“Am I a bad mom?” For women who grew up unseen, that question can echo for a lifetime. In this intimate essay, Leigh William explores how childhood neglect shapes motherhood and shares evidence-based strategies for healing, reclaiming self-compassion, and finding strength in vulnerability.

A decade-old trauma resurfaced today, reminding me that recovery is both fragile and brave.

Connection isn’t lost in the words. It’s found in the pauses, the tone, and the willingness to keep coming back.

Before your child can find the words, their body tells the story.
This article helps parents to understand those quiet signals and bring calm presence to the moments that matter most.

“It takes as long as it takes. Be gentle on yourself.”

These are the words I’ve lived by over the past decade — a quiet mantra that carried me through illness, healing, and the slow return to the work I love. What follows is the story of how I found my way back — to my body, my calling, and the rhythm that became WAVE.

After recovering from cancer, I came back to life with a new perspective. What once felt urgent now seemed trivial. What once felt like sacrifice now felt like opportunity. Healing rewired me, reminding me that time is finite and that clarity is a gift. I return to work carrying more resilience, more perspective, and more compassion than ever before.

Life today feels louder, faster, and harder to filter than ever before. Even those of us who avoid constant news feeds and endless scrolling find ourselves pulled into the chaos. But is calm still something we can choose, or has it become a luxury we have to fight for? In this reflection, Leigh William shares a family journey across Europe that revealed a rare sense of peace, only to be met with the world’s mounting tension at every stop. The question that lingers is simple yet pressing: can we still carve out calm in a world addicted to noise?

The most powerful learning happens when it feels relevant to life. From homework at the kitchen table to conversations in the classroom, children and adolescents thrive when lessons connect to their everyday world. In this post, I explore how parents, caregivers, and educators can use relevance to spark curiosity and inspire deeper growth.

Can we talk about loneliness?

Not as a statistic.
Not as a trending topic.
But as something we each carry—quietly, or not so quietly—through different stages of life.

Over the past decade, I have noticed loneliness in unexpected places. Even with family, friends, and a busy career, it can still find a way in.

I wrote this piece to share my own story and to ask a question I think we all need to sit with:

What would it take to live in a way that loosens its grip?

We are living in a time of constant crisis exposure. With every scroll, swipe, or overheard conversation, we’re confronted by stories that stir fear, anger, grief, and helplessness. It can feel like too much, too often, and too close — even when it isn’t happening to us directly. But what if the way we respond to all this information is where our real power lies? In this article, we explore how self-regulation is not just a coping tool, but the essential first step toward meaningful action and personal resilience.

When the economy shifts, so does our emotional well-being—especially for women managing careers, caregiving, and households. This post explores how financial uncertainty quietly affects mental health, why even stable incomes can feel like they’re falling short, and what practical steps we can take to regain both emotional and financial footing. Plus, learn about CONNECT, a new community launching in 2026 for women seeking deeper, lasting connection.

You don’t need proof to walk away—just a feeling that something isn’t right. After decades of travel and sailing with strangers, I’ve learned that the most important safety tool I carry is my own intuition. In this post, I share the personal safety standards I’ve practiced for years, and how they helped me navigate a recent situation that could have turned dangerous. If you travel solo or sail with new crews, this one's for you.

👉 Read: Personal Safety Standards for Travelers