LOUDER GIRL Gets LOUDER About Mental Health (Part 2) Five Daily Practices to Become a LOUDER GIRL

In Part 1, I told my truth.

About the stories I inherited.
About silence.
About pretending.
About what it cost me to abandon myself.

I know I’m not the only one who performed as “a woman who had her shit together” when inside I was crumbling.

We’ve been taught to:

• push through
• stay quiet
• be “strong”
• handle it alone

These are NOT the ways we heal. 

I needed medication and therapy to jump start my healing journey. These calmed my nervous system and put my mind and body back into balance so I could put myself first and prioritize my health.

But healing isn’t just therapy.
It isn’t just medication.
It isn’t just the occasional spa day or nap.

It’s daily.

We heal in micro-moments.

The way we speak to ourselves.
The way we honor our bodies.
The way we stop abandoning ourselves in tiny, everyday ways.

Because it’s not the big ways we take care of ourselves that change us.

It’s the daily ways we do.

Image: Bare feet

Small moments.

Big shifts.

That’s Ignited Leadership.

FIVE DAILY IGNITED LEADERSHIP PRACTICES FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Not perfection.
Practice.

Not becoming someone new.
Coming home to yourself.

1. Practicing Gratitude (Grounding in What Is)

For years, I focused on what was missing, wrong, broken, or not enough.

Now I practice noticing.

Not fake positivity.
Not pretending everything is okay.

Attention.

Because what we repeatedly notice shapes how we experience our lives.

Daily micro-practices:

• Before getting out of bed:
  Name 3 things you can feel or sense
  (warm sheets, breath, birds singing outside window)
  
  

Image: Cozy sheets

• Midday reset:
  Text someone one thing you appreciate about them
• Evening:
  Name one unexpected gratitude
  (something difficult that taught you something)

LOUDER GIRL shift:

Gratitude isn’t toxic positivity.

It’s creating a habit to look for the positive.

What am I choosing to notice today?

2. Setting Boundaries (Honoring Your Energy)

Women are taught to overextend, overgive, overperform.

Then we call ourselves selfish when we finally say "no."

No more.

Boundaries are how we stop abandoning ourselves.

Daily micro-practices:

• Pause before saying yes:
  “Let me get back to you.”
• Body check:
  Tight chest? Exhaustion? Resentment?
  That’s information.
• Time boundary:
  Put a time limit on draining interactions

Try these Go-to LOUDER GIRL scripts:

• “That doesn’t work for me.”
• “I’m not available for that.”
• “I need more time.”

LOUDER GIRL shift:

Boundaries aren’t rejection.

They’re self-leadership in action.

3. Connecting with Others (Power-With, Not Power-Over)

Image: Women in conversation

Healing does not happen in isolation.

We need people who let us be real.

That’s why I created LOUDER GIRL.

Connection.

Daily micro-practices:

• Really look at someone when they speak
• Ask: “How are you really doing?”
• Send a voice note instead of a text

With nature/animals:

• Step outside for 2 minutes
• Touch something living

LOUDER GIRL shift:

Connection isn’t expendable.

It’s how we heal ourselves and culture.

4. Living in the Present (Coming Back to Your Body)

I spent years living in the past or catastrophizing the future.

Meanwhile, my actual life was happening somewhere else.

The body always tells the truth first.

Daily micro-practices:

• 3-breath reset:
  • Inhale: “Here”
  • Exhale: “Now”
• Name:
  • 5 things you see
  • 4 things you feel
  • 3 things you hear
• Put your hand on your body and ask:
  • “What’s true right now?”

LOUDER GIRL shift:

Presence = power.

You cannot lead your life if you’re not in it.

5. Playing (Reclaiming Joy + Aliveness)

Image: Woman Singing

Women are often rewarded for being productive.

Not joyful.

I used to take myself very seriously.

Now?

I dance in my kitchen.
I sing loudly in my car.
I laugh harder.
I play more.

And honestly?

It’s healing.

Daily micro-practices:

• Play one song and move
• Dance badly
• Laugh loudly
• Do something slightly ridiculous

LOUDER GIRL shift:

Play isn’t childish.

It’s freedom.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

You do not need to master any of these overnight.

This is not about perfection.

This is about returning to yourself—
again and again.

Try this simple daily rhythm:

Morning → Gratitude 
Midday → Boundary 
Afternoon → Connection
Evening → Presence
Anytime → PLAY

HERE’S HOW I PRACTICE

I write down what I’m grateful for:
hot water, iced tea, sage, turquoise, wind chimes.

I tell people:

“I need a minute.”
“That doesn’t work for me.”

I sing loudly in my car. Whitney, Barbra, Adele, and Brandi have nothing on me.

I breathe deeply when I start to spiral.

I stop doom-scrolling people who are pretending to have perfect lives.

And every single day?

I practice coming home to myself.

Again.

And again.

And again.

THIS IS WHAT LEADERSHIP LOOKS LIKE

Honest.
Daily.
Embodied.

If you’re done pretending…
If you’re ready to tell the truth…

Come join us.

LOUDER GIRL is where we:

• Tell the truth
• Come home to our bodies
• Lead our lives first
• Rewrite the damn story

Because when women stop abandoning themselves?

Everything changes.

Are You Ready to Be a LOUDER GIRL?

You’re not broken.

You’ve just been taught to stay quiet.

Let’s change that.

Ready to get LOUD about mental health? To lead your life? To live out LOUD?

Join LOUDER GIRL

This is where we:

Tell the truth.
Stop hiding.
Lead your life—out loud and unapologetically.

When You Join, You Get:

LoudHer Inspirations Newsletter
Weekly sparks of courage, storytelling, and self-truth

Sisterhood & Belonging
A space where you are seen, heard, and held

A New Way to Lead
Power-with. Not power-over.