The Dana Lee Project, 405 MAIN Street, Butler, NJ (2025)

12/16/2025

I used to want to be perfect.

Whatever I did and however I looked, did not measure up.

It always seemed to fall short of the picture I had of myself - including the prom dress I had in my mind that didn’t exist, not even in Bergen county. (Ask my mom. She’ll tell you 😂 … love you maaaa 😘)

Now that I’m taking the time to give it proper thought at this stage of the game, it could very well have been that those ideas of perfection were merely visions or dreams of what could be possible for a version of me or my life in the future, just there to plant a seed or give me options and I just misinterpreted them as not being good enough. And my younger self chose to hold those idealistic thoughts as an extremely high standard to strive for and to live by. Like a code or something.

Maybe my thoughts of perfection were that creative part in me that knew there was so much in life yet for me to experience and even more within me that could become. It was a nudge from God.. to go for it! Go for better… learn more, become more, be more.

So in many ways, it pushed me to better myself.

… up until it didn’t.

If only I saw it as a dream of a potential future to be excited about, to expand my little mind to explore what could be possible, then it would not have pushed me to burn out and hate myself so much.

It would’ve pulled me forward with excitement and lots of energy because that’s what hopes and dreams have done for me in my life when I let them.

It’s not a push. It’s a pull.

Huge difference.

That time I was crying on my gym floor, ripped off my polar heart rate monitor and made a contract with myself to no longer abuse myself through dieting and over exercising, was also the time I had a pretty big awakening about perfectionism.

I realized it didn’t work the way I thought it did.

When I was able to get real honest with myself, it turned out to be a mechanism that I used to ultimately hold myself back fairly often and in ways that are difficult to admit. I would hide behind perfectionism.

If I couldn’t be perfect, why bother?

Still, I love that that was part of my story.

Perfectionism drove me to be quite ambitious through my 20’s & 30’s.

And yet, the reframing of perfection, freeing myself and my whole transformation from it / through it has been nothing short of spectacular. Life-giving in fact.

I still love certain things a certain way (like how the bed is made 😂 cuz my husband’s aesthetic is definitely different than mine) but it’s more because I appreciate the beauty about it, and because I have really gotten to know myself - What I like, what I prefer, what makes me smile inside, or warm my heart. And definitely what makes me laugh!

I love the opportunity to create those experiences in my life.

Because I now recognize the world in its breathtakingly beautiful uniqueness and individuality, I am able to see myself as forever flawed right along with it, and boy oh boy has that turned out to be an ongoing source of inspiration and freedom for me in the most incredible ways. 🥹

The most beautiful pieces of artwork are thought of as such because it’s the only one and uniquely thought up, designed, crafted and produced by one particular human that roamed the earth past or presently.

To think there is no other Dana Lee Chapman on the planet kinda blows my mind. (Maybe in name but not in human-ness)

And when I think of it that way, exactly what and who would be the standard to measure that up against?

It’s far more fun to think about how my own personal royal f**k ups have produced some really great stories, created quite the plot twist, and sometimes stupid-level laughter throughout my life.

Stories of perfection?

Yes, there are those too. I can recall perfect moments in my life that I will cherish forever.

But when I look closer, what made them perfect also included messiness and didn’t completely unfold as originally planned.

Lucky for me, as it’s turning out, that’s where the most gold can be mined.
Or platinum…

Like when Steve proposed the night we closed on our first home together, putting my engagement ring onto a key chain that held my copy of the key to our front door. The carpets were freshly shampooed so the only place we could sleep was on our mattress on the kitchen floor because we were determined to stay that first night in our house together. 🥰

Messy.
And yet, absolute PERFECTION in my mind. 🤍

I said yes before he even asked. And before that, I may or may not have looked at the ring (a family heirloom) and said, “are you s**ttin’ me?” 😂😂😂

ok yes. Yes, I actually did say that.

Out loud.

Then we hugged and kissed and lived happily ever after… losing that log cabin to foreclosure and rebuilding our lives in an apartment with a garage to keep our motorcycles in.

