​​​​​I love entertaining. I love having friends over and cooking for them. I love sitting around a table with delicious food and a lovely glass of wine. I love the laughter it brings, I love the warmth it creates, I love the way it fills me up.

Needless to say, given the state of the world these past 11 months, I haven’t had a bunch of dinner parties. These days it’s just cooking for my family of four and, as adventurous of eaters as my kids can be, I’m running out of new ideas and recipes. It’s like we’re the same guests, at the same table… night after night.

Which of course makes me think of who I also want to be setting our table for each night. More friends… more family… more connection… more people!!

Yet, it’s still a party of four that’s sitting around my dinner table.

And, I have the choice to begrudge that each night and sit there, hoping others were there OR I can get creative and invite some of the elements I’m missing the most to gather around my table.

I can invite laughter, I can invite silly, I can invite family stories, I can invite goal setting, I can invite daydreaming.

And you can too.

When you’re hurting, when you’re feeling alone, when you’re feeling overwhelmed… you don’t just have to invite the heavy.

Don’t let your pain be the only guest at the table.

​You too can invite ALL the guests to your proverbial table and really start to see the hope that might just be waiting for you on the other side of hard.

I encourage you to start inviting in what you really want at your dinner table AND in your partnership. Get to naming what you want to be there... besides just the hard or the pain… and see what starts to emerge.

I know you can do it.

-A

P.S. Are you struggling with seeing beyond the hard or the pain you’re in right now? Please reach out if you’re needing some additional support and encouragement to get the two of you out of stuck and into a positive momentum.