Episode 12: Reinventing Yourself with Mary Belletieri

What if you don't have to have your life completely figured out before you start?

And what if changing your mind isn't failure, it's growth?

In Episode 12 of The Truth About Healing, Dana sits down with author, entrepreneur, corporate event and marketing professional, and working mom Mary Belletieri for a refreshingly honest conversation about motherhood, career, anxiety, perfectionism, reinvention, and learning to say yes before you know exactly how everything will work out.

Mary's career has been anything but linear. From corporate event planning and digital marketing to freelancing, self-publishing books, motherhood, and eventually returning to a corporate career she didn't realize she missed, her story is proof that you don't need one perfectly mapped-out path to build a meaningful life.

Dana and Mary also get real about working-mom guilt, the pressure to do everything, why motherhood can expose our need for control, and the realization that being a good mom doesn't require losing every other part of yourself.

Because sometimes healing isn't about becoming someone new.

It's about giving yourself permission to keep discovering who you are. 

📚 Find Mary's Books:
www.marybellebooks.com

📍 Follow Mary on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/mary.belle.books

Her books are also available on Amazon.

Work With Peaceful Living Mental Health Counseling

If you're struggling with anxiety, perfectionism, burnout, relationship challenges, trauma, or feeling stuck in survival mode, our team is here to help.

📍 In-Person Therapy: Scarsdale, NY

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📅 Learn more or schedule a consultation:
www.peacefullivingmhc.com

Additional Resources

🧠 EMDR Resources for Clinicians & Clients
www.danacarretta.com/shop

🛠️ Recommended Therapy Tools, Regulation Resources & EMDR Systems for Clinicians
www.danacarretta.com/therapytools

🎁 Free Nervous System Resources
www.danacarretta.com/free

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Because healing gets easier when we stop doing it alone. 💛

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to another episode of The Truth About Healing, a podcast that's here to challenge everything you think you knew about therapy. I'm Dana Coretta Stein, EMDR and Neuroinformed Therapist. And I'm on a mission to help 10 million people change their patterns, relationships, and future generations by teaching them how to gain control of their nervous system. Let's go with it. Today's guest is a self-published author, entrepreneur, and corporate event and marketing professional who has spent the last six years building a career from home while raising her daughter, who's really cute, by the way. She's the author of multiple books, including the children's book Is Today Tomorrow, contemporary romance novels inspired by her love of Italy, and has successfully navigated the world of self-publishing from concept to publication and sales. Today she balances life as a work-from-home mom with a thriving career in the corporate healthcare and aesthetics industry, where she leads national events, medical education programs, and strategic marketing initiatives. Her story is one of reinvention, resilience, creativity, and proving that it's possible to pursue both passion and professional success at the same time. Please welcome Mary Bellateri. Hi. I'm so happy you're here. Me too. So a little background for anyone who um doesn't know. So Mary and I met from I was on her podcast called Life Actually. Yes. And it was one of the funnest podcasts that I've been on. Thank you. We just got that like Italian energy vibe. We did.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

We chatted like we were besties from back in the day, which tends to happen when you just have like good people that you connect with. Totally. And so we're back here at Kai Visions. Hello, Claudio. Haven't been here in a while because mine's been on a little bit of a hiatus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

And then re-emerge. Yeah. But I'm so happy you're here. Thank you. All the things, all the things. So let's just start with like, you know, your kind of story, so to speak, with you know, being a working mom. Like this is something I think I know I personally resonate a ton with. But yeah, like your journey from when you were, you know, working and then you had a child, and then boom, what happened?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah. Well, um, anybody who's listened to my podcast or knows me knows this and it's gonna be boring. But for anybody who's new, um I have one of those careers that it's entirely not linear. It's been all over the place. I went to University of Delaware for hotel restaurant management. I swore I was gonna own a nightclub. Ooh. And then I graduated and I said to my parents, I'm like, yeah, I don't think I want to do anything in the hotels and restaurant industry. And they were like, Oh, okay. Change my mind. Um, but my first job out of college ended up being event planning, and I worked corporate and it was with pharmaceutical companies, and it was the best job I could have asked for as a 21-year-old. You got to travel on somebody else's dime. It was like all um domestic travel. I met incredible people that I'm still friends with to this day. And my personality as a whole, I'm type A, I'm organized, I love planning. So it was the perfect job for me. And after a couple of years, I just ended up getting tired of traveling. Um, so from there, I have been in so many different industries because I've always been the person who's good at a lot of things, never really knew exactly what I wanted to do. So I just sort of dabble. And when I would get uncomfortable or I would feel like this isn't going anywhere, I'd change it. Um, and it's a part of my personality I think I'm the most proud of is that if something just doesn't feel right with me, I'll figure out a way to adapt. Yeah, to adapt or just move forward when the when the time is right. Yep. So I've worked in a variety of marketing positions, digital management, um, like like social media marketing. Um, and I've always had on my bucket list that I wanted to write a book. And a couple years ago, I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna be 40. I think it's time to write that book. And it was inspired by a trip to Italy about 10 years ago. It's a two-book romance series that I wrote when my daughter was super little and young. And from there I now have a kid's book. So amazing. All of that to say, which I say on my podcast all the time, is that it's just been a it's been a journey of basically understanding and learning what my skill sets are, and that you can feel in your heart, like, all right, this is where I'm meant to be. And then a lot of it, like you just said, is adapting to maybe what's next.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yep. I just I have like friends in my head because that show lives run free in my head of like pivot. Yeah, exactly. Needing to pivot, right? Yes. And I love the whole premise for your podcast of like we all have a plan and then life actually happens. Yeah, right. Like that's something that always stuck with me because it's so true. Yeah. One of my favorite sayings is always um a man plans and God laughs.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Right. So, you know, you had this plan you of what your life would look like, and then what changed?

