Elaine L. Stewart, CHC

Home
United States
Phoenix, AZ
Elaine L. Stewart, CHC

I'm a certified health coach, working with women in their 50's+ who want to live their life by design and not by default
(1)

I work with women in their 60's and beyond to live their life by design and not by default. We address life and health issues to let go of the roadblocks that hold us back from living our lives full out!

01/07/2026

You Will Never “Find” Time — You Must Claim It

“You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” – Charles Burton

If you’re like most women in this stage of life, your days are full — yet somehow your heart still feels empty.

You may be proud of how much you juggle. You answer emails while making dinner. You think about tomorrow while finishing today. You squeeze in everyone else’s needs before you even notice your own. From the outside, it looks like a life that is handled.

But on the inside?

There’s often a quiet ache: Why am I so busy… and still not doing what matters most to me?

We’ve been taught that “managing time” means getting more done. Multitasking. Pushing harder. Crossing off the small things so we can someday get to the big things. The truth is, our brains aren’t wired for this. Every switch drains energy. Every distraction fragments your focus. And by the end of the day, you’ve done a thousand little things — but not the one that would have moved your life forward.

I want to ask you something:

Does the way you use your time expand you… or slowly diminish you?

Because time isn’t just a resource.
It’s your life.

And none of us want to arrive at the end wishing we had made space for connection, creativity, nature, laughter or the dreams we once held in our hearts.

If you’ve tried to “find” time for yourself and keep coming up empty, please know this isn’t a failure. It’s an invitation.

You don’t need more hours.
You need permission to claim the ones you already have.

Reflection:
What is one small piece of time you could reclaim this week — not for productivity, but for you?

Courage doesn’t begin with big leaps.
It begins with choosing what matters — and making time for it.

Share in the comment section what small piece of time you claimed for YOU.

01/06/2026

“Personal growth lies within the unknown; courage permits you to explore this space.” – Yogi Teabag

What makes personal growth feel so unsettling — especially now, when you thought you’d already done the hard work of becoming who you are?

Maybe it’s because real growth asks you to look inside instead of pushing forward. It asks you to notice what you actually feel, not just what you’re willing to show. It may mean telling a truth you’ve kept quiet for decades or recognizing patterns you truly believed you’d left behind long ago.

Some parts of you are easy to embrace: your kindness, your loyalty, the love you’ve poured into others, the life you’ve built. But beneath that bright surface live the tender places — the regrets, the old grief, the punishing self-talk, the stories that still tell you that you should stay small. These parts don’t make you wrong. They make you human.

They often show up in subtle ways: over-giving until you’re exhausted, keeping the peace at your own expense, feeling strangely invisible in your own life and wondering, How did I get here?

Avoiding these feelings can feel safer in the short term. But over time, you begin to drift away from yourself — until one day you barely recognize the woman in the mirror.

The truth is, you don’t need to become someone new in 2026. You’re being invited to finally, fully meet yourself.

The hard things you’ve lived through weren’t mistakes. They were teachers. When you look at your memories with adult eyes, with compassion instead of judgment, something remarkable happens. You don’t fall apart — you come home. You reclaim parts of yourself that were never lost, only waiting.

And courage? You don’t need to go find it. You’ve been using it your whole life. You’ve simply forgotten how much of it you already have.

Here are three things you can do to help you on your journey.
🌿 Journal Prompt
Where in my life do I feel smaller than I truly am — and what might that part of me be trying to protect?

🌿 Micro-Action (Daily for 7 days)
Once a day, pause and ask yourself: “What do I need right now?” Then give yourself one small act of kindness that meets that need.

🌿 Affirmation
“I am allowed to see myself clearly and love myself fully — light and shadow, all of me.”

01/05/2026

“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” – Sydney J. Harris

If you’re a woman in your third stage of life, this quote may feel uncomfortably familiar. You’ve done so much for others, carried responsibilities, weathered losses and now you find yourself hoping that somehow life will just get better without asking too much of you.

But hope alone doesn’t create change.

