Dear Readers,
I am so happy you are here reading. I'm not sure if you are superstitious, but I have always loved the number 13! I am grateful you are here. Lately, I have been posting on BlueSky, Instagram, TikTok, my website, Facebook, and Substack; phew! I have been writing a blog since I got licensed as a therapist in 2014, so this is my 10-year Blog-A-Versary. Here is a little more about me you may not know…
I started graduate school for psychology while pregnant, and my child has now been accepted to four colleges. I audited a psychology class at Santa Clara University in 2006 because I applied too close to the application deadline. It was a challenging class! Statistics: The main takeaway from that class was that a research study needed to have a lot of participants to be considered worthwhile (in the professor’s opinion).
When I got into graduate school, I knew I had landed in a place where my life and work trajectory would profoundly change. After that first class, the professors had much more nuanced knowledge to offer. I felt seen and valued as an academic in ways I had not experienced in undergrad. Years before, when I started my first Master's degree in Early Childhood Education (a degree I never finished), I made many connections, but that career was not the lifelong one that helped folks the way I hope to now. Sitting where I sit these days, I feel the distant and crystallized parts of my formal education. There are things I wish I had held onto more deeply, but I also trust that I got what I needed.
Now, another chapter begins, a chapter where there will be more coaching/art/mindfulness, and movement!
I feel more solid. I trust more now that I can be both a therapist and a coach. In the blink of an eye, I will be the mother of a college student. I will continue to make art several times a week. This walk down memory lane comes with cleaning out many email inboxes. I started one of my email addresses 20 years ago, time for that one to go. It may seem like a small task, but I am committing to consolidating all my emails, life, and business into one address: bridget@bridgetbertrand.com somehow I am using this to collate all of my digital bookmarks, it will likely take all of 2025!
Here are some ideas and nuggets from my coaching program, " profound steps through big transitions.” I hope they will inspire you.
Please make time for daily habits, knowing they are necessary for your well-being. Please practice self-compassion for at least five minutes every day. Maybe not this week, but as an ongoing goal, I hope you can see that self-punishment is not the path toward deep and lasting change. That means questioning diets, allowing for rest, not second-guessing yourself, or being quite mean to yourself. Please don’t do it :)
As you listen to your inner voices, speak to them with kindness and take small steps toward profound change.
If we work together, I want you to know where you are going goal-wise. I want you to forgive yourself when you don’t do your practices (meditate, art, move your body). After the 8 weeks, you will have set in place people, practices, and commitments to yourself that will help support your well-being.
My sense over my decades of working life is that NOT overworking has allowed me time to reflect on who I am and what I need to thrive. I also have a lot of privilege as a white-bodied person, so this is constantly being factored into my awareness.
All for now, but I want to share a few people and resources I’m grateful for and recommend checking out:
My Trust and Living Will - Planning Lawyer, Timeless Estate Planning Laura Croft Esq.:
Email: info@timelessestateplanning.com, https://timelessestateplanning.com/
Estate planning is expensive, but being in a lesbian relationship, I have decided to update my trust and include my partner. Who knows where our rights will be in four years?!
Lastly, this is a list of a LOT of providers and sites I have been curating as my program launches:
As always, I would love to be in touch. Email me at bridget@bridgetbertrand.com
Or jump in a Zoom room with me to learn about me and my program, and of course, I want to hear about you, too!
https://calendly.com/bridgetexpressivearts/gettoknowyou
With love and solidarity!
Bridget
https://www.transformationcollective.space/
https://bsky.app/profile/bhopeb.bsky.social
https://www.youtube.com/@transformationcollective
© 2024 Bridget B.