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Well, when I had my daughter, um, I realized very quickly for somebody who like prided myself on, oh, I just um organized and I always have a plan. And I used to joke, one of my best friends, we'd be on our way to say, like a kid's birthday party before we had our own kids, and she was notorious for filling out cards in the car, getting gifts on the way to the party. That's me. I do that. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yes, I'm the chaos one. No.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Yeah. And I am the complete opposite, where like I'll have all of the gifts in my house for a month, and then I'll have to remember that I already bought it because I did it months prior.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Also, maybe that I forget that I have them. So I'm super organized, but then I have no memory. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Well, I think that's because of being 40. But um, but yeah, so I've just always been that way where I would plan everything, and that made me feel the most comfortable. Yeah. When you have a kid, you very quickly realize that you cannot plan for a lot of anything, oftentimes. And I really very, like I said, quickly realized I'm like, what is this feeling that I have? And it was pure anxiety of not knowing what each day was gonna bring. Is she gonna sleep at night? How much time am I gonna have to get my work done? Am I gonna be able to get my work done? What mood is she gonna be in? Am I gonna be able to go grocery shopping? Like, you know, all of these things where now it doesn't matter how organized and what your plan is, like you just said, she'll laugh, my daughter. And so I really had to adapt quickly because I was like, okay, I can't plan everything away anymore. And what I thought was actually being organized was really just anxiety in disguise. Keeping you nice and controlled. Yeah, and I'm a control as someone might say I need to be in control all the time.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, yeah. But it's so it sounds like all of that control and stuff was really helping you manage the anxiety. Right. And then your daughter was born. So what happened? So keep when we have children too, postpartum is very much a thing. Like I've been pretty open with my postpartum journey. So pre-existing anxiety, and then that on top of it, as you're trying to factor all of that and juggle. And what did your day-to-day look like?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Well, the good part for me was that I I guess it's a good and a bad. So I never I was a freelancer when um I was pregnant and when I had marina, so I I never really stopped working. Maybe I had a few days where I was in the hospital post like giving birth and I wasn't working, and then I hopped right back into it, which looking back at it now, I think that was a way for me to feel like I had control over something. I was like, okay, I can get back to work and I know what to expect here. Whereas newborn territory, even for her being a very good newborn, and her dad is just he's a fantastic father, so he was very hands-on. Uh, you didn't know. Like, I remember going to bed at night, you know, when they take the naps every couple hours, and I'd be like, I can't get in bed right now at say, I don't know, 10, 11 o'clock at night, because I know she's gonna be up at one o'clock again. I would lay down and then I'd be like, I can't possibly fall asleep right now because I'm gonna get anxiety, knowing that I'll be up in a couple hours again. Right. So then I would adapt with certain parts of that and be like, all right, let me stay in the living room at least until one o'clock in the morning. Right. So that at least then I know, you know, it's less waking up in the middle of the night. So there were different parts of me that I would adapt as I learned what her habits and what her, you know, schedule would be that in order to make me feel like I still had some of that control in the midst of working and doing all of that stuff. It w it was hard. And I I had mild postpartum. Like I remember my mom saying, like, Merrick, go to Starbucks, like go get out of the house. And I I cried in the drive-thru of Starbucks. I still don't know why, and I don't think any of us know why. It's just hormones, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

The neurotransmitters are free-flowing through everything. Exactly. Yeah, there is no why. Yeah, yeah, it just is.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

And it just was, and uh, it took a bunch of years for that to go away. And even now, like you you have different episodes of that sort of thing. Like, you know, um, you think you have your day ahead of you to get X, Y, Z done, especially now that I'm back in corporate, and then you can get a call from the nurse's office, like, hey, you know, got a stomachache, gotta come pick her up. And you're like, oh, well, that's not that's not at all what I thought my day was gonna look like.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yeah, it's almost like you have to just be able to like gear shift really quickly.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, which is very highly impossible for me. Um learning that it has to be possible, but it it's a hardship.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

What makes it hard for you to to shift? Uh because like I mean, you said something very important, you know, you were learning Marina as she was growing. So like and that's very much what it is in the beginning, right? You're learning each other. Yeah. So you need time and space to be able to access that information. So what makes it hard for you to shift back and forth? Like, is it doing too much? Is it difficulty with problem solving?

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Like to shift back and forth between like the motherhood and the career. All the different tasks, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I still try to manage that as best I can like I'm a handwritten to-do list kind of gal. Like it I had it in my phone for a while, but then I think it was less tangible for me because I couldn't hold it and couldn't look at it. So in order to like bridge that gap of not knowing what's gonna happen for motherhood versus everything that you have to do for corporate, there is just an element of like you have to mentally retrain yourself all the time. Not that things are not important because they certainly feel important in the moment. Like, you know, if there was a work call and I'm like, well, I can't be on this work call right now because I have to go pick up my daughter, like that could get me like right in the throat. Like, no, no, no, I I need to be on that call. Right. Do you need to be? I I mean, yes, it's very important. Like everybody's jobs are important in a certain way, but you have to take a few steps back sometimes and be like, okay, like unless you're presenting to the president at this, you know, thing, like there's just some times that you have to bend because you don't have a choice. And that's been an ongoing lesson for me is that uh you just have to be more flexible.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Well, it's you do have a choice, but it's what are you choosing, right? Your daughter or work. And that's something I think every working mom can resonate with, of feeling like we are stuck between these two things that are very important. It's like two parts of us. Right. A part of me that is like a professional and love that part of us. And then the part of us that's a parent, and we love like we're wired to be m moms, right? Right. So yeah, that like feeling stuck.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

It is, and it's it's there's guilt no matter how I talk about this all the time is the mom guilt. It's just insane.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I wish there was a pill for it. Me and my friend Lauren say it all the time. We wish there was a pill for mom guilt.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