Millions have never been made from a movie where everyone was doll-like, with permanent smiles, all idealic and predictable. I mean even the Barbie movie didn’t have that story to tell. Cuz that s**t gets boring real fast and has been known to make a sharp right turn down Dystopian Lane because honestly and truly, it’s not very human-like at all. 🫣

I love that I feel like I’m in the middle of making my own epic movie every freakin day.

It’s funny and at times very challenging. There are tears and there are also belly laughs. There are hugs when a client is having a bad day… there are endless audios back & forth with my sister. There are white salt marks and footprints all through my dark brown studio hallway which means I have clients who commit to themselves even when it’s snowy & cold, slushy or raining. Who cares about the floor when I have THAT?! ❤️❤️❤️ I have been known to accidentally hit pause on my touchscreen interval timer during a livestream workout then immediately and firmly state MU********ER. (emphasis on the f**ker) 😂😂😂 as I figure out how to get us all back on track. Which I somehow do. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I always seem to get myself back on track because I now see it’s never OFF track. Exploring detours off the plan IS THE PLAN and makes my life so much f**king fun and worth living.

Definitely makes for great stories which will certainly be coming down the pipeline the more I get into writing.

Instead of striving for perfection, I now look at most things, including myself, and can fairly quickly - if not immediately - see where perfection can be found… Exactly as is. Even when the wind keeps blowing my hair in my face and we have to take a dozen pics to get it “right”.
This shot ended up being the keeper. 😂

12/15/2025

Some of the greatest moments of my life have been plot twists.

Things that I did not see coming and could not have planned for. Things that were out of my control.

Which has made me lean into and trust the flow of life more and more throughout my 40’s. Especially now that I’m excited to be tying a bow 🎁 around this decade next year when I turn 50.

I spent so much exhaustive energy planning out and trying to “control” events in my life (including my food and exercise) while deciding and dictating how my future was to play out, all in the name of the *illusion* of safety and security.

Just so I could believe that everything was gonna be ok … .*as long as it happened how I say it’s going to happen, dammit!*

I didn’t know creating safety & security from this angle was an illusion at the time.

I legit thought planning my schedule and living by my food rules down to every minute and macro and meal was where safety and security truly resided.

Turns out, the only thing that did was create more insecurity about my life and the future.

It did the exact opposite of what I wanted it to do for me.

Eventually it started feeling like a trap. And that didn’t feel safe at all. It was suffocating and really restrictive.

(So of course I started rebelling against myself but that’s a message for another day)

That’s because I learned the hard way - I’ve come to understand it was the ONLY way this could have happened for me - security and safety are cultivated from the inside-out, they aren’t found in the external without internal trust and faith in myself FIRST.

I needed to be safe with ME.
I needed to be secure with ME.

That’s when I came to terms with the fact that the real work is becoming the woman who can handle anything that comes at her.
No matter what.

The good, the bad, the ugly.

Now, I no longer seek to control or manipulate my life SO THAT I can handle it.

I’ve done the hard internal work on myself to operate the other way around.

And it’s pretty f**king awesome that the women who are attracted to working with me get to flip the script for themselves too. It feels so good that I didn’t leave these epiphanies and awakenings to just die within me. I get to share it with any woman who comes into my world and decides to say yes to herself 🥰

Here’s what I’ve found -
In releasing the need to control, and focus on me first, I get to experience the most control in my life that I’ve ever had.
….And it’s only compounded and gotten easier over time, with practice which is even more fun.

It made no sense at first, it was a leap of faith. Let go of control & have more control??? Whhhhut?!

Yep.

It’s because I took the leap and zigged when I would usually zag, I now I know it makes total and complete sense.

Because of that leap, I’ve become the woman who can handle it.

And I f**king love that about this stage of my life and who I am today.

Because I can handle the feeling of disappointment, I can control how I respond to seemingly disappointing things.

Because I can handle the feeling of failure, I can control how I respond to seeming failure.

Because I can handle how to sort through the feelings of fear, I can control how I respond to seemingly scary things.

I stopped trying to control the outcome of life circumstances and instead I started to allow space for “this or something better”

As a business mentor of mine James Wedmore used to say, “go ahead and plan, but leave room for magic!”

I just love that.

