We’re all used to seeing strong women portrayed on television. She’s fighting crime. She’s tough. She doesn’t like people to get too close to her.\u00a0 Softness equals weakness.\u00a0 That’s good and all for entertainment, but for me I see strength differently.<\/p>\n
I have many friends who embody strength to me. I wanted to highlight three of them today.\u00a0 These three\u00a0ladies I admired before I even knew the depth of their strength and what they had gone through. I attract rockstars, as I always say. These women share their stories in order to inspire others and give them hope.\u00a0 They are three of my soul sisters.\u00a0 They embody resilience and if I listed all the reasons or their whole stories, I’d have a book.\u00a0 You can find out more about them, but they have dealt with something we all like to avoid the subject let alone know it firsthand.\u00a0 Grief is something we wish we could skip in life altogether.\u00a0 They all lost loved ones before I met them.\u00a0\u00a0 Losing a\u00a0child or spouse…end of the world feeling.\u00a0 Unfathomable, unbearable, the love never dies but the idea that they would not physically be present with us is incomprehensible in my heart.\u00a0 It’s one of those things I will admit that I fear.\u00a0 Last year, my husband was having chest pain on his left side.\u00a0 I was pregnant with our fifth child. As we sat in the hospital, I pleaded with God.\u00a0 I’d take all the struggles I’d ever had,\u00a0never ask for anymore success, prosperity, or\u00a0dreams to come true…I’d never\u00a0take a moment of him for granted again…I needed him\u00a0to be okay.\u00a0 God, do not make me learn this lesson.\u00a0\u00a0It will break me. I’m strong, but don’t do this to me.<\/em>\u00a0 There was a surrender point.\u00a0 Then the doctor told us it was shingles.\u00a0 I have never felt so grateful, lucky, blessed.\u00a0 I had been texting one of my friends I’m including below.\u00a0 I teared up just thinking about Jennifer losing her husband.\u00a0 It made me even more in awe of ladies like these.<\/p>\n One of the goddesses\u00a0is Edie Weinstein, a fellow Beliefnet blogger, The Bliss Blog, she is the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming the Ordinary Into The Extraordinary.\u00a0 <\/em>I won’t go into her long\u00a0bio cause we don’t have all day.\u00a0\u00a0She interviewed the Dalai Lama for goodness sake.\u00a0 She is a counselor which is no surprise.\u00a0 Those who heal often help those that hurt.\u00a0 My friend, Jennifer Harp-Douris, owner and jewelry designer of Mermaid Tears jewelry.\u00a0 When we first met for coffee a few years ago and she told me her story, it hit my heart. She makes custom jewelry that many people get in memory of their loved ones. She has a gift of empathy when dealing with grieving\u00a0customers.\u00a0 \u00a0Sandy Peckinpah, author of How to Survive the Worst that Can Happen, <\/em>lost her sixteen year old son, her marriage then ended, and just as she was reconnecting with her ex-husband, he passed away.\u00a0 She is one of the kindest people on the planet and her beauty radiates from within.\u00a0 These women were instant friends.\u00a0 I didn’t know their pain when we met and then when they told me about their pasts, I loved and admired them even more.\u00a0 They make me look within.\u00a0 You wonder what you would do?\u00a0 If you lost your husband or child, how do you go on and not just function, but thrive like these ladies do.<\/p>\n Within each of them, they\u00a0have a few common threads, which\u00a0are their big hearts, their willingness to always help others, and their spirits.\u00a0 They are always on their unique path and they know it.\u00a0\u00a0Some people don’t realize they’re just playing a\u00a0human currently on their spiritual journey.\u00a0 We are all ultimately on a spiritual journey.\u00a0 These woman are still not asking “Why me?” years later.\u00a0 They took their own healing\u00a0and turned that into wisdom they share.\u00a0 And I’m lucky enough to know them.\u00a0 These are strong women, where toughness looks different, it’s\u00a0the courage to show your vulnerability and the bravery to never give up.\u00a0 I’m grateful\u00a0the Universe continues to bring me gems like these ladies.\u00a0 They are rockstars, my idols, heroes, and the coolest souls ever!\u00a0 I love you,\u00a0soul sisters.\u00a0 These goddesses all have websites if you’d like to know more:<\/p>\n Edie Weinstein: http:\/\/www.liveinjoy.org<\/p>\n Jennifer Harp-Douris:\u00a0 http:\/\/mermaidtearsjewelry.net<\/p>\n Sandy Peckinpah:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/howtosurvivetheworstthatcanhappen.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’re all used to seeing strong women portrayed on television. She’s fighting crime. She’s tough. She doesn’t like people to get too close to her.\u00a0 Softness equals weakness.\u00a0 That’s good and all for entertainment, but for me I see strength differently. I have many friends who embody strength to me. I wanted to highlight three…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n