It's just and it's really cuckoo crazy because you're sitting there and you're contributing financially to your family. You're using the skills that like you look at it this way too. For me, my parents paid for my college tuition. So, like, there's a lot of skill sets, knowledge that you got from that. And I enjoy working. I enjoy having a career. And getting back in the corporate space, I didn't even realize that I missed using these skill sets because I had been out of the game for so long. I've I realized that I missed working within large groups too, because there's just there's a different factor in that as well when you're working as part of a team. I'm usually a self-starter, which I think is why I was able to successfully write books and self-publish them because I didn't need anybody, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

You can hold yourself accountable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

And I do that pretty well. But there is something to be said for corporate and working within a team and all towards a goal, using the skill sets that I've acquired over years and years of all those different industries. But then also sitting there and saying, All right, well, I have my computer in front of me, and then your your daughter's looking at you like, Mom, you're still working? And you're like, Well, shit, if I if I worked out of the office, she'd be either at a school or with a babysitter or whatever. She wouldn't even see me. So why do I feel guilty right now? Um, but there's really no way to slice it. So the way that I combated that was being as honest with her as possible. And I've spoken to her like she's a little adult since she's been a baby. Um, I was like, mommy's gonna work for the next X amount of time, and then after that, we're gonna do XYZ. Just for expectations to be set for her that's great, for me to hold me accountable, like, hey, it's been two hours. She's already played by herself, FaceTimed grandma for you know, two times, watched a little TV, did her kid yoga on YouTube. Like, we've exhausted all the things to keep, you know, whatever that's been between two and six years old, yeah, you know, entertained. Now you owe it to her to break away. And it's funny too, we sometimes feel like we have to do like hours and hours of activity to keep our kids entertained. No, I right 20 to 30 minutes break, and then they're like, okay, I'll get back to whatever I was doing. That's really all you need to do.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

That's really all their attention span can handle anyway. Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah. But in your mind, you you build it up to be like, I have to.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

It's gotta be this whole day thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Gotta go to fun max, gotta go. You don't have to do those things all the time. Right. Like go outside, run around, play like a little creative game, play hide and seek, like go play Uno. Like, so I just really try. I I've tried in this, in this time when that guilt comes in. Like, no, you're you're not sitting here scrolling and you know, like just doing dumb shit and ignoring her. You're working. Like you're you're moving your skill sets forward, you're establishing your career, and you're doing things that essentially she's learning from too.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Exactly, exactly. And I always feel sometimes too when like my kids are, you know, mommy, play, like, can you play this with me? I'm like, sometimes I get so into like my work, and and for me it's a passion, but then I'm like, I need to play.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Right. So it's like for us too of like getting out of that mentality of like super hyper focus and yes, and but then there's also some things too, and I think this is very important.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Where's my camera? If you are a mom and you don't like pretend play, like there's just certain types of play that you absolutely don't like, that's okay. And that's something I felt guilty to for a while. Like, mom, I I even forgot, do you want to play with oh, well, just playing with Barbies? Yeah. I used to like Barbies when I was a kid. I don't like playing with Barbies anymore. I feel like an idiot. I just don't like doing it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

If you ask me to paint, is it because it's not um it's like so illogical? Like it's I don't even know.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

I just find that it's I find that it's boring. Like, and maybe this is just a nod to my creative side. I enjoy like I would rather sit there and play school with her or play restaurant or paint. Yeah. Like I don't want to play with dolls. And you know, you saying that out loud, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Yeah, I mean you have a kid, you don't really need a doll anymore. You're like, I've got the real life thing. I don't really need to think of.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

And then I also feel guilt on that way too, because she doesn't have a sibling. So I'm like, what an asshole I am that I'm not playing with her when, you know, I grew up annoying my sister. My sister was the one who said no. It was never, I never asked my mom to play. It wasn't even a factor because my mother had three kids. Right. My mom was not stopping to play Barbies with me. My mother was putting food on the table, she was going to her PTA meeting, she was running a house when my dad was out of the house. Like things were very different back then. Very different. So I think that's where the guilt comes in too. I work from home. Did your mom work? She did. Okay. She did. And she raised three kids. Maybe not when we were super young, but she she did work later.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah. Um, I always have that thought of like, there was a reason why it was easier like generations ago, because a lot of times, like moms did kind of pause work because at for me, it's very hard to do multiple things at once. Yeah. And so, like, yeah, like raise your kids when they're small and then you can go back to work. Like, yeah. But we just kind of push through.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

We did. And I think I mean that's my choice too. You know, financially, I feel like you just most most people need two dual incomes or survive.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yeah, most people can't survive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Um, but then also I didn't want to be out of the workforce for that long and then have to sit there and like sort of reinvent yourself however many years later. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Um I feel like you lose touch with what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I do remember too, I forget which episode of my podcast I mentioned this to actually might have been on Nose News when I was talking to Dave about the different yeah, that's what it was. We were talking about motherhood, and um, he was saying that a lot of his female friends, like who were the mothers um who loved being just stay-at-home moms, yeah, um, versus the women who were, you know, it's really difficult to figure out your work and keep moving your career forward without the guilt. Yeah. And I said on his, and I'll say again, is like there are so many different types of just so many women, not even mothers, women. Because there's people who are unable to have children and that doesn't make you any less of a person. There's people who don't want children, right? Doesn't make you any less of a person. Correct. And then you have the the women who stay with their careers and then the women who leave them behind. And um, I just think as long as you know, in your heart you're doing what it is that means the most to you, it doesn't matter what that looks like, so long. It can look different, right? For everybody. For everybody. And nobody's better than the other person.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Right. I think that's what keeps us so stuck in this world is we're always comparing. Like, oh, should I be more like that mom? Should I be more like that mom? And we see all these things on social media instead of asking ourselves, what kind of person, not even just mom, like you said, but what kind of person do I want to be? What feels good for me? Yeah. What feels like it's part of my purpose for being here? And that's I think the question we all should ask ourselves instead of like, this is what it should look like, because that keeps us stuck.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

