Amanda A Carpenter

Amanda A Carpenter Helping people create the inner safety to love, be loved, and stay connected to themselves.

Executive Coach • Speaker • Founder Leadership Of Vital Energy

Transformation happens when we stay connected long enough to become who we're meant to

08/21/2026

I got almost nothing “done” today.

And I’m really proud of myself.

Because today wasn’t about productivity.

It was about capacity.

Every time uncertainty pulled me toward figuring it out, forcing an answer, or controlling my way to an outcome… I came back to myself.

Again. And again. And again.

My nervous system didn’t magically calm down because I know the tools.

I had to practice them.

And maybe that’s the part we don’t talk about enough.

Growth isn’t never getting activated again.

It’s noticing when you are—and learning not to abandon yourself when it happens.

An old version of me would have ended today measuring everything I didn’t accomplish.

Tonight, I’m measuring something different:

I stayed connected to myself.

That’s capacity.

That’s embodiment.

That’s the scrimmage. 🤍

08/20/2026

What used to soothe me is no longer there.

And today, in the midst of some tears, I realized how much grief can feel like withdrawal.

There’s that ache.
That reaching.
That almost desperate desire for the thing—or the person—that once brought comfort.

And maybe the invitation isn’t to make that feeling disappear.

Maybe it’s to stay.

To stay connected to myself when every part of me wants to reach outside of myself for relief.

To sit beside the part of me that hurts instead of abandoning her.

To love her while she grieves.

I’m learning that self-love isn’t always beautiful baths, sunshine, grounding and taking care of my body.

Sometimes self-love is simply not leaving myself when it hurts.

And maybe that’s what this season is teaching me. 🤍

08/20/2026

I did everything I thought I was supposed to do.

I got the degrees. Built the career. Created the successful business.

And somewhere along the way, I started to realize that maybe the most meaningful parts of this life have very little to do with what we accomplish.

This past year has changed the way I think about purpose.

Maybe purpose isn’t something we have to find.

Maybe it’s in who we BE.

Can I sit beside someone I love when they’re hurting without trying to fix them?

Can I stay when things are uncomfortable?

Can I hold space for grief, sadness, uncertainty and all the beautifully messy parts of being human?

Can I simply be present?

Maybe what we do gets to emerge from there.

I don’t have the answer.

But more and more, I wonder if we’re not here to figure it all out alone.

Maybe we’re here to walk each other home. 🤍

What does purpose mean to you now?

08/18/2026

I used to think transformation looked like no longer getting triggered.

I’m starting to see it differently.

Maybe transformation is what once took us out for three days becoming three hours.
Then an hour.
Then ten minutes.

Not because uncertainty disappears.
Because our capacity to stay connected to ourselves inside it expands.

I’m living in the space between no longer and not yet right now.

And every part of me that historically found safety through certainty, planning and knowing what’s next is getting one hell of a workout. 😂

But this is the work.

Not understanding the pattern.

Practicing something different while the pattern is happening.

I call that The Scrimmage™.

And right now, life has put me directly in it.

08/15/2026

Fear isn’t the problem.

Fear is human. It’s biological. It’s your body trying to keep you safe.

But what happens after fear shows up?

We control.
We overthink.
We people-please.
We pull away.
We over-function.
We shut down.
We put the armor back on.

And sometimes the very thing we use to protect ourselves becomes the thing that costs us the connection, relationship, opportunity, or life we actually want.

The work isn’t becoming fearless.

It’s learning to stay connected to yourself while fear is present—so fear doesn’t get to choose who you become next.

That’s the scrimmage.

Where is your armor costing you something you actually want?

08/15/2026

Fear doesn’t destroy relationships.
Our armor does.

When we’re afraid of being left, rejected, disappointed or hurt, we protect ourselves.

We people-please.
Over-give.
Over-explain.
Control.
Withdraw.

Disconnect from ourselves.

And sometimes we call healing the absence of fear.

I’m beginning to believe something different.

Maybe healing isn’t reaching a place where fear never shows up again.

Maybe it’s building the capacity to stay connected to ourselves when it does.

❤️Can I stay connected to myself when I’m afraid you’ll leave?
❤️Can I stay connected to myself when I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you?
❤️Can I stay connected to myself without putting my armor back on?

I call that space The Scrimmage™ — the messy middle between awareness and embodiment where we get the opportunity to practice something different.

Maybe healthy, conscious relationships aren’t built by two people who never experience fear.

Maybe they’re built by two people learning how to remain connected to themselves — and each other — when fear walks into the room.

What does your armor look like when you’re afraid?

08/12/2026

We talk a lot about what happened to us.

But one of the hardest parts of my healing has been facing what happened through me because I was hurting.

The ways fear made me controlling.

The ways my wounds made me reactive.

The things I said and did from a place of protection that hurt other people.

Understanding where our behavior came from matters.

But understanding it doesn’t absolve us of responsibility for it.

What happened to me may not have been my fault.
But what I do with it is my responsibility.

And for me, that has meant facing the parts of myself I wasn’t proud of without disconnecting from myself in the process.

Feeling the guilt.
Feeling the shame.
Taking responsibility.
Forgiving myself.
Choosing differently.

Maybe healing isn’t about becoming some perfectly healed version of ourselves.

Maybe it’s learning to hold even the parts we once believed were unlovable with enough compassion to transform them.

That’s the kind of self-love I’m interested in.

Not bypassing accountability.
Not staying stuck in shame.
Coming home to ourselves through all of it. ❤️

What part of yourself have you had to learn to forgive?

08/10/2026

What if you don’t need to learn how to love yourself?

What if you need to remember who you were before fear taught you to disconnect from yourself?

I’m beginning to see self-love differently.

It isn’t the absence of fear.

It’s staying connected to yourself while fear is present.

When you’re uncertain.
When you’re disappointed.
When you don’t know what’s next.
When every part of you wants to reach outside yourself for safety.

Can you stay?

Can you listen?

Can you love the part of you that’s afraid instead of trying to make it disappear?

Maybe that’s the practice.

Fear may make us forget.
Love brings us home.

And the space where we practice remembering?

That’s the Scrimmage. ❤️

08/09/2026

We talk so much about being present.

But what if presence isn’t something we need to try harder to achieve?

What if it’s something that becomes available when we feel safe enough to actually experience what’s here?

The birds.
The trees.
The river.
The people we love.
Our actual life.

I’m learning that safety doesn’t mean the absence of fear or uncertainty.

It means staying connected to myself in the midst of it.

That’s my scrimmage right now.

Not escaping uncertainty.
Not rushing to figure out what’s next.
Not waiting for everything to feel settled before I let myself enjoy my life.

Just practicing being here.

Because this moment is the one I’m actually living.

What’s your scrimmage right now?


08/05/2026

We spend so much time chasing breakthroughs.

The retreat.
The conference.
The coaching session.
The spiritual experience.

Those moments matter.

They remind us of who we are.

But they aren’t where our identity changes.

Identity is built when we come home.

When life becomes uncertain again.

When old patterns begin pulling at us.

When no one is watching.

That’s what I call The Scrimmage.

The Scrimmage is the space between awareness and embodiment.

It’s where we practice staying connected to ourselves while life asks us to grow.

This week, my Scrimmage is staying grounded in the midst of uncertainty—selling my home, not knowing exactly where I’ll be living next, and trusting the path that’s unfolding.

I’m not trying to eliminate the uncertainty.

I’m practicing staying connected to myself while life remains uncertain.

✨ What’s your Scrimmage this week?

Address

Warrensburg, NY

Website

Alerts

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

Contact The School

Send a message to Amanda A Carpenter:

Shortcuts

Share

Category