If you’ve been feeling blindsided as a parent by the challenges our teens of today face, or confused on how to help and support them, today’s episode is exactly what you need. 

These are the most direct, concrete answers on how to help your teens navigate the anxious generation you’ll ever hear.

Today, I share wisdom I learned from a high school counseling office as I spent the last three months learning from a rockstar team of high school counselors who are helping teens build their high school years with the strengths of resilience, confident decision-making, and empowerment.

This episode feels personal, in that I share my own daughter’s difficult high school years and what I’ve learned since that first fateful therapy appointment finding out she was in crisis with an eating disorder. That was ten years ago. Fast forward to now, and my passion for helping you help your kids. 

If you’ve ever wondered what to do about:

• Smart devices in the schools (chromeboo...

Have you ever wondered what it REALLY looks like when someone says they turned their anxiety around and it’s no longer as big of a deal as it used to be? Do you wish you could just sit down with them and ask them to explain in more detail how that worked for them? If so, you’re going to love my conversation with today’s guest on the show, Kate Skinner; she is going to give you the whole story behind her journey with healing from anxiety and panic attacks, and even her journey with cancer, during treatment and now being cancer free for over a year, and all that entailed. She’s sharing hard won, real-life lessons. I can’t wait for you to meet Kate and hear our conversation…

Kate is a top university professor in her field, jazz piano studies. You are going to love meeting her and learning from her.

And listen, if you’re not a jazz pianist, and let’s face it, not many of us are, because -so hard!! Jazz is a whole new level of musicianship. But Don’t worry, Kate is so relatable a...

Take this moment for you today and do yourself a favor. 

This short but impactful activity is the moment for the next year that will set up your year for 2025 in the best direction so it can be the best it can be.

In this special mini-episode of the Dare Greatly Podcast, I have a message you need to hear, right now, just for you: this year, you can make a difference with how it goes.

You have the power to make this year more intentional and to steer the ship in the direction you want it to go. The year doesn’t have to just happen to you. 

You can make the choice, set your course, enter the GPS coordinates in your inner compass, and navigate your next right steps, work toward your true desires, and create the change you’ve always wanted, so you can have what you always wanted. 

This is the year to be intentional. To decide. To make up your mind. To take back control. To stop worrying what other people think, and start focusing on what You think of you. 

Becaus...

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of Grace lately. In the context of what it looks like to receive it, and also in the context of how to give it to others, and how to give it to yourself more. 

I always do this thing at the beginning of every new year and I choose a theme or word for the year, this year my word is Grace - and boy, have I come back to it again and again. It’s been fascinating to see how the word or theme I choose coincides with just what I need. Last year, I chose the word Harmony, and it was fitting with all the things that I needed to cut out of my life that were causing some dissonance. 

The year before that, I chose the phrase Vibrantly Serve, and that was so neat because I was building my coaching business and nurturing it from its roots, as I went all in with serving, the practice grew to a sweet spot where I feel so happy about being able to help as many people as possible while I get to serve through doing something I love to do. 

B...

One of the things I love, love about this community, is how thoughtful and how kind you are to me, to each other. This Dare Greatly community is special. We are women who are committed to overcoming the hard things life hands us, and to grow from them, learn from them, and find beauty for ashes.

As some of you know, this summer got particularly hard, my cute dad recently passed away. And it happened quite fast, once it happened. He went in for an outpatient surgery, and was gone a week later. He had a series of domino events happen in the hospital that were just too hard to overcome in combination, and I’m so grateful we had that week with him to say our goodbyes and watch the hallmark channel with him, those Christmas in July shows with him, which are his favorite. 

My dad is a lover of all things Christmas, he even played Santa Clause over the years. Who can actually say in real life they had Santa Clause for a dad? That’s what me and all of my siblings can say. It take...