And that's why I felt that way too, because you have a lot of moms that a lot of moms that I'm friends with and who are fantastic, and they will sit there and they will play Barbies for hours.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Yeah, God bless you can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

I can't that I should be doing that because you know, whatever. But like I say all the time, I am the mom that like I love taking you to the mall and I love it. Right. I don't care that you're six. She's literally sitting there going, Mom, can I do my skincare routine? I love her. And I'm like, Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

She's such a little diva. She's so I love her.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

You know, I just I that is something it feels good about yourself. Yeah, you know, put your best skin or foot forward. Like I tell her all the time, I said, babe, like smell good, make sure we're always bathed, brush your teeth, make sure your hair looks nice. Yeah. And like maybe some people would look at that and be like, well, that's very, you know, whatever. Uh somebody would probably have something to say about that.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Somebody always has something to say about everything. Exactly. So you can't you can't speak for other people because then no one will ever say anything. So they'll be afraid of being criticized. Right. Speak for yourself, right? And speak what's important to you.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah. And what's important to me is like literally as a mother sitting there having like really deep conversations with her, again, since she's been little about like, hey, how did this make you feel when this kid did this? And it could be the most ridiculous thing, but I prefer those moments as a mom instead of playing Barbies.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yeah, I agree. Because that's connection, right? Yeah. That's that deeper layer stuff. And she's how old now? She's six? Six. Yeah, that's six and a half. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So when's her birthday? January 28th. Okay. So Philip is September 18th. So he's but he's six and a half, almost seven now. Um, but yeah, that's like, I love those conversations with him, and he's an old soul too. Yeah. So, you know, something will happen at school and I'll be like, well, what did that feel like for you? And, you know, what's the story you start telling yourself? I prefer that over like the fluffy, you know surface-y stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

And it's stuff that's going to stay with them for forever. And to be honest, one of my most fulfilling moments is that when I've had those conversations with her, and then it could be days or weeks later. Yeah. And she's like, she'll repeat it back in a different. So it like it stays with them because they're such sponges. Yes. And us in our 40s, I'm like, shit, I can't remember what the hell I ate for breakfast.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Um, but for them, it's like they absorb everything, good and bad.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Good and bad.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Um, so it's it's my favorite part about being a parent for sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Absolutely. Yeah, those moments of connection. Yep. That's everything. Yeah. So tell me about career and stuff, and like what are what's that? Tell me about that part of you, the part that like lights up in that realm and tell me what you do and what you juggle all of that.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Yeah. So, like I said, a few years ago, I decided to start writing books, and I had, I had basically put it all on the line. I stopped doing the freelance digital marketing that I was doing. I was sort of losing clients and just losing interest in it in general. I had said, you know, I don't want to do social media for other people's companies and not that I didn't want to help other people's companies, but like, you know, when I'm 50, I wanted to have something that was yours. Mine. Absolutely. And based on my interests and skill sets and all of that. So I stopped doing that. And, you know, we basically took out loans and and did a lot of financial stuff in order to make it work. And I researched how to self-publish. Uh, like I said, it was inspired by a trip we took to Italy. Um, it's a steamy romance novel about a Jersey girl who vacations in Italy, has a one-night stand with a polizia from Rome. And um, it's uh Vivial Memento and Bella Vita, those are the name of the books, which I should have named them different because everybody thinks that they're written in Italian.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 21:32

And I'm a fighese Italian, I don't speak a lick of Italian.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Figazi Italian. I know I don't speak, I know the bad words. Yeah, I know the bad words.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Yeah, but everybody like I think it probably would have prevented some people from buying it. So if you're listening now, it's written in English. Um, but I did that and I wrote the two of them, and then I did a kid's book because when you're a parent and you repeat the same things every day, you're like every day. Oh shit, this could be a book. And so we did that.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

So I love that your brain works that way of like, oh, this could be something.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Let's just do it. Yep. And that's Big too for me is I just I don't want to have any regrets of something I didn't do when I'm older. Absolutely. So is today tomorrow was Marvelous Marina. My daughter is Marina. So I started a series, which there's more books, obviously, that I want to write. But basically, if you ever tell a child that something's happening and it's not five minutes after you told them, you know how many times they've asked.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Oh my God. Every five seconds. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

So is it is it Friday yet? Is it Saturday? Is today tomorrow? So that's where the idea for that came. She can't wait to go fishing with dad on Saturday. Problem is it's only Monday. Um so we did that. So I need to read that to Philip. Yes. I did that for a few years and I did relatively well for being self-published. Um the hardship there is that if you don't have something that goes super duper viral or you you're not pumping out books after books after books, which, you know, um, if I had the ability to do that and had 10 books by now, I probably would be doing better. It just didn't work that way for me.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

And um I say better, you mean like financially? Financially. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Um, like I was very fulfilled. Like the people who have read my books love them. Yeah. I used a lot of my event planning background to plan, you know, like book parties and you know, contact local um businesses and and do lots of book signings throughout the area. Right. Um, and I did a lot of social media marketing. So I used all of my skills and I did relatively well, like I said. But unless you're selling millions of books, it's not a lucrative business. Or if you find a publisher, but I just wanted to do self-published.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

So was it lucrative in what it gave you energy-wise?

