Vitamins Are My Daily Ritual

January 7, 2023January 7, 2023Leave a comment

After having covid last winter, I started to take vitamins. I usually eat pretty well but have always had some issues with my immune system.

I have horrible sinuses and allergies. After I had COVID I was sick on and off for months. I felt like I was fighting a cold on and off for months.

I started to take daily vitamins and I SWEAR it helped me so much overall. I felt more energy, and my immune system improved.

Here is what I take:

I also have Antonio taking vitamins now, and he loves them. I call them candy and he actually enjoys taking them! https://amzn.to/3ZbA3QI

It is important to take care of yourself and your well-being. Making simple adjustments can really go a long way.

I am NOT a medical professional by any means, but I know that these things have helped me personally, and I wanted to share these with you.

Meet Susie Liberatore

As an Art Director with over 10 years of experience in the agency and corporate world, I saw global and local clients missing out on so many opportunities to get leads because of inconsistent branding. My goal is to help them generate new clients with my strategic processes. I help businesses NOT waste time or money and provide the highest quality design and service. As a single mom to an autistic child, I know how valuable time and money are.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days

Why Everyone Needs A Therapist.

January 7, 2023January 7, 2023Leave a comment

I have seen a therapist over the years, simply because I struggle with overthinking and anxiety. It has always been an issue for as long as I can remember, but sometimes when life gets hard it comes out more than before.

I just started seeing a new one recently. I have learned a lot and grown as a person over the past few months. As an entrepreneur and single mom, I worry, overthink, and want to fix everything. I am sure many of you can relate.

The thing is, I can’t do those things and need to work my way around these issues. I truly believe in personal development. I am here to share with you that you can overcome anything, as long as you put in the work. I want to make an impact in my life, my son’s life, and my friends.

What I am learning is there are things that I can not control and things that I can. As I get older I realize this more and more. I know that I have to let go.

I also read this great book and did a book review with my therapist. I highly recommend reading it if you are struggling with your anxiety. It helped me to train my brain to think differently and to turn negatives into positives. Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life

It doesn’t matter if you think life is fine or not, seeing a therapist helps to understand more about you and how to deal with anxiety.

I love learning more about myself and arriving at my own solutions. My therapist never told me what to do, but rather how to look at things differently and that I have the power to make my own decisions.

Meet Susie Liberatore

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days

It is Okay to Cry

March 15, 2019March 16, 201910 Comments

I wish more people would understand this. I feel like people are ashamed to cry or think it’s a sign of weakness it’s not. Emotions are real and if you don’t release them then you won’t be happy. You won’t be happy with yourself. It’s really that simple.

Its okay to say sorry. I think people are afraid of being wrong. I don’t mind being wrong at all. I don’t mind apologizing when I was wrong. I think this is another thing that the world needs more of. If I do not let out my crying, I end up having a panic attack because I have all these emotions built up that cant be released.

Why don’t more people understand and get that? Going through this divorce I did both of these things and I gained how to move forward. I realized that I needed to do both for my son. I want him to grow up knowing it’s okay to cry and say his sorry. It’s not a sign of weakness and no one will make fun of you.

I’ll tell you a quick story. When I know a divorce was coming I fought to try to stop it. I went to church and literally cried the whole time because everything made sense to me! So with that being said, I went out to breaksfat with some friends afterwards. I ordered sausage and gravy because I don’t have it enough!!I miss it in Nashville. One girl ordered steak and eggs and wanted medium rare. I bawled my eyes. I couldn’t hold it together. I had realized how much a best friend affects you. It was his favorite food, steak. I cried most of the breakfast. The girls didn’t know the whole story but they said “it’s brave of you to cry here we have all been through stuff we respect you and will pray for you.” I cried even harder knowing that I wasn’t embarrassing them and that they weren’t even asking questions.

I didn’t care if people stared. I didn’t care that my make up was a mess. I didn’t care about any of it because If I didn’t let it out I would of had to leave or have a panic attack or both. I knew that I had good friends by my side and made it all better.

So cry more and apologize more. We need more of it. And uplift someone when they are having a hard time.

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The Best Victory Yet – Autism Parenting

February 15, 2019January 20, 2019Leave a comment

I am going to GET REAL honest here. Parenting is hard; you have heard me say this time and time again. There were times when I doubted myself. There were times I laid on the bathroom floor and cried and begged God to help me. Life has thrown curve balls at me for some time now.

I had an emotional day the other day. I literally cried most of the day in between sales calls. Why? Because Antonio had some new assessments and evaluations. For some reason, my anxiety was through the roof. I had to hurry up and leave so I could have a panic attack in my car before driving home. I had to take a deep breath and think of God during this time.

Why a panic attack?

Because at that moment in time nothing else mattered but Antonio. I used to pray so hard to God to make Antonio talk. I hated the word autism at first. I hated life. But since making changes in our lives, we saw the progress that we needed. That is what I should have been praying for instead of speaking. He can follow directions and listen and imitate; the list goes on and on. They told us that he’s 40 months old, but developmentally he’s at 30 months old. This moment is when my panic attack kicked in. Hearing that was like a victory dance! We are finally catching up, we aren’t slowing down, and he’s doing amazzzing. Some could argue with this, but going dairy and gluten-free has been the best decision ever. I’m forever happy and grateful for our health insurance and aba team.

