Sanne Mahieu

Sources: MVSPsychology, The Good Trade, and other compassion-focused psychology research. After writing my last blog, The Quiet Confidence of “Good Enough and Growing”, I kept circling back to one question: Why are we all so hard on ourselves? Like… really, why? Not in the philosophical “we should be kinder” way, but in the very real: “The most awesome humans I know can totally beat themselves down — even when they’re doing great.” So, naturally, I went down a little research rabbit hole (as...

There’s a very specific kind of exhaustion that comes from trying to grow while secretly believing you’re not enough to begin with. I know that feeling well. I’ve always loved learning, growing, and getting better at things. But for years, all of that came with an underlying tone of: “There’s something wrong with me… I’m not enough yet.” And honestly? It took me forever to unlearn that. I still remember my first yoga teacher explaining that you can be completely okay and  still want to...

I love a good goal like any other. There’s something so energizing about having a direction — a vision of who we’re becoming, what we’re creating, or simply how we want to feel a few months from now. But here’s the thing I’ve also learned about myself (maybe you relate?): the moment I start mapping out all the steps it will take to get there… I can go from inspired → overwhelmed → frozen → “maybe I just don’t have what it takes” in record time. One step not going as planned? Suddenly, the...