SPEAKER_01 23:31

It did, but there is, listen, there's people who say money doesn't buy happiness. No, but it pays bills. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

There's there's the realistic aspect of it, right? But and I always say like value isn't measured in dollars and cents, right? So it's just about like being realistic of I need to make XYZ baseline, and what else? And it we don't want to do things just because it makes money, and we don't want to do things only because we have to like, I find we do our passion and the universe kind of can reward us.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Right. Yeah. And you you have to find the balance there. So after a certain amount of time, like you just sort of saw the w writing on the wall, like, okay, we can handle a little bit of debt, but like now this is getting really uncomfortable. Yep. And I hadn't even um put feelers out to look for anything, but a job just fell in my lap that one of the um girls that I worked with at that first event planning job out of college. Yeah, I always kept in touch with her, and she had come to one of my book events a few months prior, but she sent me a text, hey, I don't think that you're looking for work, but there's a possible opportunity for you if you're interested. So I'm like, okay, I wasn't looking for this, but let me, you know, figure it out. So I call her, and it's basically it's a larger scale aesthetics company that had just acquired a bunch of other companies, which was hers. So she unfortunately had lost her job in the acquisition, and then by the time they were looking to rehire, she had already found something else. So her boss, um, which is now my boss, had said, I need somebody like you. And she's like, I have the perfect person. Oh wow. So long story short, I interviewed and I was like, I have no idea how this is gonna work. Um, because I had worked by myself and at home for so long, and this had some travel. It was gonna be more hours than I technically had the time for based on what my mom's schedule was like at that time. Right. But I I was like, I owe it to myself and our financial situation right now to do it.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

To try it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

So I tried it and I fell in love and am still in love. And it is cuckoo crazy. It's like corporate is nuts in a lot of ways. Um, and it is a ton of work, it is a lot of expectations, it is a lot of a lot of things. Um, but what it is the most of is just very rewarding for me. And to be honest with you, traveling has been the best part for me because it was the travel that I loved when I first got out of college. But now as a mom, too, like, oh, I'm getting paid to travel and to work legitimately. And again, as a stay-at-home mom, I have not missed a trick while Marina's been growing up. Right. So to legitimately get out of the house, which again to some people could sound not so great, like, oh, you want to leave your house.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Like, no, I want to run away all the time. I'm like I'm like always want to run out. Like yeah. Like, why do I have to feel bad for that? Yes, I want to go to the house. Not just a mom. Yes. You're um so many different parts of you, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:16

So many different things. And then you like just relearn about yourself. Like I learned again how much I love traveling. I love being on planes.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

I love your books are kind of based in that like it's sound it's a big part of your passion.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Yeah, and the only reason you write about books to Italy is because you've been to Italy. So if you're not visiting places and doing things, like you're you don't really have that much creative inspo, you know?

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Um, so anyway, so that was over a year ago and I took it, and it's been very difficult. Um, it's been a shit ton of hours. And um, everybody's like, when's your next book coming out? And I'm like, Well, I have not written a word since I took this job. Um, and I'm not saying that to complain because I'm very grateful for the financial relief it's brought me, the skill sets, it's just like reinvigorated the people I've met. I just feel whole. Um, where the books made me check things off a bucket list, and I felt great about that. But this is like everything has come full circle. Yeah. And I didn't realize that I feel I needed it until I said yes. And that's a big thing for me is finding all the reasons to say yes to things instead of the reasons to say no. That's a that's like a life motto for me.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

That's big. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Because I could have sat there and I could have been like, well, no, this is not gonna work. How am I gonna find childcare? How am I gonna do this? Where am I finding this time? And then I sat there and I was like, why don't I just see what happens from it? And you could always leave, you could always say, Hey, I'm trying, but this is not working. But I would have missed out on an incredible opportunity to like reinvigorate this thing inside of me that I didn't even know was dormant, to be very honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

I love that you just shared that because that's so big, right? I think we're as human beings, we are all really great at coming up with a narrative for why we shouldn't do something. And we can explain away, oh, I can't do this, so I don't have time. I don't have the I don't know. Or I could take a risk, right? Because yes, all those things could be true, and there also might be other truths that you don't even know yet. Yeah. And like you said, like you would have an out, right? I could take the risk. If it doesn't work, so what?

SPEAKER_01 28:13

It doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

So then it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

But you at least tried. You at least no regrets, you tried. Yeah. Um, and then even now too, you know, like you have skill sets on a resume again that were not there for a long time. I mean, all my skill sets sort of transferred from job to job to job, and they're sort of inherently within me. So, like, even if there were a few years there of being a mom and like, you know, you didn't necessarily use things, they're they're there for me.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

It's like riding a bike, you don't forget it.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Yeah, a lot of it is personality traits for me. Like, again, my my organization and my planning that I've done for my whole life, which is also part of my anxiety, it's also the reasons why I'm very good at planning events and uh coordinating logistics and keeping people organized on a corporate team, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

It's a valuable skill set, right? Like high functioning anxiety, right? Pretty much, yes. But that's also like something, you know, I was talking to um one of my coaching clients the other day about um, you know, the kind of person she needs as like an administrative support in that role. And we were like, I was like, well, what kind of nervous system would that person look like? She's like, Well, yeah, somebody who could get multiple things done, but I was like, Yeah, so high function anxiety. And as therapists, we feel weird saying that. I'm like, no, but that is the desired skill set. Yeah. Somebody who has more sympathetic energy because there is a level of that that helps us focus, and it's the mobilization to execute.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Right? So there's nothing wrong with that. You use it to your advantage.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Like and everybody, everybody's got their own set of skill sets. So just absolutely embrace yours. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Just own who you are, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

And I've I've it's I think that's my favorite. I really love the 40s. I I you know, I a lot of people just complain about getting older. And even one of my very good friends, um, she can't she's she mentions being 50 or whatever, and I said, Could you stop saying that out loud? I said, First of all, you look like you're 32. So unless you keep telling everybody that you're 50 something, nobody would know right at all. Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