I had the hardest time adapting to these obstacles of being an autistic child’s mother. But I had to do what I had to do. I would cry and beg everyone for any help. I didn’t know what to do about any of it. All that needed doing was to get him some therapy and patience, and it would all fix itself in time.

Due to the many obstacles in life, I have changed a lot. I have started journaling, having a better schedule, allowing family time, less screen time, more kid activities, more physical activity, going to church, and self-care. Because all of this does matter, you cannot be by your children all day every day. It will DRAIN you and your life out. Trust me on this. All we can do is pray and know that time will get us through anything!

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

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5 Signs Of Postpartum Depression

May 18, 2018February 21, 201910 Comments

Guest Post by Lauren Cecora is a Postpartum Mentor for women who are desperately overwhelmed and overscheduled. Through her Sanity Saving Tips, free challenges, and book, she’s here to help you regain balance in your life- while making it all effortless.
And when she’s not saving women’s sanity, you can find her with a bottle of wine (yes bottle!), traveling the world, or out on the occasional kid free excursion.
Meet Lauren and get ready to Save Your Sanity at www.laurencecora.com

I want to start off by clarifying that any maternal mental health disorder is different for every individual person. Everyone experiences things differently, and while that isn’t much help initially- my biggest advice is to trust your gut. If you feel that something is out of place- run with that. You know your body best and even when things are different or new- you more than anyone else will know if something feels different than before.

It’s my hope in sharing some of my signs and symptoms with you that it will empower you to think about your life and to help you seek help and healing if suffering with a maternal mental health disorder. Now that I have made it through to the other side of Postpartum Depression and have been managing my Postpartum Anxiety for almost 2 full years, I can see now where my first initial signs were present. I later wrote a book with way more information and tips for healing with PPD and PPA- called: Past-Partum from Shattered to Sane, but something was not quite right in the little corner of my world..

Every little upset in a routine or schedule was debilitating.

I didn’t know how to function or problem solve; everything was overwhelming me and I couldn’t wrap my head around adjusting little things. This was everything from nap time not working out, a fussy baby, more crying than normal, more nursing sessions than normal. Everything that happened to throw me off my grove trapped me. I felt helpless and as is everything in my world was falling apart. I just stopped functioning and I would sit in my house, cancel plans, and just be miserable.

2. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt happy or joyful.

Even when my baby would coo or smile at me or do something amazing, I wasn’t truly happy, that rush of happy endorphins never happened. I would smile on the outside, but I would be annoyed or sad or angry on the inside. And instead of me relishing in beautiful moments I would chastise myself for not appreciating things the way one should. Wasn’t having a baby supposed to make me happy?

3. I was crying over everything.

Baby woke up 5 minutes early, I cried. I took a shower but didn’t have time to do my hair, I cried. Someone took my parking space at Whole Foods, I cried. Everything made me cry and it would happen without warning or control. And it lasted so much longer than the normal talked about 1-2 weeks post delivery. This went on for months.

4. I would imagine ways to make my daughter stop crying.

This one is probably going to raise some red flags, but I feel it very important to mention because some moms, think thoughts like these and they are not bad moms. When my daughter would cry for hours on end, or wake up in the middle of the night and I was struggling to get her back to sleep, I would sometimes be pacing the dark house, humming a lullaby and thinking of ways I could make her stop, and not in a good normal way. “If I hit her head on the counter hard enough maybe it will knock her out and she will sleep for a few hours” or “Could I just put her in the car in the garage and shut the door so she could cry it out”.

Sleep deprivation caught up quick with a newborn nursing frequently and a husband deployed without family around. I’m not proud of these thoughts, but they happened, and it was a clear sign that something wasn’t right with me if I was even thinking these thoughts, sleep deprived or not.

5. I would get these debilitating migraines.

I was never one to get even headaches unless I was really sick or stressed out. Maybe once a year, but I had experienced a migraine several years prior due to a work related concussion and I vowed to never want to experience that sort of thing ever again. So when I started getting these piercing aches in my head and I couldn’t get them to go away, I knew something was wrong. The only way I could stop a migraine was to go to sleep. Well for a mom with a husband deployed and a newborn at home and not a single family member around, sleep was not an option in my life. While I thought it was sleep deprivation or stress related as a cause, it turned out to be a severe nutrient deficiency due to pregnancy, nursing, and then not taking proper care of myself. After honing in on a whole food nutrition diet and adding in supplements on a daily basis, not only did it help my stress levels but the migraines stopped after a few weeks.

While these were some of my big signs that I was suffering from more than normal “new mom blues” I have met plenty of women that experience symptoms that are different or similar. Maybe it shows up as insomnia, or uncontrollable anger or rage. Maybe it shows up as exhaustion or lack of empathy or feeling. There is no single definition of PPD- but there are perimeters that you can hit to fall into the category. My best advice for any mom (new or seasoned) is to seek help: your OB or Midwife, your primary care doctor, a nurse, or friend- have them screen you for maternal mental health and get a referral for some counseling. Counseling was an excellent way for me to express my feelings without judgement and provided me guidelines to start taking care of myself.