how to succeed at building your confidence and why it’s important
I was standing in the makeup aisle at CVS a few weeks ago, holding two nearly identical brow pencils, when a woman about my daughter’s age reached past me for a lipstick and said, “Oh, that one’s great, it’s basically foolproof.” She meant it kindly. She also had no idea she’d just described the exact…
![Subject: Re: [Ticket #359823] Site inaccessible to visitors — stuck on verification screen Hi Les, Here's my current VPN IP address: 98.113.221.236 One thing worth flagging: I use Surfshark, which rotates IPs across shared servers — so this exact address may not be the one I'm on next time I connect. If you whitelist just this single IP, we may be back here again in a few weeks. Is there a way to whitelist a broader range, or handle this differently on your end so it holds up long-term? Open to whatever's easiest for you — just want to avoid this becoming a recurring fire drill. Thanks, Mary Ellen](https://toolstothrivetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hero-image-Sep-21-2026-05_36_27-PM-768x432.webp)
The flannel started showing up in stores before Labor Day — way before Labor Day. I personally hate to let summer go. Keep your pumpkin spice. I haven’t finished my margarita yet. Half the internet declared “cozy season” before summer had even started packing its bags. Meanwhile, for about twelve hours today, day and night…
The moment you finally decide you’re allowed to want something — you’d think that would feel amazing. It doesn’t. Not at first. If you’ve ever grabbed a permission slip — yours, someone else’s, a printable from the internet — and then done absolutely nothing with it, you are in excellent company. And you’re in exactly…
I had no idea that saying I don’t know is a sign of strength. There was a woman I used to know who always had an answer. Every question that floated across a table, she caught it before it landed. Smooth. Certain. Never a flicker of hesitation. I used to watch her and think: that…
Still waiting for someone to say it’s okay to want more than this? There’s something you want. You’ve wanted it for a while, and you keep not doing it — not because you can’t, but because somewhere in the back of your mind, you’re still waiting for the permission slip nobody gave you – for…
Rediscovering Yourself in the Middle of Everything She’s standing at the kitchen counter at 6:47 in the morning, already running through a list before her coffee is done. Pick up the prescription before work. Call back the discharge coordinator. Reply to the email from her boss that she didn’t get to yesterday. Text her daughter….
A reader sent us this question recently, and it stopped me in my tracks. Not because it was surprising — but because it felt like the question so many of us have been silently carrying ever since the world turned sideways. “I lost my social circle during Covid,” she wrote. “I also lost my job….
In this post:Why Retirement Feels So Hard • The High-Powered Professional’s Dilemma • When External Validation Disappears • Adjusting to Retirement Timeline • Biggest Emotional Challenges • Finding Purpose After Career • First 6 Months Guide • Dealing With Too Much Time • Loss of Professional Identity • Filling Your Days • Questions That Keep…
The moment you realize you’ve been apologizing for taking up space It took me almost two weeks to bring in the lamp. I’d walk past it in my living room each morning, consider tucking it under my arm, then decide against it. Too much. Too presumptuous. I was new to the office, still learning the…
Let me tell you about the year I lost my mind over cookies. My kids were in elementary school, and I was voluntold to bring cookies for the class party. Simple enough, right? Except I couldn’t just make a few dozen of my usual holiday cookies. No, I decided to make around 100 fancy sugar…
