Jeff and Mackenzie Bezo’s recently finalized their divorce just a few weeks ago. They are the wealthiest couple in the world....ever. Their net worth is said to be $157,000,000,000.
Even though we may never get to ask them, “What happened?”, there is little doubt that the growing apart, attempting to repair, deciding to separate, and going through a divorce, was painful.
Even the most wealthy people in the world are not immune from heartache. They may have worked with the best therapists in the world and they still were not able to make it work.
There’s a couple of things I gather from this...
#1 Money does not guarantee a happy marriage. It can buy stuff and the best therapists, but it can’t replace attention and safety.
#2 Money isn’t a good enough reason to stay together. Hats off to to them for taking care of themselves and navigating a very public separation.
#3 If money isn’t what it takes, than ANYONE is capable of creating a loving, empowered, lasting marriage. We don’t struggle from a lack of resources. We struggle from a lack of resourcefulness.

I know this may sound harsh, but it's true!
If you find yourself constantly people pleasing, enabling someone's unhealthy behavior, or getting run over in your relationships, than consider this for a moment.
What do you get from it?
"I don't get anything! It's terrible!"
Nope.
What you get, if you remain in the victim seat, is attention, a placeholder for your blame, a shield from confrontation, a place to hide, and praise for being so dang "selfless".
But, it's not selfless to enable other's to stay in their addiction, depression, immaturity, and unawareness because you're doing it for you....not them.
It could be your kids, husband, wife, boss, family member, or friend.
You don't step up, speak up, hold boundaries, or get help for your own stuff because that would ruin the good thing you've got going.
And, I know it might not look good or feel good but, if you're still doing it, that means that your getting enough of a payoff to continue.
Personal growth is not all about self-care, reading books, and meditating.
Sometimes, it's about confronting some stuff that really stings.
Ouch!

This is a practice in Giving Attention.
Before you start, here are the Ground Rules:
1. You have to answer in 1 minute or less.
2. Questioner only gets to ask questions and listen.
3. Have fun! Don't take it too seriously. This is just to get to know your partner more.
Sit down together and ask them these 10 questions...
1. What am I most scared of?
2. What is my favorite thing about you?
3. If I had to be stranded on a desert island with only 3 people, who would they be?
4. If someone were to follow me around for 1 week, what would they realize about me?
5. Where do I like to spend most of my time?
6. If I could live anywhere, where would it be?
7. What does my perfect date night look like?
8. Where and how do I like to be touched the most?
9. What did I think about you on our first date?
10. How would you describe my level of love for you?
Feel free to dialogue afterwards!

A douchebag is a feminine hygiene product. But, according the Webster’s dictionary, the term Douchebag also refers to a person (usually a man) who is obnoxious, arrogant, oblivious, and irresponsible. Douchebags act this way because they are insecure, anxious, and angry. Underneath this, they are typically dealing with repressed sadness, trauma, and childhood wounds that they don’t know how to heal (I added that part).
The best place to find Douchebags is on social media. Usually, they can be found preaching dogmatic ideologies, attacking people, and complaining about life.
In real life, they are typically more difficult to identify, but one of the top indicators is how they talk about and treat women. They will objectify, blame, and manipulate. It’s common for Douchebags to hang out in groups, thus they won’t get called out for their behavior.
When dealing with a Douchebag, it’s important to have strong boundaries, use clear communication, and remember that they are hurt children, on the inside. This understanding will allow you to stay grounded and it may give them some space to connect with you on a deeper level then they are used to.
No guarantees though! Even if they are acting out, at least you can remain secure in yourself.
I believe that only a small fraction of men are the REAL DEAL when it comes to being a D-bag and those are the ones that have been hurt the most. Most men have the ability to be respectful, self-aware, and kind. They love and care for women, children, and their fellow man.
So, that’s what a Douchebag is…
And, even if we can’t change the weird assimilation of a feminine product into our informal discourse, we can still grow our understanding of what that title really means and learn how to love those guys that seem so difficult to love.

You don’t have to get smarter to work smarter, but if you don’t work smarter than you’re going to have to work harder to compensate for your lack of smart working.
Smart – I learn how to set boundaries so that I don’t give too much of my energy away to others.
Hard – I don’t learn how to set boundaries and I go around doing what other people want me to do.
Smart – I practice meditation so that I can relax into whatever is happening in my life.
Hard – I don’t practice self-care or mindfulness so I live in a state of negativity, doubt, and fear about the future.
Smart – My partner and I seek support so that we approach problems as a team and we both know how to work through hard stuff.
Hard – We have never received any guidance so we figure it out as we go, we fight, or we ignore things until they build up.
Smart – I make a schedule with commitments so that I have accountability from others.
Hard – I don’t make commitments so I have to generate energy and decide what I will do when situations arise.
Smart – I ask people how I can do things easier, smarter, and better.
Hard – I don’t ask for help and I try to figure out parenting, marriage, career moves, money decisions, and health choices out on my own.

​I remember sitting in a hostel in Portugal on the last night of my 18-month round-the-world trip. As I was scrolling through FB and seeing all the happy faces of the people I knew, I began to feel emotional.
The last few months of my traveling had been exhausting, lonely, and at times, scary. I had gotten extremely lost on my scooter in Vietnam (I did not have a working phone), I had crashed a motorcycle in Turkey (got scraped up pretty bad), and constantly felt uneasy on my travels through rural Morocco.
Along the way, I had met all types of awesome and interesting people, but we always had to part ways. I got really good at approaching new people, and we would often go out and do fun things or talk about our travels.
However, on my last night of the trip in the beautiful city of Lisbon, I could not wait to leave! Why? I didn’t know. Even though I had made this miraculous dream happen, I mostly felt flat and confused. It was at this point that I began to wonder, “What’s the point?”
Fast forward a few months and I’m back again in my now-home of Salt Lake City, living with a couple of friends and joining in on a Men’s group call that I had been away from for a while.
For the first time, I got to share the lows of the trip and not just the highs that I had been documenting in my FB travel journal. It felt so relieving and inspiring to finally get real about the struggle! It was so refreshing to open up about my authentic feelings and thoughts, in the moment! It was like a part of me, that I didn’t know was there, was finally free to come out into the world.
So, what’s the point?
The point is that without feeling, exploring, and sharing the negative, the darkness, the struggle, we are not able to fully feel the positive, the light, and the ease. We short circuit if we begin to hold in our authentic experience and we feel stuck. This is where we often get confused.
Joy. I like joy. Uh oh. I’m not feeling joy anymore. I must try harder to feel joy. I can’t feel joy. Something’s wrong. I’m confused.
Long periods of time go by as we desperately try to cultivate brief moments of joy and happiness through whatever means necessary. We begin to lose touch with ourselves and the pain that we are avoiding, grows.
We are usually very unaware that the way back to authentic joy and happiness is to experience our authentic sadness, anger, hopelessness, etc. With practice, we begin to fear these feelings less, and we begin to live more in the flow of life. We build this underlying space of “okayness”, even when life seems very much, not okay.
If there’s one thing that this trip and the years that have followed have taught me, it’s that I have to be honest about my real experience if I want feel connected to the world around me. Pretending doesn’t work. Struggling is okay.