What creates change is action — small, imperfect, sometimes uncomfortable steps that interrupt old patterns and open the door to something new. Growth rarely feels neat or easy. It comes with uncertainty, second-guessing and moments where you wonder if it’s even worth it.

And yet, those moments are the doorway to a life that feels more like yours.

So here is the real question for today:

Are you willing to feel a little uncomfortable in order to finally create the life you want?

01/03/2026

When You Finally Choose Yourself, Life Begins to Meet You

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, power and grace.”
— Goethe

There comes a moment in a woman’s life when she realizes: I can’t keep living on pause. Not because things are falling apart but because something inside you is waking up.

For many women in their 50s and beyond, this moment isn’t dramatic. It’s subtle. A question you can’t un-hear or a longing that no longer stays buried. Maybe a restlessness that doesn’t go away when life slows down for a minute.

You may not know exactly what you want yet. You just know that the way you’ve been living — carrying old stories, old patterns, old responsibilities — no longer fits who you are becoming.

And here is the truth I see again and again:
When you stop waiting for certainty and take even the smallest step toward yourself, something shifts. A conversation happens you didn’t plan. A door suddenly opens that wasn’t on your radar. An idea lands that feels like an invitation.

And, this happened because you finally chose - to decide, to move, to take some small action.

So today, instead of asking, “What if I fail?” try asking, “What if this is the moment I finally show up for myself?”

💜 Micro-Action you can take today

Write one sentence today that begins with:

“I am willing to take one small step toward…”

You don’t need the whole path.
You only need the courage to take the next step.

Comment below – what does it feel like to take one small step?

01/01/2026

Happy New Year!

The new year brings new opportunities to make change in your life. Change, as you know, is inevitable. You can look at 2026 and ask yourself, what is it I want for this year? Taking better care of myself, connecting with more people in my life, allowing yourself time to actually rest?

Think of one word that might guide you in 2026. It could be anything. Curious. Honest. Consistency. What works for you?
Please share in the comments below.

12/31/2025

The last day of 2025. I enjoy this day every year because my friends and I get together on New Year’s Eve, have a great dinner and then make some lists – the first one is the list of things we decide to let go of that either didn’t work in the year or experiences that didn’t serve us. This list goes in a burn bowl!

The second list is what we want to have or achieve in the new year. These aren’t my usual goals. These are about having more joy, being in nature more, appreciating what I have and what I don’t have, connecting with family and friends – new and longtime ones.

I’m one year closer to that day when I take my last breath. I’m not being morbid here just remembering that time is precious and if I’m going to do or be or have something, it needs to be NOW.

How about you? Do you have an end-of-year ritual? What would you like to be, do or have while you still can?

12/30/2025

You’re Allowed to Want More Than This

This year I spoke with dozens of women who shared the same truth:

“I don’t recognize my life anymore and I don’t know how to change it.”

Not because anything is “wrong,” but because something inside them has been wondering for a long time now. An ache. A restlessness. A sense that they’ve spent decades being capable, reliable, needed and somewhere along the way, they misplaced themselves.

Maybe that sounds familiar.

This past year didn’t just bring change in the world. It stirred change inside many of us. Fear showed up in unexpected ways. Doubt whispered old stories: Don’t rock the boat. It’s too late. You should be grateful for what you have.

I know those voices well. I’ve stayed in situations I had outgrown because starting over felt terrifying. I told myself I was being practical when really, I was protecting myself from disappointment.

But something shifted for me this year. I stopped seeing fear and doubt as enemies. I began listening to them as signals, not to retreat but to pay attention. They weren’t trying to keep me small. They were asking me to come home to myself.

And that changed everything.

Instead of bracing for life’s changes, I started meeting them with curiosity. Instead of asking What’s wrong with me? I asked What do I need right now?

Those small moments of self-permission became the foundation for something new — an emerging strength, a steadier sense of courage that doesn’t require perfection.

If this year has left you tired, questioning or silently longing for more, I want you to hear this:

You are not behind.
You are not too late.
You are ready.

A small invitation for today:

Write down one thing you tolerated this year that you no longer want to carry into the next.