And who cares? And what's wrong if they do, right? I have the mentality of, you know, everybody worries about getting older, but they don't really see the benefit of getting wiser.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

And that's something my grandmother always said. She would call me Danzy, and she'd say, Dainsy, when you get to be my age, there's a wisdom that comes along with it that you wish you had when you were younger.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yeah, but you and you just it's that's life. You're not supposed to have it when you're younger.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

But life is for learning the lessons. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

I my mother said that actually the other um, like a week or so ago. She sent me something and I was like, You're so smart. And she goes, No, I'm just old, but that's the good part that comes with it.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Exactly. I I just turned 40. I like it way better than 30s, way better than 20s.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

And it's all different. Like I look at my 20s and I'm like, there was some fun shit that happened.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Oh my god, so much fun. Like feral shit.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Yes, but it was fun, and it's sort of like you at least now you're like, wow, remember when we used to do XYZ? Like, again, no regrets. I did it. You know, you drank too much and you were hung over too much, and but like you trapped out. But that's how you learn, right? You learn what to do, what not to do, what you like, what you don't like, who you're meant to be. 30s kind of like refined everything a little bit. There's a lot of like moving forward and stumbling in my 30s, and um, I don't know, all the memes that like you're right on time, you know, like the average woman, I think, like does um new career or something at like 38, it says, or something at 42.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Like Yes, I've seen that. We're all right on time. Right on time. Yeah, when we think about it, like your 20s are when you're supposed to like make a shit ton of mistakes. Yeah, fail. Like I say all the time, I say to my staff, I say to my clients, I want you to fail. I say it to my kids, fail because no one ever learned from doing something correctly the first time.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

How do you ever learn how to refine something if you don't really like fail?

SPEAKER_01 31:50

And it's the same thing that you teach your kids, like absolutely yeah. Don't if you're scared, that's fine. But like, okay, figure out a different way to go down the slide if you're scared going down on your Kool-Aid, right? And then you do that X amount of times, and then she's ready to go down, right? You know, like right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Take risks, don't be afraid to fail. My husband always says, and I I tell this all the time, but he never what he did one semester of college. And you know, he started real estate when he was 17, 18 years old. Okay. So he only did a semester of college, and so he didn't have tuition or anything like that. So whenever he something happens in his business and it costs him money, he's like, That's my tuition. Because I learned something from it. Yeah. I'm like, oh God, I love that. Like he said it to me like 15 years ago and it's still it's always here. I love that. Yeah. So even if things cost money, right? If as long as we slow down enough to learn the lesson, then it was money well spent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to segue to our little like truth or bullshit segment, which is so fun. Um, so it's our little segment where basically I'm just gonna have say a sentence and then you're gonna say truth or bullshit, and we'll unpack it a little more. So the first one is you have to have it all figured out before you start.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Oh, bullshit.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Yeah. And it's funny because somewhere in me, I I used to need everything planned perfectly before I could do something. So when I was engaged and I was like, ah, what am I gonna do with my career, right? I want to do something. I was always making like entry-level salary and working in ridiculous positions, and I was like, I don't want to do any of this stuff. I was like, I want to be, I want to take my event planning background and instead of doing corporate, do social events. So I made a website, I did XYZ, but like I look perfect, right? Wanted everything to be perfect. And when I tell you I spent more time doing that and then launching it before I did one or maybe two events, and then I said to myself, I'm like, I don't want to do social events. This is nights and weekends. I'm I'm Italian, I got a lot of shit going on in my own family. That means I would have to miss everything in my own family to be planning things for other people. Right. Now, had I just said, All right, I don't need the website, I don't need to have the logo, I don't need to do whatever, let me just tell a few people, hey, I'm doing this on the side, if you have any interest in it, I would have saved myself a lot of time and some money just dabbling instead of thinking I needed everything completely laid out before I did it because it ended up being a giant waste of time and money in certain regards. Right. Like I said, I'm happy that I did it and tried, but like didn't except it's perfectionist, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:23

It has to be perfect before I launch, but I don't even know if I want to do it yet.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

But I think that also just speaks to you not being certain, certain about it. So, like, you know, if you really truly believe in what you're doing, it doesn't have to be perfect because in your heart you know that it's gonna come to fruition and it's what you're meant to be doing. Right. I think when you doubt yourself, which back then I was like late 20s, I certainly doubted myself. I was never paid well for any job that I had, and um that wore on me. All my best friends had great paying jobs, and I was always the one in this like random industry making shit money. And I was like, who am I to think I'm gonna run my own company? I can't even find a job that pays me well. Right. So I think a little bit of that was buried in there. Like made you like question your own worth, yeah, your own looked nicer than it would appear like I really had my ship's.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

See, I have value. Look how nice it looks. I have value. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Well, meanwhile, something I've learned of myself now that I should have known back then is that whatever I do and touch, I I put my all in. Right. And I put my heart and soul into it. If you give me a project, it's gonna get done correctly. So, like that's what speaks for itself, not necessarily, and I mean again, I have a website and I love it and I like things to look nice, but you don't have to have one before you do the other.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Exactly, exactly. Because at the end of the day, something could have a be a pretty package and still be shit on the inside.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

Right. So, like that's like a great metaphor for life, right? So for focus more on the inside first, and that beauty can be refined over time. Yes, yeah, and developed. Yeah. Good moms put everyone first to their bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

Bullshit. Yeah. I'm a I'm a big one on on this, is uh I I just I hate martyrdom of any kind. Um, I can't understand the people who post, and they're like, my daughter's in a hundred dollar dance uniform and I'm still wearing the same sports bra from 20 years ago. I'm like, well, that's a personal problem. Um and I'm not saying anything about finance finances for anybody, but like there are so many options these days where you could just get something new or or do things that bring you whether it's shopping, whether it's closed, whether it's going on a trip, whether it's 20 minutes of silence to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

