Creating Determination

As I continue my journey of examining my most common emotions, I focused the last few days on why I feel so determined most of the time. I believe this helps me achieve my goals, even in the face of adversity. I know for sure that it helps me not to quit. So what am

Looking in the Mirror

I’ve been doing some work in the past few weeks on discovering my most common emotional reactions so that I could have a look at the thoughts that might be driving them. I noticed that my top 3 are impatience, irritation, and determination. I decided to have a look at irritation. I did a thought

The Process of Rediscovering my Mission

It’s become clear to me in the past few weeks that my mission in life is to help other veterans rediscover their mission in life. We had a very clear mission in the military but civilian life is not so structured, so it can be very easy to lose your way. I know I did.

The Importance of Questioning your Thoughts

The last few days have been a challenge for me. I’ve been helping to deal with my mom’s health concerns. My thoughts have been swirling and going to places that are driving some not so helpful emotions. I’m fairly sure that there are some healthcare professionals who hope they never have to deal with me

Growth vs. Perfection

I’ve done a lot of thinking this week on the topic of having high expectations for myself and whether or not that is a result of perfectionism or whether it’s just me trying to grow and learn. I’ve come to the conclusion that having high expectations, ambitions and goals is not the same thing as

The Light from the Dark

“Perfect Girl” is my response to the fear of not being good enough. I created her to help me deal with this. Like most things in life, there’s a yin and a yang to being a perfectionist. I will tell you that she has taught me some very valuable lessons and strengths that I will

Peeling Back the Layers

My coach, Corinne Crabtree (www.phit-n-phat.com), uses the Self Coaching Model by Brooke Castillo (https://thelifecoachschool.com/self-coaching-model/). This overarching model has truly helped me peel back all the layers of buffering in which I was engaged. I smoked to buffer feelings of anxiety and stress. I ate to numb the feelings of shame that my nasty internal conversations

Perfectionism vs. Achieving

How does one learn to become a perfectionist and overachiever? In my case, I learned in my childhood that being perfect was a way to stay safe and to avoid being criticized. That mode of thinking was further solidified by my six year career in the United States Navy. I’m pretty sure that most of

Recovery from Perfectionism

Hi! My name is Holly Lewis and I wanted to share with you my journey of my ongoing recovery from perfectionism. Now you might be saying, “Holly, recovery? Really? Isn’t that a heavy term to be using in this context?”. I’m here to tell you that I truly have to consciously decide every single day