Not only did I discover over and over and over that it was an impossible and futile feat to try and control an outcome, I also learned that it was actually part of how the thing that I was trying to avoid the most was f**king created anyway !! 🤬

It was created not out of punishment - although that is how I used to see it - it was created as OPPORTUNITIES.

Literally every single time I was up against my need to control I was actually presented with an option to ask myself, “ok Dana, how do you want to handle this differently?”

I was blind and deaf to those repeated opportunities for a very long time. I was so blocked to it, I did not hear the question. 🙉

“I’m sorry teacher of the universe, what was the question???”

Sometimes I ate my feelings to avoid and procrastinate. 🍪🍩🧁🍫

Sometimes I lost myself in 3 sometimes 4 hours of exercise - also a form of avoidance and procrastination. I used exercise as a protective bubble. “Nothing else for me to do here! Decisions and real life happens outside of exercise so….. let me just stay on this dreadmill that I hate for another 45 minutes to burn off the thing I ate that I feel terrible about so I don’t have to face it.” 🫣

Sometimes I booked my schedule so full that I wouldn’t even give myself space to have to think about it. 🗓️

Yet, at the time that’s ALL I could do to handle it.

Looking back… damn!
I give that girl lots of grace.

That younger part of myself was 💯 doing the best she could with what she knew at the time.

I handled tough stuff in life without being fully equipped. Seeing it that way… I did pretty damn good. All things considered.

Seeing myself now and how my life unfolded in this incredible sequence, now makes so much sense;
Of course that’s how I handled it!

It wasn’t until I began seeing things - MYSELF - differently bit by bit, piece by piece.

For me, a major catalyst was how my relationship with food and my body was breaking me. It wasn’t killing my spirit and dampening my soul to such a low level I could no longer live in my safety illusion bubble.

The need to control those things became so crushing that no amount of time on a spin bike would give me enough runway to escape my own self.

Enough! One eye-opening yet tear-filled day, I just. had. enough.

Because of that moment on the floor of my own dream-come-true-but-now-slipping-through-my-grip gym 12 years ago, I can now look back and see how it all made sense in my life - the entire sequence, knowing I’m still in the process of it unfolding. I’m not done yet. Not even close.

What a beautiful story - full of plot twists, decisions, downfalls and comebacks it has been.

Wow.

So when any of my clients hear me say, “the best is yet to come” - it’s for me, for you, & for us and it’s not bulls**t. I f**king mean it. And the difference is, we’re not doing it alone anymore.

12/14/2025

When I look at my schedule for the week and book out client sessions, I am not just looking at the blocks of time that are available. (Aka Time management.)

I’m looking at how I know myself and understand that although it appears that certain time slots are available, they are actually off-limits.

Not because I’m afraid of double-booking. That hasn’t happened in… well maybe it has ??? but I can’t recall.

They are off limits because of my energy.

Not in a woo woo way. But in a mood-regulating, getting my needs met, knowing-myself-at-this-level, kind of way.

Ever since high school, I have been a morning person. I used to get up and workout to Gilad Janklowicz and his back up chicks at 6am & Denise Austin and her perma-smile at 6:30 before getting ready to go catch the bus for school.

In college I was forced to take night classes because at some point that was the only time certain ones were offered. After my minor in Ex Phys was more-than-fulfilled and I switched my major to Graphic Design, where many of my art classes were 5 hour sessions, 5:30-10:30pm (if I took the class once a week).

I was still getting up at 5am (& setting 2 alarms) because I was responsible for opening the doors every morning at the little local gym I worked at, Riverdale Health Club.

I quickly came to learn that whole schedule was definitely not ideal for my creative flow. By 9pm I was tapped OUT. But, I was 19 years old and didn’t have a choice.

Now however, I see that I very much DO have a choice.

It needs to be said that even with that awareness, I wasn’t willing to turn that around and make changes for another 2 decades.

Interesting how it lines up with the same years I operated in food and exercise dysfunction on a daily basis. 🤔 isn’t that somethin’?

When I did turn my schedule around about 10 years ago, I knew I had to be super intentional and purposeful about it. I had to get clear on what I really DID want, since it was glaringly obvious what was breaking me.

