About: Meryl Mahoney is a published author of You Were Born to Shine, a transformative book that guides readers on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment. With a life story marked by overcoming immense challenges—including surviving abuse, divorce, cancer, widowhood, and the emotional journey of helping raise a grandchild.with special needs—Meryl is a living testament to the power of resilience.
Her positive mindset, determination, and ability to turn setbacks into comebacks have not only shaped her own life but inspired countless others to do the same. Meryl’s coaching and teachings focus on breaking through the layers of self-doubt and limiting beliefs, encouraging women to embrace their strength, let go of excuses, and take ownership of their personal growth. Meryl teaches her clients how to move forward with a warrior mindset, empowering them to create the lives they were born to live.
Welcome to our interview series, Meryl Mahoney. For those meeting you for the first time, how would you describe who you are and the work you do?
Hi and thank you so much for having me here.
I would describe myself as a Strategic Life and Relationship Coach, a Published Author, Writer, Speaker and Artist. My work is focused on encouraging and empowering women, who have survived more challenges in life than most. When adversity hits, it doesn’t care about financial status, age, race or sexual preference. It hits us all with same devastation.
Your life story includes many challenges. When you look back, what helped you keep going during the hardest moments?
After my own countless experiences with painful and life changing adversities such as abuse, cancer, divorce, special needs grandchild, loss of husband, loss of home, finances and family addiction, I found that the only person who could help me, was me. I knew I had a resiliency that was more powerful than normal. If I could only find a way to understand it and to pay it forward so that other women do not have to feel alone and helpless.
For me, I was able to use four components to turn me into a survivor and not a victim.
My four steps were Passion, Compassion, Gratitude and Confidence.
What led you to write You Were Born To Shine: Finding Confidence Internally, Externally, Eternally, and what did you hope women would feel when they read it?
This is what let me to writing my book “You Were Born to Shine”.
Even in our darkest times, we need to find a passion, a purpose to go on. I was always a writer, something I did to express myself and to be creative. This wasn’t about journaling; it was about giving back to others who also had a journey of devastation.
My second component was Compassion, for if I could feel for others with similar issues, it wouldn’t be all about me and my problems, it would be about other people suffering who can learn from where I was coming from. It took the focus off me and where it was mostly needed, to help other women who lacked the resiliency that I was so gifted with.
Gratitude is my favorite word, my best friend and the wind beneath my wings. By having a strong sense of gratitude, there is no room for anger, envy or any negative feelings. They cannot co-exist with gratitude. There was so much for me to be grateful for. Yes, life was awful, but I was still able to live and that was the most powerful feeling there is. I had a fresh, new chance every morning to be grateful.
The last thing that I incorporated into my toolbox of resiliency was confidence. We call it many things such as self-worth, self-love, self-esteem. By knowing your worth, you are not helpless or a victim. No one volunteers for adversity, its usually an accumulation of consequences that are many times out of our control. Although, out of a lack of self-worth, we allow it to happen because it’s what we think we deserve.
Once my book was published, my hopes for others who read it were for them to feel empowered knowing someone else had been in their shoes. I wanted them not to be alone through these journeys and discover there is so much happiness if you believe in yourself. For me, knowing that I was helping others is what gave me the ability to go on
Many women struggle with confidence without realizing it. What are some common signs you see in the women who come to you for support?
When women come to me for support regarding their lack of confidence, I spend time with them and I can always pick up on the signs. There is a distance to them, a hard shell that isn’t always friendly. They need to understand if you are real or just there for some other reason than to help them.
I always must look back to find where it started. We are all born with a clean slate. As time goes on, we become layered with so much negativity from our environment, our parents, siblings and other outside influences, that we become wrapped up like an onion of negative self-love.
By going back and discussing where these thoughts came from, we are then able to peel away these layers one by one and uncover a beautiful, healed person with so much love and life to give.
You often talk about building confidence from the inside out. What does that process really look like in everyday life?
Building confidence from the inside out starts at your core, from the very essence of a person. As we peel away these layers, we are given the opportunity to build it back up. Focusing on the achievements and not the failures, truly believing that you deserve the best of everything in life. Stop the “why me” and start saying “why not me?”.
Your coaching focuses on helping women let go of self-doubt and excuses. Why do you think these patterns are so hard to break alone?
Many times our negative self-thoughts become a habit. We use them as an excuse for not working hard and trying to make yourself better. Most of the time we lack an awareness. Many times we get cozy in the victim mentality and like the little amount of attention it can bring to us.
Unless someone makes us aware, it goes unchanged and continues to make their life worse. As a coach, I found that pointing out these mistakes and trying to change them by goal setting and little steps of change made an incredible difference.
Warrior Mindset Coaching is a core part of your work. How does this approach help women respond differently to challenges?
Warrior Mindset Coaching is when you leave the victim mindset behind and teach them to become strong, empowered women who can do whatever they want to make their lives better. They need to fight like a warrior out of self-love and the need to change. Staying stuck and stagnant isn’t an option.
Through Bounce Back Breakthrough, you guide women through major life transitions. What kind of changes do clients often notice first?
In my Bounce Back Breakthrough Coaching, many clients start to notice a shift in themselves. They become more aware of their actions and their language. They’re feeling and sounding more positive about life and about doing positive changes on a daily basis. Once the mindset is there, the actions come quickly.
You also work with women on creating empowered relationships. How does self-worth influence the way women show up in relationships?
When looking for a successful relationship there is no way to have one without positive self-worth. Feeling less than just sets us up for failure. With self-love we will not accept anything less than what we feel worthy of. There is no such thing as settling. Feeling empowered gives us the strength to walk away when we know it’s not right.
Many of your clients come to you after divorce, illness, or loss. What is the first thing you help them reconnect with?
The first thing that got me through the darkness was knowing that tomorrow can be different and that time is always on our side. Knowing that we can ride the waves and not drown is enlightening.
Your clients often say your coaching helped them stop seeing themselves as victims. Why is this shift so important for healing and growth?
If we see ourselves as victims, we stay in a victim mentality always expecting more. This takes away our positivity and our ability to find light in the darkness. At this point, it’s crucial to let go and find gratitude in the simplest form.
How do your book and coaching work together for women who want continued support beyond reading?
When I wrote my book, it was a learning lesson for myself and a way to give back. By sharing, I was connecting and giving other survivors a safe place. That is when I knew I had to take this mission further and began my coaching practice.
What kind of woman do you feel your work is meant for right now?
I believe my work is meant for any woman who has low self-worth, is struggling to move past trauma, and is trying to rebuild her life. Strategic life coaching is about forward movement and goal setting, without overwhelm.
What has been the most meaningful feedback you’ve received from someone you’ve worked with?
My most meaningful feedback came from a famous model from the 70’s who found me online and lived in another country. She was one of my idols back then and I was blown away. How could someone with such beauty and success have a problem with self-worth? She was no different than many of us who became lost under the control of their partner. The most important thing for a woman is to never lose their identity. Its crucial to remember who you were before you were someone’s partner, mother etc. Our true and authentic self is the child inside of us. We need to heal her first in order to be whole. This client of mine did find her self-worth once again and is happy and thriving.
For a woman reading this who feels tired, stuck, or unsure of her worth, what would you want to say to her directly?
It sometimes seems that most women go through these phases of feeling tired and insecure a few times in their lives. That’s why I recommend that we should all practice working these self-love and self-esteem muscles regularly. Always remember the four components to feeling good, Passion, Compassion, Gratitude and Confidence!
Meryl Mahoney
www.bouncebackwomen.net
https://www.instagram.com/bouncebackbeautiful
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