for me. And then I lose my dad last year, right before Thanksgiving. So, you know, as I go into this week and I start going into the holidays, I've lost both my parents. Um, it just, it's just, it brings up a lot of emotions. And it just makes it, you just kind of catch yourself at certain times. So remember that you're not alone and you're not doing anything wrong by experiencing these feelings. You're just human, just like I'm just human. And so this is the season, it's it's an actually, it's actually perfect. It's the actual perfect moment to come home to yourself again. Because you've spent the last weeks working on your health, healing parts of your story, remembering your confidence, and rebuilding your energy. That doesn't disappear just because there's pumpkin pie on the table. Um, although pumpkin pie is one of my favorites. It comes within you, it anchors you. You get to honor where you are without pretending you feel something you don't. You get to show up with compassion for yourself first. And you get to protect your peace without guilt. And yes, you get to enjoy the holiday without starting over Monday. So let's talk about a few things to keep you steady this week. First, we're going to talk about gratitude because gratitude isn't about pretending everything is perfect, it's about noticing what's carrying you. Maybe it's strength that you didn't know you still had. Maybe it's the small routines that you've built. Maybe it's the people who showed up for you when you needed it. Gratitude is a lesson. It's it's it's a lesson. And it's it's it's tough, right? It's tough to have a gratitude journal because gratitude is less about listing blessings and more about acknowledging the things that are helping you move forward. And that is a tough one for me. Um, I've always struggled with gratitude journals because I always want to list the blessings instead of acknowledging the things that are actually helping me move in the direction that I want to go, right? Um, so there is that, and you might struggle with that too. Second, I want to talk about your belief because it didn't disappear. You did literally just forget where you put it. So life gets loud, the stresses pile up, you start doubting yourself without even noticing that you're doing it. But the belief, it is still there. And this season can actually help you reconnect with it. Because when you slow down, you remember what truly matters. When you see how far you've already come in these last 60 days, that confidence comes back into view because you didn't lose it. You just tucked it under all the responsibilities that you carry. So this week is a chance to pick it back up. And when I say how far you've come in the last 60 days, I want you to sit down and I want you to write that out. Go back 60 days and just see the steps that you've taken to move you forward to where you are today. Because then over the next 60 days, we're gonna take more steps to move you even forward, right? So I want you to keep one or two small commitments to yourself. There's no rules, no restrictions, just grounding anchors. I want you to take a short walk after dinner. Or have a glass of water before your coffee. Make sure you eat a pea a good chunk of protein with each meal. And how about just a few minutes of quiet before you walk into a gathering? These tiny anchors will hold you steady when the week gets busy. And here is your dental holiday survival reminder. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to eat clean. You can just eat. And you don't have to prove anything. One meal is not going to stop your progress. One dessert won't derail your goals, and one emotional moment doesn't mean you're falling apart. You're learning. Yeah, you're learning. You're learning how to take care of yourself in real life with real people, with real emotions, and that's the transformation. So even though you go into the holidays and they're hard, I want you to just sit with it. Because as you move through this Thanksgiving, I want you to ask yourself one question. What has been the most meaningful thing in my life over the last 60 days? I want you to sit with it, I want you to name it, I want you to honor it. Because that answer is part of who you're becoming. What has been the most meaningful thing in my life over the last 60 days? Before you go, ask yourself what is one thing you want to feel on December 31st? Not accomplish, but feel. And just remember that you don't have to do this alone. You do deserve to feel good again. And this is your moment to start. See you next week on Unleash Your Inter Radiance. Have a great Thanksgiving day.