[Intro] Hello and welcome to my podcast, Empowered to Thrive. I'm your host, Corinne Powell. I'm an intuitive guide and I absolutely love helping people to heal from within so that they can create a life that they love, a life that they enjoy.

We weren't meant to just tolerate and get through life. We were meant to thrive and enjoy the life we're living. Of course, we will have seasons and moments that are difficult and challenging.

And the beauty of it is that we can be supported in those moments. I am here to be an aid and a guide to support you. And I hope that you will enjoy not only today's episode, but some of the past episodes if you haven't heard them yet.

On this podcast, I talk about all things inner wellness. We also sprinkle in some spirituality and parenting because as a mom to three kids, parenting is a big part of my life. I hope that you enjoy the episode and that there's at least one thing you'll pull from it and start to implement into your own life.

If you want to follow me in other ways, you can find me on Instagram, @corinne_changeradically⁠ or on Facebook Change Radically. Would you do me a favor and share this podcast with your friends if you hear an episode that resonates with you? And would you also go ahead and give me a rating and review my podcast? It would mean so much to me and I would appreciate it. I hope that you enjoy the episode and that we connect.

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How to radically change your holidays. Let's talk about birthday parties and take it and use it for any celebration you want. 

I used to decorate inside and outside. I would buy so many decorations and spend lots of money on balloons and all the things. And it was great, but it was unnecessary. I would invite hundreds of people to birthday parties.

I would run the party for lots of hours running around and being the most amazing hostess the entire time, but actually not enjoying the birthday party very much. And I wouldn't just have both host birthday parties for my children. Nope.

I would host them for family members and friends. I've baked cakes and celebrated and hosted so many people's birthdays. And it's all good and fine.

I love people. I love celebrating people and I'm fine with that, but it was a bit extreme. And even now if I make a cake for someone or I host a celebration for them, I at least decorate less.

I expect myself to shrink the menu a little bit, shrink the guest list a little bit and just have a good time. My goal is to enjoy, to enjoy the celebration and to enjoy the process. So because my family and I have chosen to simplify our life, we don't have to clean up as much around a party because we have less things.

So the house is generally being maintained. It's not perfect. Walk in on some given day, you know, you're going to see a mess probably.

But we maintain it in a way that doesn't make party prep feel crazy like it used to feel. And we also don't have as many things that we're expecting ourselves before a party. So with fewer decorations to put up, that's a lot less time involved.

If I've shrunk my menu, that's less time involved. If I'm willing to not make everything from scratch, even though I do still like to make a lot from scratch, but if I'm willing to not make everything from scratch, I'm creating more time for myself. And shrinking the guest list just means that there's actually more connection between me and the guests because there's fewer people to interact with, and I can actually have some conversation with most of them.

I'm still the hostess. So I'm still running around, I'm still doing things, but I'm trying to do less because I actually want to enjoy the parties more. When there's been a party where I've been able to snap several pictures, I am, like, thrilled about that.

Like, wow, this is amazing because I used to hire someone to snap pictures, you know, be the photographer for the day. And again, all that's good and fine, but my goal has been to create ease and enjoyment in my lifestyle and to be more present for my family. To be more present even for myself, to just care about myself, to not look at it like every time I'm going to have a celebration at my house and host a party that I should be getting next to no sleep or exhausted after the event.

I mean, it's normal to feel a little bit tired. That's normal. So then I create more time on the back end or the front end, like both ends, for rest because I know I'm going to be expecting more of myself.

I'm going to be pushing a little bit harder. So what can I do to make it a little bit easier? Even if that means prepping a couple days in advance. Like because I've simplified my lifestyle, I have pockets of time the days preceding that I can do some prep.

So there's just numerous ways that you can create ease in the parties that you host and the ways that you celebrate. There was one time that we had a party for one of our kids outside of our home and that was actually a pretty amazing experience because I realized that the place that we went to did most of the work for me and I was able to enjoy the party. So it's not that I've done that every time.

That honestly isn't satisfying to me to do every time. Sometimes we just like being in our home to celebrate. One of my kids, oh I also asked my children who they want to have at their party.

So one of my children doesn't like to have many people at his party. Well, I'm fine with that. I'm not worried about disappointing the people that aren't on the list to invite and you know there are a couple people that are very special that I'll say, hey it's going to be important to them, can they come? But the list is so small that I try to honor that that's what he prefers.

And then for others of my children, they want more people or they want specific people and I ask them because it matters to me who they want at their party. I used to invite people because I wanted them there. And even though to a degree that's okay, it's their party.

So asking them what they want just aligns more with who I am. So I'll ask them what they want for food. It doesn't mean that I get them or I make everything they want.

But I'm able to pull some of the things that they want and have those as the menu. So there are so many ways and I could talk about this with you for a while. But I just wanted to throw out a little bit of information and get you thinking.

So what can you do to create some ease and more enjoyment in all of your celebrations and all the parties you host across the board? 

[Ending] We’ve come to the end. What did you think about what you heard? I hope that there's something you pull from today's episode and start implementing it into your life.

Create the change that you want to see, the change that you hear about. You have the opportunity to transform your life and I'm ready to link arms with you and to help and guide you to the life that you want to live. 

If you resonated with what you heard today and it touched you, would you share it with your friends? Would you also go ahead and rate my podcast and write a written review? It would mean so much to me. 

I hope that we'll connect whether it's for a session or just to connect because I enjoy meeting new people. You can find me on Instagram, @corinne_changeradically⁠ or on Facebook Change Radically. You can also always email me corinne@changeradically.com. If you have thoughts, questions or anything that you just want to talk about, send me an email. 

I hope that you have a wonderful week. But no matter what your week is like in the moments that are quiet, maybe it's when you pillow your head at night, or when you're driving in the car or taking a walk, or maybe it's going to be in the midst of the chaos with your children or the craziness of work. I hope that you'll remember how significant you are, that there is meaning and value to your life, and that I for one am so glad that you're alive. 

Catch you again next week.