I have my mentorship clients do the same exercise I did when I came to that realization about how my life was running me and not the other way around. I have them do it early on in our work together because it’s THAT important.

It’s how I saw my future self, (which is my current reality now) living and experiencing life - instead of hectic, jam packed, booked from 8:30am to 8:30pm, I know that before 10:30am is for ME. My creativity is best at that time. Plus I’m an introvert and require that peace alone. Client time is 10:30-6:30pm. After 6:30 at night, I run out of mental energy and focus. It’s time for dinner with my husband and catching up on how our day went before we watch a show together.

My personal energy demands really haven’t changed since my 20’s, but I felt like I had to ignore that and push through because I was building my career and that’s what was required of me.

Even with my art degree, and a full time gig as a designer I would teach classes or workout at 6:30am and then again after work, often teaching my last spin or step or kickboxing class at 7 o’clock at night.

Dear lord.

I did that for a decade & a half before opening my gym.

But that’s when I literally thought that would end because I wouldn’t be working 5 jobs anymore. I’d just have one - as the business owner of my own gym. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 yayy! Freedom!!!

Ha! Silly girl. Silly, silly girl.

Needless to say, that pattern continued.

Until I had a huge realization. If I created this structure and schedule in my life, well… that means I can also change it.

A fit pro changing her schedule and not meeting the demands of clients before work & after work?? Whaaat?! But HOW? That makes zero sense. Is that even a fitness career in the 2010’s??

Something inside me stopped caring about making sense to the outside world.

And because of that, I f**king did it anyway.

It started with getting real honest about my energy. My mood. When I was at my creative best. When I wasn’t.

I got clear on how I wanted to experience my days while remaining in the field of fitness that I loved so much.

Then I watched how it started to unfold.

My mentor says “You’re going to wonder how to do it until you wonder how you did it.”

Such a true statement in my world. Wow.

So, I don’t believe TIME is the thing I need to manage. It’s my own ENERGY and it’s always checking in on what I’m about to schedule & how it measures up to that.

I no longer worry about what society thinks is possible about my own life. It’s mine. I get to live it however the F I want to live it.

Because of that, it’s rather incredible how I got here - I have the honor of helping other women do this in their own lives too.

12/13/2025

I published something meaningful every morning for 11 days straight and then yesterday happened.

I started writing about 7:20ish am. It was just pouring out of me, as it has been.

Then I looked up at the time. 😳Suddenly it was 8:40. I was still in my pajamas and had to get ready and be out the door for an orthodontist appointment at 9. It’s less than 5 minutes from me, but still. Wholly crap. Were my contacts even in?

Buuut nooooo I wasn’t done writinggggg yet 😩

My heart was being pulled to finish what I was working on.

I knew if I didn’t get it published before I left the house, it wasn’t going to happen at all that day.

But I was forced to leave it.
Unfinished.

After the orthodontist I had a mentorship client at 10, back to back with another at 10:30. Then a livestream workout with my amazing ladies at noon where I get my lifting in too, then shower, then eat. Another client session at 2 and a team meeting with Mandy afterwards bringing me to sometime after 5, hungry again and quite ready to go home and cook a Hello Fresh with Steve.

It was a full-on Friday!

So, I had to hold the pressure of having worked on a piece of writing that wasn’t going to be expressed that day.

Ooofph.

As a creative, I’ve had to hold the pressure of inspiration without the ability to execute on it quite often in my life. Since… I was a teenager I remember this happening.

Trying to weave pings of creativity in between work with clients has been a story of my life.

It used to make me angry.

Not about my client work - I LOVE MY WORK. It’s not that part.

It was more about being in the flow and then having to stop what I was doing, shift gears and shut it down for the moment. When I’m on a roll.

Being interrupted during a train of thought or a project I’m working on feels awful to me.

THAT is what sparks the anger.

But, now I am looking at it differently.

If I’m meant to get it out - create it, build it, design it, write it, film it, etc then it will be done.. at some point… when it’s ready. When the world is ready. I now lean into allowing myself to trust the process of it all.

