by AnnSheybani | Jul 29, 2014 | adventure, books, County Cork, Courage, Ireland, Life, limiting beliefs, Mark Divine, Motivation, Reading, tenacity, The Way of the SEAL
On Sunday, Walt and I got the brilliant idea that we’d kayak over to Horse Island and have ourselves a little picnic to celebrate our anniversary. Horse Island is this little deserted hunk of cliff and bush with an old stone tower on one end that lies ten minutes off...
by AnnSheybani | Jun 29, 2014 | Alcoholic rules, Codependency, confrontation, growing up, Life, limiting beliefs, people pleasing, rage, The Adult Children of Alcoholics Syndrome
As I’ve mentioned about a thousand times before, I grew up in an alcoholic household. My dad was a former farm boy from rural North Dakota who hated his job as an engineer at Pratt & Whitney, or, as we used to call it at home, Pratt & Whiskey. Now, I’ve...
by AnnSheybani | May 26, 2014 | change, Confidence, Courage, dealing with criticism, expectations, Fearless Living, free will, identity, Life, life transitions, limiting beliefs, Motivation, purpose, reinvention, risk, role model, route finding, Self-Esteem, tenacity, voice, William McRaven
I love this time of year. All those motivating commencement speeches cropping up on the Internet. I can’t remember a single word that was said when I graduated with my B.S. in 1985. I do, however, remember the commencement speech at Harvard when I received my...
by AnnSheybani | Apr 6, 2014 | Alcoholic rules, books, coaching, expectations, Honesty, Life, limiting beliefs, manipulation, rage, self-sabotage, Shift The World, Steve Chandler, The Adult Children of Alcoholics Syndrome
My mom was the queen of expectations. Despite being very helpful to me, particularly when my kids were young, her acts of service always came with an unspoken price tag. Our relationship suffered because she expected me to do whatever she ‘expected’ of me...
by AnnSheybani | Nov 18, 2013 | Alcoholic rules, Authenticity, Boundaries, coaching, Codependency, Confidence, confrontation, Courage, expectations, Fearless Living, grace, guilt, Honesty, identity, Intimacy, Life, life transitions, limiting beliefs, manipulation, mistakes, nice girl complex, people pleasing, perfectionism, rage, reinvention, risk, Self love, voice, vulnerability, Writing
You get to change your mind You get to make mistakes You get to vacillate You get to take your own sweet time You get to be angry, or hurt, or sad You get to say no You get to take care of your needs You get to disagree You get to speak your mind You get to be direct...
by AnnSheybani | Aug 25, 2013 | 10 Stupid Things WomenDo to Mess Up Their Lives, Alcoholic rules, Alcoholism, Anne Lamott, attachment, books, Boundaries, Brene Brown, coaching, Codependency, connection, Daring Greatly, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Emotional Unavailability, extreem dependency, Fearless Living, grace, guilt, Honesty, identity, Intimacy, limiting beliefs, Lit, love, Mary Karr, mistakes, nice girl complex, people pleasing, perfectionism, Reading, Rhonda Britten, role model, Saying no, Self love, Sociopathology, The Adult Children of Alcoholics Syndrome, The Gifts of Imperfection, The Sociopath Next Door, Traveling Mercies, vulnerability
If I were to teach a course about overcoming the emotional damage and the misconceptions picked up from alcoholic parents, this would be the semester’s assigned reading. You’ll see me quote from these books from time to time, and I often send them to my...
