Navigate Change and Transition with The W.I.S.E.R. Woman’s Blog

Here I share stories, strategies and ideas with you about the journey to becoming the woman you desire and have always wanted to be.

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The Heroine’s Journey
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

The Heroine’s Journey

I’m so grateful to have been interviewed by Joan Perry and Erin Egan on The Heroine’s Journey Podcast. Joan is the author of “The Heroine’s Journey: The Art of Becoming the Heroine of Your Own Life”, a transformative memoir that tells her story of how she transformed and navigated the “messy” middle (not just one) to finding her voice, courage and strength.

This book is a roadmap for women…

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Exploring Transformative Thresholds: A Journey Within
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Exploring Transformative Thresholds: A Journey Within

How often have you felt yourself standing on the threshold of change?

Reverend Sara LaWall said:

“A [threshold is] a space to imagine a new way, and new self. Not moving or pushing but sitting and cultivating… [the goal] is to allow you space and time to reflect on your past, present, and future. To imagine a new beginning…”

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Transitioning into a       New Year
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Transitioning into a New Year

As I sit quietly, journal open, ready to write, I realize that there are just a few days left in 2024. How are you feeling about this year and the prospect of leaving it behind us as we transition into another New Year?

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The Gift of Impatience
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

The Gift of Impatience

I stepped off the scale this morning - I’m up just slightly but down overall this week. My sigh was not one of impatience at the number - I no longer worry about those - but because I felt in that moment the weight of time, that feeling of knowing that this process was going to take time, more time than I would like it to. I had to remind myself that things work better when my mind and body are aligned and I allow and trust that whatever time it’s going to take to release this extra weight is worth the daily, consistent action I’m now taking.

And yet, there’s this impatience lurking in the background.

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Friendship
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Friendship

Two of my favorite, most cherished friends left after a 5 day visit. Today my home is quiet, filled with memories I’ve made sure to write down so I won’t forget. There are a few things in life that are of true value - friendship is one of them.

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Parts of us do & parts of us don’t.
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Parts of us do & parts of us don’t.

I came across this birdhouse tree on a walk not long ago and couldn’t help but take this photo. Each individual birdhouse makes up the whole birdhouse tree - each little house is decorated, unique, with it’s own style even though the shapes and sizes are the same, except for the top birdhouse which appears to be a bit larger, as if guiding or guarding the tree itself.

For those who know me and have read my posts about using metaphors (“Allow” is one of them), you’ll know that part of my training as an EFT, Heartstream Process Practitioner and Tap and Write facilitator, is to use metaphors as a way to reach parts of us that aren’t easily accessed just by thinking. As I looked at this birdhouse tree…

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Consistent Action
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Consistent Action

The first line in the Introduction to The Pivot Year by Brianna Wiest, is

“I hope this is the year you change your life.”

“It is and I am”, I thought as I read it and realized that the last half of 2024 was the beginning of a pivotal year for me. I made a commitment to figure out how to lose and manage my weight in the next year and why that was important for me, and I stumbled onto what I now call Tap and Write and the Tap and Write Studio.

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Where Are You?
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Where Are You?

I really have no idea what I’m going to write about as I begin this post.  So many thoughts have been swirling around in my mind and I’m having trouble settling on one thing to focus on.  It happens apparently to all writers and today I am at least in step with them. 

This week has been full – full of fears and worries about…

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Social Media, the Scroll and Tap and Write
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Social Media, the Scroll and Tap and Write

I’ve been posting videos on social media lately as a way to promote Tap and Write Circles. It’s been an interesting experiment for me because I’m not sure that enough people see or hear me to get to “know, like, and trust” me, let alone leap at the chance to Tap and Write.

I recently came away from a meeting with coaches who expressed frustration and concern about…

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When I’m Writing at My Best…
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

When I’m Writing at My Best…

“The most recent prompt in the therapeutic and reflective writing class I’m taking invited us to use a metaphor to describe “When I am writing at my best I am like what?” I’d never stopped to consider what I’m like when I’m writing at my best, and in fact, I wasn’t even sure I had a best!

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Choices we make
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Choices we make

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes…And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

I began my final journey to lose weight this year by working with a dietitian and then joining Glean on September 1st, 2024. I’m learning a lot…

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The Problem With Feet
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

The Problem With Feet

"In the therapeutic and reflective writing class I’m in, we were asked to write a story in the 3rd person. Further, we were asked to keep it to 3,000 or fewer words.

Now, anyone who knows me..."

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In the middle
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

In the middle

I’m juggling a lot these days. I’m not complaining because all of the balls I’m juggling are ones I want to be juggling. And yet in moments of reflection, I find myself wondering what the heck I’m doing and think back to the quiet moments in August at the lake when I never wanted to leave….

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It’s all coming together!
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

It’s all coming together!

This feeling of butterflies in my belly today is welcome! I wasn’t sure when I decided to facilitate two sessions of what I called the “Tap and Write Circles”, or when I created the “Tap and Write Studio”, how they’d be received or whether they’d add value to the participants who joined me in my “experiment”.

Little did I know...

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I’m never leaving…
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

I’m never leaving…

This place, where my heart felt still, calm.

It filled me with a certain ease, gently stirring emotions of longing.

I could...

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Gratitude, Growth and Learning Mindsets
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Gratitude, Growth and Learning Mindsets

This photo reminds me of my 2 year old grandson who comes over and immediately asks for my box of pencil crayons. He calls them “sticks”.

I have them stored away specially for him - along with paper he can color on.

What’s so interesting is...

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Through My Mother’s Eyes
Joan Ridsdel Joan Ridsdel

Through My Mother’s Eyes

The story of how wronged I felt at the age of 8 when my ballet teacher told me I was no longer welcome to return for second term was another defining moment in my young life. You can read the story HERE.

For decades I carried this story with me, angry at my mom for not advocating enough for me, angry that she couldn’t convince my teacher to accept me back.

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