In fact when it’s broken up like that, I get to go back and look at it again with fresh eyes. And often see things that could be improved, deleted, or built upon that I simply did not see the first time through.

I completely recognize that this is residual from my old all or nothing, binge-like thinking (and therefore, behavior that accompanies it)

An old version of me would get angry if I couldn’t complete my full workout… or 5 mile standard walk…. Or get to my regularly scheduled 75 minute yoga class.

There is such peace now when I do what I’m able to do regardless of how the day unfolds. Whether that’s an 18 minute lifting session, a 1.9 mile walk or a few stretches on the floor of my livingroom. I’m good! I really love that about my approach to life now. 🙌🏼

Years ago, I decided to give myself the gift of freedom - permission to listen to my body, respect my time, but more importantly my energy (more to come on that tomorrow), and to overall start caring more about WHO I AM while I’m doing these things - not what I do or how much I do.
But who I am when I do it.

That last bit right there? ☝️That is key.

So now I’m applying that wisdom to my creative process too.

It’s not about publishing content every morning like clockwork. I don’t even eat my meals like that anymore! It’s about the quality of producing something that I feel satisfied and content with. I feel is complete…. Enough.

It will take however long it takes and if it means skipping a day or 2 here or there, or even getting something out at night or the middle of the afternoon… just like my workouts, there is value in flexibility and in taking breaks while giving myself breathing room to reset and recharge.

I’m ready to finally respect and honor that in the creative process of my life too. It’s way more fun to go with the flow anyway.

Speaking of fun, I’m excited about today.

After a full morning of training some of my favorite people, I’m setting up a table and chairs, then breaking out a pile of coloring books & markers, pens & colored pencils so a bunch of my clients & I can all color together this afternoon at my studio. 🖍️

We’re gonna put on some music, a pot of coffee and enjoy some great conversation (and no doubt laugh til our cheeks hurt) while we bow-out of hectic holiday hub bub for a couple hours.

It’s gonna be deeelightful.

And it’s ok my writing from yesterday won’t get published probably until next week. Or… ever? 🤷🏼‍♀️ gotta honor myself and wait til the topic strikes me again.
Either way, the woman I am today can hold the pressure and not lose her s**t. 🤣

12/11/2025

In my world, decluttering isn’t just about throwing away the junk.

Decluttering is the entry point in how I began to heal my relationship with mySELF and how my dysfunctional relationship with food was able to get sorted out, piece by peace, one phase at a time, and as I was ready.

It only makes sense that it is also the very first assignment I give the women I mentor. And, that assignment is woven into our work together like a beautiful, feel-good fabric we create together all year long.

What we end up with is a gorgeous tapestry that is easy to fall in love with.

That tapestry is our life.

Every day I say to myself, I LOVE MY LIFE.
Actually no. I say I FU***NG LOVE MY LIFE.

Not because that’s some affirmation that I am hoping one day will be true. It’s because it is very much real and very much alive and true.

I have a beautiful life that only continues to become more beautiful because I able to receive it.

I have an incredible partner who sees our life we are creating together as beautiful too. We are in it together and we are having the time of our lives!

At first, decluttering opened up physical space around me and the mental space within me so that there could be room for new thoughts, ideas and solutions to even occur to me.

It was a brilliant entry point to begin understanding myself because food and body image issues felt so damn heavy and so hard and so mucky for not just a few years… but f**king decades of living that way.

I had to find a weigh 😉 to get in to break some patterns and cycles without addressing those demons directly. Cuz that direct focus on food made everything worse.

Not only did this approach spark incredible breakthroughs in myself all those years ago when I set this clear intention behind it, I am now able to witness my own clients right outta the gate, learn so much about themselves in a whole different light and actually have FUN with it.

Helping to facilitate a breakthrough with my clients is one of my favorite things ever 🥰 It gives me LIFE.

The decluttering exercise continues all year long as we work through layers of attachment and realize “I’m just not ready to let that go yet.”

But in 3.7 months from now? Yeah, perhaps.

I’m not just talking about great Aunt Matilda’s vase that was gifted back in 1997.🏺

We’re ready to let behaviors go when -and only when- we no longer receive the benefit from holding onto them.

