Episode 188: How to Let Go of Should Be and Make Room for Could Be with Brilliantly Resilient Co-Founder, Mary Fran Bontempo

By making best friends with denial and distraction, I was refusing to see what "could be" going on in my life, which was that my son had been struggling for a very long time with substance abuse issues. I kept holding onto what I thought my life and my son "should be," instead of facing and dealing with the truth. ~ Mary Fran Bontempo Have you ever known that a crisis was barrelling down on you but you refused to see it? Some truths are just too hard to face, leading us to deny their existence and distract ourselves with just about anything to keep from facing reality. We're taught from a young age that if we follow "the rules," things will be okay. Do the right thing, and good will follow. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, it doesn't always work out that way. Yet, giving up on that myth is scary, and can open a Pandora's box of life messes that we just don't want to face. Mary Fran Bontempo, co-founder of Brilliantly Resilient, knows the perils of focusing only on what she thought her life "should be," based on living by the rules. Knowing that her son was having some challenges, Mary Fran denied the severity of what she intuitively felt was wrong, because that wasn't what her life "should be" manifesting. If you follow the rules, things will be okay, right? But by ignoring the truth of what "could be," which was, in fact, that her son had spiraled into serious addiction, Mary Fran almost lost her child. We cannot navigate challenges if we deny them. It's essential to see truth. Maybe what's happening shouldn't be--terrible things shouldn't happen to good people--but only by acknowledging what could be the truth can we begin to find solutions and make our way back to the light. Tune in for more of Mary Fran's insights on this episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast, and be sure to get her book, The 15 Minute Master, which tells the story of her son's addiction and how she and her family made their way back to health and healing. Let's be Brilliantly Resilient together! XO, Mary Fran & Kristin