405. Stop Postponing Your Life: 5 Things I Learned From the Hardest—and Richest—Season of My Life

We're kicking off a whole series on the art of enchantment today, and I'm starting with the word itself. It comes from Latin, and at its root, it actually means to sing. That's exactly what I want to be: a woman who still hears the song, who notices the change in the September air, who gets a little obsessed with baby cheeks and poetry and the yarn in her hands. This has been such a hard year for us. And I've learned something true in the middle of it: you can be devastated and still enchanted with your life at the same time. That's not denial. That's emotional wealth. So today, ten things enchanting me right now: My brand new kitchen journal — recipes, handwritten notes, and tiny printed photos of the grandbabies eating whatever I just made My current knitting obsession, a squishy red sweater called the Lakes Jacket by Ozetta Tom's middle school football games, knitting in the stands and hunting down his number for video A new diffuser blend I'm creating, appropriately called Enchanted Reading poetry again — Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver, after Wendell Berry's passing last week Baby cheeks. All six grandbabies' baby cheeks. No further explanation needed The first whisper of fall in the air Being a total beginner at English horseback riding, and loving what that humility teaches me Something brand new I'm creating for the program that I can't fully reveal yet, but that feels like a dream come true My actual, ordinary, everyday life — my porch, my kitchen light in the morning, watching Stevie get stronger If you want to keep being enchanted with me this month, I'm doing Enchantment Diaries on Instagram, documenting all of it in real time. And if this resonates, I'd love for you to join us for our upcoming workshop, The Art of Enchantment: How to Make the Last 90 Days of the Year Matter, September 23–25 at noon Eastern. Links Mentioned:  Register for The Art of Enchantment workshop (September 23–25): https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/enchantment  Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/  Follow along with Enchantment Diaries on Instagram: @ediewadsworth The Lakes Jacket pattern by Ozetta: https://www.ozettaknitwear.com/patterns/p/lakes-jacket Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode is a masterclass I taught live, and I recorded it the day after we lost Dolly Parton. If you hear extra emotion in my voice, that's why. She was the queen of my heart, and it turns out her whole life was the perfect example of everything I wanted to teach that day. Dolly took the raw materials she was born with — poverty, a huge family, a mountain nobody thought much of — and turned them into the most gorgeous, generous life anybody's ever lived. And I think most of us are waiting for better materials before we start creating ours. Here's what we get into: Why so many of us are waiting for different circumstances — more money, a different body, a more supportive spouse — before we let ourselves start creating a beautiful life The shift from a life of consumption to a life of creation, and the one powerful question that makes that shift: what can I make from this? Why even the hardest color you've ever been handed (for me, this year, that was cancer) can become raw material for something beautiful The seven skills I believe every woman needs to build a genuine masterpiece of her life — including how to create possibility in your mind, how to build emotional wealth, how to stay with yourself in the messy middle, and how to live enchanted right now instead of waiting for someday Why good intentions were never going to be enough for Dolly, or for you — these are skills you learn and practice, not just things some women are naturally born with You don't have to know what the whole blanket is going to look like before you learn how to knit. You just have to be willing to learn the skills. Links Mentioned:  If you're catching this in the first day or two it's out: we're doing a 72-hour flash opening of Life Mentoring School — join here: https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/join  The Alpenglow Blanket pattern mentioned in this episode (Purl Soho): https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2024/08/22/alpenglow-blanket/ Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack:⁠ https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode is a little different. We're sharing a coach panel recorded during our Next Level Life Summit, where several of our House of Joy certified coaches got completely honest about what it actually looked like to say yes to certification. You'll meet Angela, Michelle, Becky, Susan, Shannon, and Jamie — a teacher, a hairstylist and salon owner, a homeschool mom, an author and podcaster, and more. Every one of them said yes in a season that looked nothing like the "right time." Here's what we get into: The real fears almost every one of them named before signing up — money, timing, whether their husband would be on board The seasons of life they were actually walking through when they said yes — cancer and remission, empty nesting, the loss of a child, menopause, financial strain Why this was never really about becoming a coach — it's about becoming the woman your next season is asking you to become The "go first" principle, and why you can't hand someone a tool you haven't used on yourself Specific transformation stories — Angela's relationship with her teenage son, Michelle learning to actually feel her emotions instead of just thinking about them, Susan's breakthrough with true self vs. false self, and Shannon's healing in her marriage after the loss of her son Ethan Why so many of them now see the investment differently — not as an expense, but as something that keeps paying them back What makes this community different from anything else they've been part of What they're each doing with their certification now — one-on-one coaching, group programs, a paid counseling role at a church, books, blogs, even a podcast If you've ever wondered whether it's too late, too expensive, or too much to invest in yourself, I think this conversation is going to be such an encouragement to you. Links Mentioned:  Learn more about House of Joy Life Coach Certification: https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/certification  Learn more about our Next Level Life Summit: https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/life  Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/  