I’ve only been ready to let that “vase” go when -and only when- I was ready to be honest that the vase no longer holds value in my live.

In fact, if I’m being honest (and honesty is 💯 required), it’s heavy AF and weighs me down every time I look at it or God forbid- move it from the mantle to the desk, from the desk to the shelf, hoping the placement or the shadow it sits in will make me feel differently about it.

Nope. I’m just kidding myself.

It looks awful anywhere I put it & makes everything around it look awful too. It’s an energy suck. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

It made perfect sense that the next phase of decluttering in my life had to do with upgrading specific things (AND behaviors) in my environment that are a far better match to my *taste*

I am ready to upgrade the food on my plate at the same time I am ready to upgrade the vase to hold the bouquet of flowers I buy myself on occasion 💐 or the dozen white roses that arrived from my mentor last week 🤍

This has only happened in my life when the honesty sets in about what I actually even like! Vs… what I just politely sayyyy I like.

There’s a MAJOR energetic difference.

“Ohhh thank you, that vase is beautiful!”

💭 Omg it’s f**king hideous.

💭 Buuut it’s ok if I take the hit. I prefer to suffocate and hurt my OWN feelings so that Aunt Millie’s are not hurt. She’s too sensitive and wouldn’t be able to take it. But me? I can handle it. I can take it.

…I would say over & over to myself. Trying to convince myself on several levels.

🍪 Cut to 9:04 pm.
Cabinet opens.
Tin of cookies is pulled out.
Cookies are housed.
Crumbs are left.
… but only the tiny ones.

I’m so utterly and deeply grateful that I have put all these pieces together in my life to ultimately understand that at this point in my beautiful life the standards have been raised, not because I forced the standard - It’s because it has organically and naturally bubbled up from within as I’ve gotten to really and truly know myself.

First, I decluttered to let go of the easy-to-throw-out, obviously-cloggy stuff so that I could open up space for the good stuff. Thoughts and beliefs that come pouring in with that process.

I held that feeling of space and allowed myself to feel good about it. Not filling it back in because the space felt too uncomfortable.

*Correlation with body weight cannot be skipped over here.

Then, I was able to declutter because I simply no longer needed or wanted it.

Now, I declutter because I appreciate my body, what I put in it and on it, my environment - home, work, vehicle- my relationships - Steve 🥰, my sister, my family, friends and clients -and my experiences every single day SO MUCH, to the level that I seek to create beauty all around me now, more importantly I am able to let it in.

It’s not a standard I’m *trying* to live up to.
There is no trying. It doesn’t work that way.

It’s something that rises up from within where everything around me starts to shake out, sift through and meet me at that place - often times effortlessly and usually with pure delight and surprise. … like magic!

Accept it’s actually not magic at all. Any woman can access this level of living a beautiful life for herself too which makes it even more incredible. It’s not something only available to me. I’m really not that special. 💖

12/10/2025

That whole “the more you give the more you receive” concept??? I’ve been poking holes.

I no longer believe it actually works that way. I have come to understand that there has been a major missing element all along. And, in actuality, it successfully operates in life the other way around.

First) “The more you give, the more you receive” ends up being interpreted and applied as a transactional thing when the way it works is NOT intended to be transactional at all - it’s a God thing and God things are NEVER transactional.
and
Second) it has more to do with one’s ability and willingness to RECEIVE IN ORDER TO BE ABLE to give purely and truly from the heart. Now, that…THAT… is what creates a beautiful ripple effect for all of humanity to benefit.

The way I’ve been taught over the years:
I give so that… I receive.
… eventually. (Impatience sets in)
…maybe. (Doubt takes over)
…one day. (Losing faith it will return to me at all)
… Anger. Resentment. WTF? Then I give some MORE from what feels like nothing left to give because at that point I don’t know what I’m doing wrongggg?! So I guess I’ll just keep on giving because I have been told by all the greats that this is how it works! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Vs

I give BECAUSE I am able to receive.

I give BECAUSE I am able to receive.

I give BECAUSE I am able to receive.

🥰

I mean, even as I type that and let it sink in. it feels like I can breathe.
It feels like a YESSSS.
It feels expansive and possible (as opposed to restrictive or depleting)
It feels hopeful.
It feels like… the TRUTH.