I read a quote that stopped me in my tracks, it said, “Ten years from now, you’d give anything to be this age again, this healthy, this cute, and have this time again. Go do something that makes you proud of yourself today.” If you’re a mom whose children are starting to become more independent, you might be wondering what life will look like ten years from now. It can be hard to imagine when you’ve lost yourself in mothering. But if you’re interested in still finding purpose,  maybe it's overcoming loneliness, or setting yourself up for success with coping with empty nest syndrome, and embracing life to thrive after children leave, then you’re going to love this episode.” 

Stevie Nicks said it best… “well i’ve been afraid of changin’ / cause I built my life around you / but time makes you bolder / even children get older / and I’m getting older too…”

These lyrics speak to my soul. They did even when my kids were young. I can remember imagining how hard it would be to be ...

You’re listening to the Dare Greatly Podcast with Danielle Vaughn, episode # 58, How Getting Support for Your Marriage Works

[transcript]

Hey my beautiful friends. How are you doing? It’s been a minute. Well, longer than a minute, as I’ve had a very full winter and spring. Lots of neat things have been happening. It’s been a time of growth, a lot of growth. Since I’ve last talked to you, I did a virtual book club that might be one of my favorite ways I get to connect with you in person. 

We had an amazing group this go-round, and it was inspiring to see the topics you brought to your personal coaching around habits - we read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, which is one of my top five favorite books, I re-read it every winter in January and use it as a guide for self-assessment and areas I want to improve on moving forward. So working with you with that book as our guide was magical. I loved it.

One of the things I did differently this time with the book club is ever...

Welcome to Part 3 of this 3 Part blog series that highlights what I learned about parenting in my Marriage and Family Sudies degree. I'm hoping to give you the most condensed but impactful lessons from my studies, that's what this blog series attempts to do.

A common concern that comes up when I'm helping parents in my coaching practice is teen depression and anxiety. Many of the teens I coach ask for my help in those areas too, and the first area I ask questions about are the teen's media usage, whether a cell phone, tablet, or computer.

There is a high correlation between media use and teen depression and anxiety. A study published back in 2017 from San Diego State University psychologist Jean Twenge acknowledges the correlation, though is cautious to prove causation (Twenge, 2017). Even so, the study raised a big red flag to parents.

Between 2010 and 2015, Twenge's findings indicated the biggest increase was among girls who were six times more likely than boys to report depressiv...

When I was a young mom, I was confused about discipline. I second-guessed myself a lot and was worried I was messing up my children for life if they were mad at me.

I took upon myself to learn what healthy marriages and motherhood looked like when I signed up for my Marriage and Family Studies degree as a young mother.

And maybe you're a little bit like me, you might feel guilty for not enjoying motherhood more sometimes.

It was so important to me to be a good mom!

But how? Where was the 'Good Mom Manual' that all the other moms were using?

This 3 Part blog series helps answer those questions. If I had to boil down what I learned about parenting in only three take-aways, and give you the most condensed but impactful lessons I've learned from my studies, that's what this blog series attempts to do.

I hope it helps you believe in yourself a little more, trust yourself a little more, and most of all, enjoy motherhood a lot more.

Effective Discipline

I know there is so much adv...

Welcome to Part 2 of a 3 Part Series on Parenting. My hope in writing about these fundamentals is to help set you up for more self-trust and confidence and enjoy your motherhood journey more.

I've been intrigued by the concept of Motivation ever since I was a little girl with my piano practicing and later with my music teaching studio.

A personal story

I was told my whole life I am 'talented, gifted at music,' etc., and while it felt good to be told those things, it also built some anxiety inside of me if I didn't perform well.

I started competing in piano competitions in the fifth grade. At first, it was fun because I won all the time. It was easy. I was praised a lot by my teacher and my parents and my grandmother. I loved all the attention, and I loved those ribbons and special certificates. One of my piano judges wrote the words, "I can tell you mean business when you sit down to play the piano..." and I took those words to heart. I loved getting praise.

But somewhere in the e...