Not because you failed but because you’re allowed to choose yourself now.

This is the work I’m stepping more deeply into as we enter the new year and I can’t wait to walk this next chapter with you.

12/25/2025

A Christmas Wish from My Heart to Yours

In this holiday season, my deepest wish for you is peace — the kind that settles into your body and reminds you that you are safe, loved and enough just as you are.

May you be surrounded by the people, pets, memories and small comforts that make your heart feel at home.

From that place of calm, may clarity and curiosity awaken inside you — opening you to more of what you truly deserve: deeper connection to your inner wisdom, tender moments with those you love and a renewed trust in yourself as you step into the days ahead.

12/24/2025

What These Women Are Really Asking For

More results from my survey, Your Voice Matters.

Women asked for:
• courage
• permission
• emotional support
• help letting go of others’ opinions
• space to dream again

They’re not asking to be fixed.
They’re asking to be supported.

Coaching Question:
What kind of support would actually help me right now, not what I think I should need?

Micro-Action:
Name one support you’ve never asked for and why.

Please comment below on how it felt to figure out what kind of support you need.

12/23/2025

“I Know What I Want… I Just Don’t Believe It’s Possible”

As I’ve been reading through the responses to my recent survey, Your Voice Matters, one sentence appeared again and again:

“I know what I want… I just don’t believe it’s possible.”

That sentence stopped me in my tracks.

Because this belief doesn’t come from a lack of intelligence, ambition or desire. It doesn’t come from logic. It comes from experience.

Many of the beliefs we carry about what’s “realistic,” “allowed” or “too much” were formed early in life. They were shaped in moments when we learned, often unconsciously, what was safe to want, what would be supported and what might lead to disappointment, rejection or loss of love.

When a belief is formed that early, it doesn’t feel like a belief at all.
It feels like truth.

So we grow up knowing what we want but holding it at arm’s length. We tell ourselves, That’s not for someone like me.

Over time, the question isn’t just What do I want?
It becomes, When did I stop believing my wants mattered?
This is why awareness is such a powerful first step.

You can’t change or heal what you’re not aware of.
But the moment you begin to question an old belief, you create an opening where something new can emerge.

Reflection Prompt:

Where did I first learn that what I want isn’t realistic or allowed?

Micro-Action:

Write one sentence that begins with:
“It might be possible that…”
No pressure. No commitment. Just curiosity.

If you feel called, I’d love for you to share below:

How did it feel to let yourself sit in possibility—even for a moment?

12/22/2025

Thinking About Change Isn’t Failure

More results from my survey, Your Voice Matters.

Most women said:

“No, I haven’t tried something new but I’ve been thinking about it.”

Thinking can be viewed as avoidance. Sometimes it is BUT sometimes, it’s your mind trying to protect you from something.
It’s a sign you’re standing at the edge.
What’s missing isn’t motivation.
It’s inner safety.

Here is a question for you to ask yourself and one small action to take it you’re up for it.

Coaching Question:
What would make taking one small step feel safer for me?

Micro-Action:
Break the step in half. Then in half again. Do only the first piece.

Please comment below on how it felt to take one small step.

12/19/2025

“Am I Too Old?” Isn’t the Truth — It’s a Habit

You may recognize some of the results women presented from my survey, Your Voice Matters.

Most women said they think “I’m too old” or “It’s too late” occasionally or several times a week.

That matters.
Because this isn’t a fact.

It’s a learned thought that shows up when courage is required.
Here is a question for you and a small action you can take if you’re up for it.

Coaching Question:
What would I try if age were no longer part of the equation?

Micro-Action:
Notice the next time this thought appears and gently replace it with:
“I’m allowed to want what I want at any age.”

Please comment below on how it felt to try something you’ve wanted do despite age.

Address

Online
Phoenix, AZ

Website

http://www.elainelstewart.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Elaine L. Stewart, CHC posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Elaine L. Stewart, CHC:

Shortcuts

Featured

Ahwatukee Psychology
11011 S 48th Street, Ste 106

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Phoenix?