Sensitive. Ep 26: Self-Acceptance, Creativity, and Right-Sized Ambition with Lisa Olivera
In this beautiful conversation, I sit down with therapist, author, and mother Lisa Olivera to explore the deep themes of acceptance, creativity, and self-trust. I’ve been a long time admirer of Lisa and her work, which has greatly impacted my own. I hope you are as deeply nourished by listening to this conversation as I was having it.
We talk about:
- Lisa’s personal journey with radical self-acceptance
- The heart behind her new book When the Ache Remains
- How she finds beauty amidst the unfixable realities of life
- Navigating the evolution of your voice after publishing your work
- Finding creative pockets amidst the demands of motherhood
- The courage it takes to share authentically online — and to keep parts of your life sacred
- How photography weaves into her life as an act of presence and artistry
- What “right-sized ambition” means — and how it shifts from proving to serving
- Letting go of the need to prove yourself and moving into deeper service
This conversation is tender, rich, and full of permission to meet yourself exactly where you are.
Lisa Olivera is a writer, therapist, and creative who shares work centered around radical acceptance, cultivating compassion, and integrating our stories and full humanity. She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Dominican University, where she received the Dr. Robert Schukraft award for Inspirational Leadership. She has worked in schools, community-based mental health, and private practice, all of which inform her lens of the world. Her work has been featured in many publications including The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Good Morning America, The Guardian, and The Huffington Post. Lisa writes the popular weekly newsletter, Human Stuff, on Substack, teaches writing workshops, and is working on her second book. Her first book, Already Enough, was published by Simon and Schuster in early 2022. She lives with her husband, daughter, and two cats in Northern California.
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