Meet the Panelists: Angela Box —   Linktree: https://linktr.ee/daring2reconnect  Instagram: @coachangelabox  Michelle Diercks —  Coaching: https://michellediercks.com/coaching  Substack: https://michellediercks.substack.com/  Becky Cincebox —  Website: https://www.beckycinceboxlifecoach.com/  Instagram: @BeckyCinceboxLifeCoach  Email: [email protected]  Shannon Wallace —  Rooted and Rising: https://rootedandrising.shannonwallacelifecoaching.com/rooted-and-rising  Website (Ashes to Beauty): https://www.shannonwallacelifecoaching.com/  Email: [email protected]  Susan (A Vintage Farmwife) —  Instagram: https://instagram.com/avintagefarmwife  Website: http://avintagefarmwife.com/  Clean Heart Club Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1C6gMG4yVb/  Clean Heart Club Podcast: Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clean-heart-club/id1734446957)  Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/36PrAkJ37EK6shGSRaNHBz?si=bc051ec809754ba5)  Book: Hello, You! Being Yourself in a World That Wants You to Be Everyone Else: https://amzn.to/4scY9cC  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We just came back from a weekend that didn't look impressive on paper. No trip, no big event. Just a porch, a sleeping baby upstairs, and Stevie back up on the wake surf board for the first time since his surgery, already trying a 360 within 45 seconds of getting up. And sitting there, I kept thinking: this is the life. This year handed us something we never would have ordered. But I've learned so much these last few months about what it means to stop waiting for the hard part to be over before you let yourself actually live. Here's what this season taught me: Stop waiting for certainty to feel alive — uncertainty and a full, beautiful life are allowed to coexist Stop letting the hardest thing become the whole thing — ask yourself, what else is here besides this? Stop waiting for your life to calm down before you let it be good — hard and beautiful get to be the same season Stop confusing your circumstances with your emotional power — your circumstances are the raw material, not the boss Stop preparing for your life and start becoming the woman who can actually live it Life gives you the raw material. You get to write the story. So decide today that you're going to stop postponing yours. Links Mentioned:  Join Friday's training where I share the full story behind this season: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87553040644  Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm sharing a conversation that stayed with me long after we hit stop recording. Skye Lamont has been in Life Mentoring School for under a year, and before that she'd already been a certified life coach since 2002. She's also a fantasy novelist with seven completed books, and for years she believed she could only really pursue one calling at a time — the writer or the coach, never both. This conversation is about what happened when she stopped believing that. Here they are: How the creation cycle helped Skye uncover a decades-old, sneaky thought quietly running underneath her marriage — the belief that she'd picked the wrong husband Why so many women, especially in midlife, live from an "either/or" belief about their gifts — and what changed when Skye started practicing "and" instead The real story behind why she stayed off social media for eight years, and what it took for her to finally start a YouTube channel Why the biggest surprise of coach certification wasn't learning to coach other people — it was learning to "go first" and do the work on herself What made this community different from every other coaching certification she's done, and why she says you don't get the full benefit of the work without it Her encouragement for any woman who feels made for more but hasn't taken the leap yet "I said yes to becoming a coach and getting certified. But what I really said yes to was myself." Links Mentioned: • YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SkyeLamontCreative • Website: https://skyelamont.com • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skyelamont Learn more about our Next Level Life Summit: https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/life  Learn more about Life Mentoring School and coach certification: https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/  https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/certificationwaitlist  Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know the House of Joy has actual house rules? A book landed in my mailbox this week called House Rules, and at the very same time we were gearing up for our Week in the House of Joy — and the two collided in this episode. So here they are. Ten house rules that make life better, whether it's an ordinary Tuesday or something much harder. Here they are: We don't wait for special occasions — use the china, buy the flowers, wear the good PJs, now All feelings are allowed here — the goal isn't to feel good all the time, it's to feel anything without abandoning yourself We tell good stories — the circumstance doesn't get the final say on the story you tell about it We make things beautiful on purpose — even hospital rooms, even hard seasons We're always making something — creating moves you out of survival mode and into a life you're actually building We take care of the woman who lives here — sleep, movement, nourishment, friends, prayer, margin We take our fun very seriously — dancing, boat rides, tiny ice cream cones on a regular Saturday We ask ourselves, what would be amazing? — tapping into desire instead of just what needs to be done Everybody who comes through the door gets to belong — even when they believe or live differently than you do We leave the door open — because your house of joy was never meant to be just for you Your house of joy was never meant to be just for you. So consider this your invitation in. Links Mentioned Join us for A Week in the House of Joy: https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/life  Get a ticket to the Next Level Life Summit: https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/life  The book House Rules mentioned in this episode: https://www.target.com/p/house-rules-by-myquillyn-smith-hardcover/-/A-89609027?sid=&TCID=PDS-22806998620&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22803281030&gbraid=0AAAAAD-5dfYyzK8sQi4BepTJ9_5cFL1wx&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7eXTBhDBARIsAKF-w478NNpbN04KkCwp5tKX0x_UWNWyFpNCb3iAlnTpyrUWDJ-TsgWGV7EaAukKEALw_wcB  Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/  Last week's episode, 402: Why You Feel Behind, Broke, or Stuck (And What To Do About It):  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/402-why-you-feel-behind-broke-or-stuck-and-what-to-do/id1472947590?i=1000778655014  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a Best of House of Joy rerelease — one of our most downloaded episodes from the past year, and with August coming up soon (fresh starts, new rhythms, back-to-school energy), it felt like the perfect time to bring it back around. Scarcity doesn't always look like money. Most of the time, it's hiding in your thoughts about your time, your relationships, your pace, your worth — quietly draining your energy without you even realizing it's there. In this episode, I'm walking through five sneaky scarcity thoughts almost all of us think without noticing, and what abundance actually sounds like instead. Here they are: "I'm always behind" — and why this thought quietly keeps you stuck and paralyzed instead of moving you forward "I don't have enough time" — and the difference between chronos time and kairos time (and how to collapse time instead of losing it) "I don't follow through" — and why looking for evidence of the opposite changes everything "It's too late for me" — and why so many of the most successful people didn't even start until midlife "I need to see proof before I believe" — and why belief has to come before the results, not after Abundance, in the end, is just faith. Faith that you're provided for, that you're supported, that your best days aren't behind you — they're still coming. Links Mentioned: Hiya Kids Vitamins (50% off your first order): https://hiyahealth.com/HouseOfJoy  The Ningxia Red Metabolic Reset mentioned in this episode: https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/myaccount/wishlist?listId=65b91cb46c6367000a127d22&enrollerId=1443424&sponsorId=1443424&userName=Edie  Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's an old story about three bricklayers. A traveler stops and asks the first one what he's doing. Without looking up, he says, "I'm laying bricks." He asks the second, and gets, "I'm building a wall." But the third one — same bricks, same mortar, same hot sun — says, "I'm building a cathedral." Eyes sparkling. We're all laying bricks every single day. Laundry, meals, conversations, rhythms. The question is whether we know what we're actually building. In this episode, I'm walking through seven invisible, unseen pieces of architecture that build a genuinely beautiful life — and it's probably not what you think. Here they are: Why your daily rhythms are quietly building your identity, one small decision at a time Why beauty isn't superficial — it's how God designed the world, and how your nervous system knows it's safe Why creating more than you consume matters, even in the smallest ways Why the words you speak build the emotional atmosphere of your whole life Why hospitality starts with your own nervous system, not your centerpieces Why play might be one of the most spiritual things you do Why faith means remembering it was never all up to you in the first place You're not just laying bricks today. You're building something — whether you mean to or not. So what are you building? Links Mentioned:  The book referenced on habits and identity, Atomic Habits by James Clear: https://go.shopmy.us/p-73056364  Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/  Last week's episode, 400: 5 Things Birth Week Taught Me About Loving Well: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/400-5-things-birth-week-taught-me-about-loving-well/id1472947590?i=1000776716504 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week I got to witness one of the greatest gifts of my life: the birth of my sixth grandbaby, sweet Ellie Jo. Watching my daughter Emme become a mother—and watching everyone around her show up to love her so well—taught me more about love than almost anything else could. In this episode, I'm sharing five things birth week reminded me about how to really love the people in your life, especially when things get hard, unpredictable, or emotional. Why loving people well starts with choosing the highest thoughts you can believe Why emotional capacity is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and others Why the best helpers don't need to be the hero Why speaking life over the people you love matters more than you know Why the holiest work often looks completely ordinary Whether you're welcoming a new baby, walking through something hard like we are right now, or simply loving the people in front of you today—I hope this conversation is an encouragement to you. Links Mentioned: Subscribe to the House of Joy Substack here — this Friday's post will have the Grammy bag, the Grammy sweater, and a few of the recipes I took to the kids: https://ediewadsworth.substack.com/ Last week's episode, referenced when I talked about packing my Grammy bag: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/399-how-to-find-rest-for-your-soul-even-when-life-feels-heavy/id1472947590?i=1000775750627 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

399. How to Find Rest for Your Soul (Even When Life Feels Heavy) One of the greatest gifts God has been teaching me lately is this: Life can be heavy without becoming unbearable. This conversation came after one of those days where Stevie and I had a really hard conversation sitting in the middle of the lake…and then we surfed afterward. It felt strange at first, almost like we shouldn't be allowed to laugh after crying. But maybe that's exactly what Jesus meant when He said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He doesn't always remove the hard thing. He carries the weight of it with us. If you've been carrying around tomorrow's worries, living under the weight of uncertainty, or feeling like your soul is just tired, I hope this episode reminds you that rest isn't the absence of burdens. It's trusting that you don't have to carry them alone. In this episode we talk about: What "rest for your soul" actually means Jesus' invitation to carry life's burdens differently Holding grief and joy at the same time Why fun isn't something you earn Finding renewal in ordinary moments Practical rhythms that help lighten your emotional load The importance of creating beauty even in difficult seasons Want to live with more energy, joy and abundance? Click here for our Design Your Bundle!  https://www.ediewadsworthcoaching.com/bundle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices