Episode 61: Erin Loechner

Erin Loechner joins me for Episode 61. She is a writer, stylist and mom, living in the mid-west. She blogs at design for mankind and the heart of her is encouraging women to stop trying to define and label everything and just enjoy the life that we are actually given.

And with that, we talk about failure, parenting and the art of letting go. We weave the conversation around her new book Chasing Slow with a common thread of finding freedom, beauty and yourself in the middle of the chase. So pull up a chair to my kitchen table and join the conversation.

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Erin. Chatting with her truly felt like sitting with a girlfriend that you've known for a long time. Her kindness and authenticity makes her so relatable. I really liked the bottom-line message about learning to @@embrace who you are--all of you@@. The parts that are smooth and the parts that are rough around the edges. That is a step in learning to love you and finding contentment where you are. We need to learn to embrace our own hypocrisies and stop trying to soften our edges. Small admissions, no excuses, can bring freedom. Its just about being you--not your better self, but just you.

Links:

Survival Kit:

  • Easy Meals. Erin's go to is frying chopped up cauliflower in buffalo sauce. Sarah's go to meal is burrito bowls (ground meat seasoned with taco seasonings, black beans, onions, peppers, rice, salsa, guac)

(Amazon affiliate links used when possible. Don't forget to use SurvivingSarah.com/amazon when shopping for any of your amazon needs.)

Connect with Erin: Instagram // Website // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest

Takeaways From Our Conversation:

  • "Sometimes we try so hard to change our life that we don't let life change us." There are lessons to be found in the discomfort. There is so much growth opportunity that happens after failing. We get to grow from our learning experiments.
  • @@Often the cracks in our lives & the discomfort are part of who we are & are not a bad thing about us@@. Stop fearing the failure and understand that it is a daily practice of learning. "The first step of learning anything is failing at it."
  • @@Practice letting go of the small things so that you can let go in the big things@@.
  • We get to parent today and we aren't promised tomorrow. It is freeing to focus on parenting today. Take the noose of the future and free yourself to parent today. If you made a passive aggressive comment then it doesn't make you a passive aggressive person. Don't let an action label you or label your kids. We can have patterns of behavior, but resist the temptation to say, "how many times do i have to tell you?" 
  • Grace is releasing that metric and definition of what things are supposed to look like. Put the relationship first and not focus on the outcome. We keep score all the time of ourselves or our spouse or our children. Rebekah Lyons said, "Those who keep score do because they don't know their own value." Take the metric off.
  • Rules about social media: Go offline more than online. Stop working from a place of fear and be passionate about who you are. Live offline enough so that you have something to say. Release the expectations of what you are supposed to say. Don't take yourself too seriously and it will be fun. Think about what your brain is doing when you are online. Figure out why that message is offending you. Restrictions won't always solve the problem.
  • The opposite of control is surrender.

What did you enjoy about this episode? What was your takeaway. Let's continue the conversation  on Instagram or Twitter or you can send me an email here. 

Thank you for following along life with me. I love being apart of your day. And as always, I hope this show helps you survive a little easier.

A new episode every Tuesday... just subscribe.

Subscribe for free on iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on great conversations with women just like you. Women who are surviving and thriving. You don't have to do life alone. Be inspired, encouraged and entertained by women like Sandra Stanley, Shannan Martin, Jamie B. Golden, Mo Isom, Annie F. Downs, Joni Lay from Lay Baby Lay, Christy Nockels and many more.

Did you enjoy today's conversation? Rate the podcast.

My goal each week is to encourage you to survive in this very thing called life. If you were encouraged or inspired or entertained, head over to iTunes and leave a brief review with a 5 star rating.

Here is a recent one from osborne.shay:  "I have been really thankful for your podcast in 2016. You are one of the most relatable casters and I'm thankful for your realness. Thank you for sharing yourself with the world. I have added many podcasts to my listening last year, but yours remains one of my must listen-to's and I'm grateful. Keep it up, Sarah!" 

Your review will help get the podcast in front of new listeners who are just like you looking to know that they aren't alone in life. Thank you for being awesome!

Podcast, Parenting, Lifestylesarah bragg