That is huge.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Like you have to put the oxygen mask on you before you can help anybody else. Yeah. Um, and you're teaching your kids in a certain way that everything revolves around them and it just doesn't. Like they'll get into the real world and be like, oh wait, no, my mother and my father did everything for me and did that. Well, everybody's gonna be like, that's not how it works.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

And they're gonna have to learn the hard way. And it's so much harder to unlearn things than it is to learn it right from the begget of yeah, the world doesn't revolve around me.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Yeah, and it's this this isn't even like um superficial stuff or like, well, mommy's gonna go have dinner with her girlfriends, or things like that. Sometimes it's just like, hey mom, can you get um my phone in the other room? And I'm like running around sweating at the brow to get her on the bus or do whatever, or I'm answering an email. Like, and I end up sounding like old school. I'm like, Are your legs broken?

SPEAKER_00 37:25

I say the same thing after you're not gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Go get um, and I I've said this to her too. I said, babe, I'm not trying to not help you, but I said, Do you do you see mom running back and forth? I'm not sitting here just sipping on my coffee because if she was doing something and I was doing whatever, of course. Because there's been plenty of times as a mom that I've been sitting there and she gets up and she walks by, I'm like, Hey, babe, do you mind getting me my water? Totally. Yeah. Yeah, we help each other out.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Absolutely. But it gets balance to everything, exactly. Right? Like if the kitchen's on fire and someone asks you to, you know, go get something while you're trying to put it out, what's the highest and best use of your time right there?

SPEAKER_01 38:00

And then also, like, I want her to know that too. Because if my mom or my mother-in-law, anybody's watching her, oh, can you go get my this my mother who's old school is gonna be like, uh, excuse me? Like, you know, like her like a yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no. So take care of take care of yourself within reason, of course. Um, and then you teach your kid that they need to do the same too, because I don't want to raise anybody who's doing everything for everybody else as she gets older either. Absolutely not being selfish and then also being self-sufficient, you know.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yes, that is so accurate. Because I also like, you know, I say to my son too, is like, oh, if mommy needs, you know, 20 minutes or something, it's because mommy wants to be the best mommy possible for you and I can't be if I'm not if I'm running all over the place doing everything. Like I'll go into like mean mommy mode, and I that doesn't feel good for anyone.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

For anybody. We even do that too when we start to like run late. And she said to me, it was probably a year ago, she goes, Mom, you're turning into crazy mom. And I I like stopped myself. I said, Marina, why am I turning into crazy mom right now? And she goes, Because we're rushing. I said, Right, why are we rushing?

SPEAKER_00 39:06

Oh my god, it makes me insane.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

Yeah. Um, well, because I said, because we're not moving fast enough in order to get somewhere where we have to be there on time. Right. So if we don't want to go into crazy mode and we don't want to rush, we have to do what? Start earlier. Yes. Like you know, time management. Yes, and that's you're gonna be employed at some point in your life, but you can't show up whenever you want. So, you know, it's not everybody else's fault if you're sitting in traffic and you're not there, like take a look at it. Plan accordingly.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's that time management is something I think for that's hard for most kids to learn.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

And that's why we have to model it, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Like, and then you just like lose your shit. You're like, and even this morning, I was like, we're going to miss the bus.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Oh my god. Saturday, he had a baseball game, and my son has sensory issues. So the mother of all tantrums because his pants, the baseball pants, were not fitting correctly. And we did all the time at all the things. My husband's like, I'm gonna start him like a half hour early because I know it's a thing. You and again, you could plan, right? It goes back to where and it doesn't work out.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

And so it was like 9.05, and I was like, and now you are late for your team. So your team is relying on you. And then in my head, I'm like, and the sensory stuff, we're trying to navigate, and he's in OT for that. So like you never feel like you're doing anything right, right? So it's like, okay, well, time management. So if you don't maybe we need to start an hour earlier if it takes that long to get them on and get rolling. Right. And we're just always learning as we go. Always learning. Always learning as we go. Try to be patient, but uh patience is a skill set that gets tested time and time again as a parent.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

I I mean, I'm more patient than I ever have been, and she's funny. She goes, Daddy has this much patience. You have like this. And I'm like, okay, I don't disagree. Right. Okay, but there are pros and cons to both of those things.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

Totally, totally. My husband is definitely the more patient one. And but it's so funny because he'll say all the time, he's like, I'm sitting right here. Why do they keep going to you? And I'm like, that's why I have no patience because you're right there. Why did for some reason it's just let's go to mom because moms are always the one that go to, and I just redirect, what did dad say? He's right there. Did you ask him? But again, like giving space to like instead of just answering it because it's easier.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

Yeah.

unknown 41:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

But it's a it's a journey. It's a journey. Yeah. Last one is it's too late to reinvent yourself, truth or bullshit. Bullshit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

I uh like I said, I said I feel like every decade I've added to my bucket of who I am.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

And some things fall out of that bucket too. You know, you just change shedding. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and the same thing with who you keep company with, who you learn from, who you spend your time with. And I think I love that too. Like I'm a very sociable person and I I have a lot of people that I know, and I I could genuinely love spending time with you. But what I'm learning as I get older is like our free time is very, very, very limited. Yes. Um, so if it is anything that makes me squint my eyes, I'm like, no, I'm not. Um I could say no, and it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Um, but as far as reinventing myself, like, yeah, I'll I'll be different in the next few years than I am right now based on all the decisions I'm making and the things that I want in my life and don't want in my life, what I learned from it. Like a lot of my closest friends, they're like, You are an overthinker. And I'm like, I know. But I like that about myself. Like, I'm not just surface level. I want to know all the reasons for all the things. I want to understand why I do things, why other people do things.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

