As a recovering people pleaser and validation seeker, I understand the significance of someone agreeing with you, encouraging you, giving you permission... So if you don't have someone actively and vocally supporting you, I'm here to say:

I give you permission to be happy, despite everyone telling you what could go wrong.

I give you permission to be sad, despite everyone telling you it will be fine and you should be grateful for what you have.

I give you permission to be excited about something seemingly impossible, despite the obstacles you might face.

I give you permission to be upset with God's timing sometimes, despite having a million other blessings.

I give you permission to continue to be hopeful, despite mistakes, failures, and setbacks.

I give you permission to figure out life on your own terms, despite society, culture, tradition telling you what is acceptable.

I give you permission to be proud of your accomplishments, your progress, no matter how big or small, despite feeling like you're bragging.

I give you permission to prioritize yourself, your family, your mental health, despite the possibility of disappointing people.

I give you permission to be Angry, Overwhelmed, Anxious, Nervous, and feel all your feelings, despite them being uncomfortable or making others feel uncomfortable.

I give you permission to be grateful for everything you have and exactly where you are, despite it not being exactly where you want to be.

DM me if you need permission for anything more specifically 😅 (short of anything too terrible or illegal 🙃)

Hi! My name is Meagan!

I'm the owner of The Sweet Escape 🌻✌️

I love all things marketing, organizing, event planning, teaching, etc. I dream of having a space someday to bring all of my loves under one roof. Currently, I am the director of marketing for a consulting company in Pittsburgh 🖤💛

I love sharing empowering & encouraging messages. I believe sometimes you just need to hear the right thing, at the right time, from the right person to change your mind or life.

I'm a momma to two sweet littles - Marley Jo & Marshall. They are 18 months apart! I wanted babies for a long time and TTC for five years with my ex-husband. This was a really hard and significant part of life. In an interesting turn of events, God blessed me with these babies to another man (but that's a story for another day 😅)

I am a certified yoga instructor. I ran the social media for a yoga studio for a few years which provided me access to free unlimited classes. Although this was during the busiest time of my life, it was the start of teaching me to slow down - my body, nervous system, heart, mind - and start being present, mindful, intune with the mind-body connection✌️ I was certified in 2019 and have taught a little here and there. I started Sweet Escape partially as a reason to teach more!

I love trying new things! I've had more than 30 jobs plus a dozen volunteer opportunities. I've done everything from sell "I love boobies" shirts in bars when I was 24 to being an adjunct professor at a university when I was 26 😅 My formal education is a bachelor's degree in public relations from SRU and a master's degree in advertising from the University of Texas. But most of my understanding of life came from the school of hard knocks 💪

I am a Christian and have enormous faith and hope in our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ 🙏 I believe life is naturally hard but by looking at the bigger picture and from God's perspective, everything makes sense and works together for his good ❤️ I believe life is meant to be enjoyed but you have to put in the work to shift your mindset and see the good through it all.

I love to travel! My goal is to visit all 50 states and I'm about 2/3 there. I've also been to Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Greece. I can't wait to see the world with my babies!

I am very interested in human development, behaviors, personalities, and communication styles. Someone once coined the term "Meagan-ing" for my overzealous, yet genuine, interest in getting to know people lol

I would love to get to know you 💗 Please message me anytime at [email protected]!

When I was completing my yoga teacher training and learning about the niyamas, Santosha was the one that resonated the most with me.

Santosha means contentment. To me that means to "want" less and appreciate more. I feel like it's so easy to get sucked into the trap of wanting - a bigger house, a fancy car, a new job, a shopping spree at TJMaxx 😆

It's a little hard for my to sit still, to stay in one place (er, moved ten times in 15 years lol), to not always be thinking "what's next"... I've gotten a little better in recent years but I still have some work to do. There is definitely a balance between enjoying where you are while working toward the future.

So I'm making a conscious effort to "Live in the present moment without regretting the past or anticipating the future."

From www.dailydownwarddog.com: How to Practice Santosha:

❤ Releasing control over what you think your life should look like, and accepting every facet for what it is at the present moment.
❤ Cultivating an inner peace and joy that is not dependent on what is happening in our lives.
❤ If something comes, let it come. If not, it doesn’t matter.
❤ Practice remaining calm in success and failure.
❤ Cut back on energy wasted in thoughts of liking or disliking what is.
❤ Practice living mindfully.
❤ Ask yourself if you really need that new [fill in the blank] to be content. Seriously, do you really need more “stuff” in your life?

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu

Happiness is not found in people, things, or places. Not striving for what you don't have but accepting with joy what you do. A peace inside that remains regardless of circumstances.