It’s all so contradictory out there.

The more you give, the more you receive..
BUUUUT make sure you put YOUR oxygen mask on first.
BUUUT Make sure YOU fill your cup before pouring into someone else’s.
BUUUT If you don’t prioritize your own needs and take care of yourself, or it will lead to burnout or worse- your health will suffer. If you don’t have your health, well, you don’t have much.
BUUUT according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, basic needs must be met first for survival.

All of those messages ☝️ are about RECEIVING FIRST.

Quite contradictory to that original statement of the more you give, the more you receive.

I had most certainly been an awful receiver - of help, of money, of compliments - for the majority of my life.

I just didn’t know HOW. Which sounds so silly, but it’s not.

I’ve since gotten better and better at it because of my willingness to poke holes in this mainstream teaching and concept and try something radically different - What if I flipped it on its head and tried being a gracious receiver FIRST?

*gasp!* Be willing to be… SELFISH???? WHAAA?? How rude!

No. This is rude of me- This was how I used to handle receiving, by rejecting others, rejecting God attempting to come in and answer some of my prayers:

Someone would offer to buy me lunch- “EEK! No. No that’s ok. You don’t have to do that.”

Someone would pay me a compliment about my sundress- “ahhh this? This I got last year off a clearance rack and look! It has pockets!” God forbid I just say “Thank you!” 😂

“Hey Dana, I’m around this weekend if you want help with that thing” … “nahhh I’m good. I got it.” Lying to them. Lying to myself. No. I don’t got it. The truth was I didn’t want to look weak or unable to handle the thing.

Someone is giving.
I’m rejecting.
Someone is giving.
I’m pushing away.
Over & over & over.

This is why for 2025 my word was CAPACITY and my mantra was “My capacity to RECEIVE is ever-expanding.”

And boyyy was that perfect for this year. 🥰🥰🥰 wholly s**t 🤯

Incredible humans came into my life as clients. My relationships deepened, my experiences- like our Mediterranean Cruise - felt more vibrant, meaningful and memorable. I took it all in, at a deep cellular level.

And, because I cared about receiving while being completely honest about my capacity to handle it all, I absolutely did.

Because I had the energy and attention required, (by creating some really healthy boundaries among other things along the way) I could take on more clients with the full-on ability to provide the support that they not only needed but deeply craved… I have been able to be fully present with them and they benefit from that tremendously.

By them coming to work with me, under my mentorship or in my training program, they TOO could practice giving to themselves FIRST.

I practice receiving,
… so I can help more women fill themselves up FIRST, . so that they too have the capacity, energy and strength to give from the heart- Filled up & not from depletion anymore!

The ripple effect is indeed profound. And remarkably sustainable which kinda blows my mind.

I mean, how beautiful is THAT?

Now, I’m ready to take this concept to an even a level deeper. I may continue with the same word CAPACITY for 2026, I’m not sure yet. But, here’s what I recently learned that I’m ready to refine :
“My capacity to receive and FEEL THE JOY is ever-expanding.”

One thing I’ve observed from mentoring so many women over the years (and training them too) is that the greatest obstacle for them to overcome- and was for me too- has to do with the ability to receive GOOD and live feeling GOOD for extended periods of time.

We as women cannot seem to accept it or handle it. Ya know, cuz of all the “waiting for the other shoe to drop” bulls**t 🫣

I’ve been letting in the good for many years. I’m doing it with greater ease than ever thought possible.

Joy? Joy is a whole nother level that takes an even greater capacity to allow oneself to experience.

Naturally, it’s time for some next level s**t and to allow myself to receive AND hold the JOY from receiving for longer periods of time without f**king it up for myself just because all that beauty and coherence can feel foreign and uncomfortable.

Undeserving perhaps, but that’s a post for another day because I no longer believe deserving has anything to do with it either.

So imma try this next level receiving-and-holding-the-Joy thing out and see what happens. Stay tuned. 🙏🏼

The Dana Lee Project

12/16/2025

12/15/2025

12/14/2025

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12/11/2025

12/10/2025

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