An overthinker or a deep thinker. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Uh yes, I think I'm a deep thinker. Yeah. I mean, sometimes I overthink.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

We all do. I think it's part of like the mom brain as well, because we have to like, we never know what's gonna happen. So we have to have all the options planned out in our head already, so then we're prepared if that happens.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Yes, which you're never fully prepared.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

But um it's an attempt to control the anxiety because it's so unsettling sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

But uh yeah, I I am a deep thinker. And I for the same way that I like I said earlier, when I decide I'm doing something I'm all in. Yep, it's the same way with me in family, friendships, relationships. I put my all into it. Um, and it's one of my favorite things about myself. Uh to some people it could be like too much, but to the right people, it's no, that's it's those things require thought and intentional like being.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Yeah. Yeah. So it's not the right thing.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

It's my favorite part about living, I think, is just like really feeling things deeply and and um enjoying things deeply. And that's a big thing too, is really learning. I'm terrible at it to quote disconnect or whatever, because like my phone's always with me, obviously my glasses and my eyes, screen time and you know, um, all of that stuff. But like there's a tremendous amount of stuff that's on our phones that we need for daily life too. But really, truly, like sometimes I just keep wanting to learn how to be more present, yeah, engaged with people. People I'm speaking to. And I find this too. Like a lot of times I could be having a conversation. I'm like, wait, what the fu what did they just say?

SPEAKER_00 44:05

You know, like spate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Yeah. And like I don't want to forget details, especially if it's somebody that I truly genuinely care about. Like, no, I don't want to forget what you told me. Although I think some of that has to do with the aging. I gotta get the vitamins and the creatine and all that shit.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

Oh, that's all I have mine every morning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but that that's the screens, I'm a big proponent of like they're ruining us completely. You know, I'm the worst defender. Everyone's like, you never answer your phone. I have probably right now about 68 text messages that are.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

That would give me the shakes.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

But I I would rather be present, right? And so if you're present and you're trying to like, you know, be connected to others, something else has to give. And so if that means that those other 68 messages aren't getting looked at, okay. It's not that the other people aren't important, but not every single thing can be a priority. Correct. You know, like there are things like if it's my son's school, they know how to call me, if like all of that. So at the end of the day, if something really is an emergency, it'll find a way to get to me, and I know that. And the other stuff, like, I'll get to it when I get to it. But these screens have created this sense that everything needs attention right now.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:10

And our brains aren't wired that way.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

Yeah, and I have to, I have to forcefully remind myself of that. And there's often times where I'm like, like I'll see something and I'll want to get it off my screen just so that it's not sitting in my Rolodex as something I have to do. Right. Because that's attached to the anxiety too. But I my new favorite phrase is like, I don't have the bandwidth for this right now. Correct. And it just has to stay there because I don't have the mental capacity to deal with it at this moment. Yep. And I used to have a much broader capacity. I it's just not there anymore.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Yeah. It's, I mean, think about it like emails, text, all they've really turned into are extra to-do lists that someone else is asking of you. We already have our to-do list, right? Of like our things that we want to accomplish today. And then we have emails and texts of like, oh, what, but this, this, this. Nope. Already got my list for today. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

And that's all the best we can do. Right. Yeah. And it's okay. And it's okay. Yeah. Okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

And it's, it's, you sort of, you know, people get accustomed to that. So like my family's so accustomed. If I don't answer a message within like 15, 20 minutes, somebody thinks I'm dead. You know? Yeah. And it's their anxiety, right? Uh, well, it's also what I've what I've sort of not I I wouldn't say allow, like I don't mean to say that, but like they're just used to me answering that quickly.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

We resist what we don't know, what's unfamiliar. Yeah. And I just I want to be better at that. That's so funny. Cause when I call people, they answer the phone, they go, Are you okay? Because they're so used to me not calling. It's the opposite. They're like, is someone dead? I'm like, no, no, no. I actually just had five minutes, so I wanted to call. Like it's the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. But it's just everyone's always adjusting to a change. Yeah. And we just have to have patience and space to let people relearn as we're always evolving.

unknown 46:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

Yeah. Mary, thank you so much for being here. Pleasure. I love being a guest. I so enjoy you. I enjoy our conversations always. Tell everyone a little bit about where they could find you, where they can find your books and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Yeah, sure. So my books are available on Amazon and on my website, www.marybellwithanebooks.com. I'm on Instagram. I've sort of taken this whole like not influencer approach. I'm a little bit of everything over there. It's mom life, it's corporate life, it's my books every once in a while. Real life, yeah. When I remember to post about them. Uh, and I'm on Instagram, mary.bellwithane.books. Um, those are the main places. Yeah. You know, a little bit of everything. If you need a it's the perfect time of year, spring, summer for romance books on the beach.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

Beach reads, good beach reads. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

The links are in my bio on Instagram, and like I said, available on my website or on Amazon. And the children's book is perfect for like four to six or eight-year-olds.

SPEAKER_00 47:48

Oh, perfect. Yeah. I'm gonna be reading that to Philip. Yes. 100%. Yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

Thank you so much for watching.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad to be back with Claudio. My God, my original podcast guy.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

So um, thank you really truly for having me. Thank you. Thank you everyone for listening. I am Dana Coretta Stein, and this was another episode of The Truth About Healing, reminding you that we repeat what we don't repair. See you on the next episode. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Truth About Healing Podcast. If you know someone who's still stuck, share this episode with them. Because as you know, the truth can set them free. And if you're ready to get started to see what you need to repair, contact us at peacefulliving mental health counseling.com and we will get you started. Until next time, I'm Dana Coretta Stein, reminding you we repeat what we don't repair. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health or medical advice. Listening does not create a therapist client relationship. If you need support, contact a licensed professional or your local emergency services.