I often think "If nothing changes - my living arrangements, my job, my daily routine, my finances, my relationships - could I still be content?" Although on a regular basis I dream about a new home, having an event space, etc. If I stop and think about it, I believe I could enjoy this life, just as it is, for the foreseeable future... and I am so grateful for that.

I hate to see those that are constantly in want, seemingly feeling unrest because of their dissatisfaction with life, miserable because they are not who/where/with who they want to or thought they would be by now, because I can only imagine how uncomfortable that must be!

So what can you do to start enjoying life now you ask?

1. Get mindful: The practice of conscious attention on the present without judgment. Not projecting into the future about what we want to happen, what we want to do or have, when we are not dwelling in the past on what we should have done differently, we find contentment with what is right now.
   
2. Meditate: Clearing your brain for just a few minutes helps bring the mind into the now and find contentment in the present, gives you a fresh start to move forward, creates space to think more clearly and calmly.
   
3. Get grateful: Stop and focus on something you have in your life that you are grateful for. It’s impossible to be discontent when you are truly grateful. Anything as seemingly insignificant like your morning coffee (or v8 😆), or the things you forget to be grateful for such as roof over your head, food on the table. Something unexpected like finding $5 in the washing machine haha! And of course the big things like your health, your family, your job.

I hope you love your life today ❤

The Sweet Escape is my platform to encourage you to find contentment and enjoy life through sharing our stories, mindset work, and movement. I am passionate about this because I want to break the cycle and patterns and outdated traditions. I want better for my life and my children and their children and for you.

I know that everything I share is common sense. You know what you need to do but it's usually easier said than done. It is easy to get sucked into the hardships, difficulties, stress, and challenges of life. God says "don't worry" yet all we do is worry 🙄 My messaging and classes are just a gentle reminder to keep going. Sometime you need to hear the right thing, at the right time, from the right person for it to click and propel you to make a change, have faith, or try again.

Recently, I lead a virtual workshop about living a "Happy Life" so I wanted to share my thoughts about the topic here!

What a Happy Life is Not:

1. A perfect life - Always having: enough money, clean beautiful house, good kids, great job, spouse, hood health,, etc.
2. Gaslighting - Walking around like Mary freaking sunshine not feeling your feelings, addressing issues, lying to yourself/others, etc. (Toxic Positivity)
3. People Pleasing - Doing things to make others happy. I'm all about serving others but not at the expense of your own sanity.
4. Materialistic - Having everything you ever wanted - the house, the kids, the car, thr clothes, the money - even if you have it all you can still be unsatisfied because joy comes from within! Once you figure that out you will have everything you ever need.
5. Comparison - Judgement for yourself or others. Let it go. Accept yourself and others as they are, where they are and love them anyway.

What a Happy Life is to Me

1. Finding contentment in and through every circumstance.
2. Appreciating what you have.
3. Looking on the bright side.
4. Feeling all of your feeling.
5. Slowing down. Breathing. Having time. Being present and aware.

How to Achieve a Happy Life

1. Decide to Choose Joy Everyday.
2. Do what you Love - Take and Inventory of what fills your thoughts, time, mind currently. Make a list of how you want to spend your daydreams, time, etc. Brainstorm ways to close or address any gaps. Maybe you can't quit your job but can you slowly incorporate something that will work into your life just as it is now?
3. Express Yourself - Gratitude, affirmations, journal, rage journal, read, surround yourself with good people, limit toxic people. Get. It. Out. Of. Your. Body.
4. Flip the Script - Changing your mindset. You can still have angry/frustrating thoughts and emotions (in fact, you better!) But catch yourself every time. Did that thought serve you? Did you need to have it to release something you were feeling or was it self doubt/criticism creeping in. The thoughts will never stop coming but maybe you can slow them down or stop them before they take over.
5. Fake it - If Positivity doesn't come naturally to you, then fake it til you make it. This is different that ignoring true feelings that need addressed. But do something that will help shake it off when it's time to move on - dance, jump around, smile (might be creepy but just try it ok), go for a walk, feel the sunshine on your face, breathe in deeply and exhale loudly though an open mouth.

Final thoughts

1. Happiness isn't everything (I suppose). Maybe you just want to be rich and miserable, healthy and annoyed, blessed and worried.
2. Whatever is heavy on your heart is figuroutable.
3. Happiness looks different for everyone. So your version of Happy doesn't mean it's someone else's. People are different (surprise 😯)
4. Just because you are angry/frustrated/sad/annoyed/pissed sometimes does not mean you do not have a happy life. You will still have seasons, highs and lows. Just don't stay there please.
5. Joy vs. Happiness - I call it a "happy" life because I feel like it's more universal but I truly mean JOY. A Joyful life. Happiness is more outward facing and surface but joy is the feeling deep down, the baseline for your existence. Examine that, reflect upon it, and make the conscious effort to live Your Joyful Life.