<![CDATA[Tayne Griffin]]>https://www.taynegriffin.comhttps://www.taynegriffin.com/img/substack.pngTayne Griffinhttps://www.taynegriffin.comSubstackTue, 15 Sep 2026 19:23:27 GMT<![CDATA[Set the Glass Down]]>https://www.taynegriffin.com/p/set-the-glass-downhttps://www.taynegriffin.com/p/set-the-glass-downSun, 16 Aug 2026 16:41:38 GMTEverything changed the day I understood that forgiveness wasn’t something I was giving to the other person, in some way saying to them that what they did was okay, but instead something I was giving to myself. Forgiveness is freedom. Freedom of carrying around the burden of sadness and anger for something we cannot change and wish didn’t happen.

And by the way, this applies to forgiving yourself too. Wow. Now there is a tough one. How many of you have been carrying something around that you have not been able to forgive yourself for?

There are things we get out of not forgiving ourselves. We carry a torch of guilt to try and prove we are sorry for what occurred. We feel like we deserve to feel horrible because we have caused pain to someone else in some way. But does this actually help anyone? Does it help us be better people if we continually beat ourselves up for what we cannot change? Does it help us learn and grow and take action in our lives to make sure we don’t repeat the same experience? We can trap ourselves in a tiny prison of guilt and self-loathing, but who does that actually help?

Think of it like holding a glass of water out at arm’s length. For a minute, it’s nothing. For an hour, your arm aches. Hold it long enough and it becomes the only thing you can feel. The weight of the glass never changes. What changes is how long you insist on carrying it. Resentment works exactly the same way, and so does guilt. It is not the size of the thing you’re holding. It’s how long you refuse to set it down.

So set the glass down. Not because what happened was fine. Not because they deserve it. Set it down because you have better things to do with your arms than ache. You have a life to live, a soul story to tell, and people waiting on the other side of your freedom.

I forgive myself and others with ease and compassion. That is the mindset I reclaim, over and over, whenever the old weight tries to creep back into my hand. Forgiveness isn’t a single grand gesture. It’s a daily decision to keep the glass on the table where it belongs.

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]]><![CDATA[The Empty Hole Only I Could Fill]]>https://www.taynegriffin.com/p/the-empty-hole-only-i-could-fillhttps://www.taynegriffin.com/p/the-empty-hole-only-i-could-fillSun, 02 Aug 2026 14:15:10 GMTThere I was, sitting in yet another personal growth seminar, longing to be seen and declared as enough from someone I looked up to. I was witnessing myself experience this need, almost as if I was out of my own body. There was a moment when we all were going to make a declaration about ourselves in front of the room, and in that moment I finally saw what I had been doing for years. I was waiting. Waiting for a teacher, a mentor, a stage, a stranger with a microphone to look at me and tell me I mattered.

The empty hole in my self-worth could only be filled by me. While the feeling of emptiness felt vast, I was actually only missing one piece: my love and belief in myself.

Let me say that again, because it took me a long time to learn it and I don’t want it to take you as long. The hole is real. But it is not as big as it feels. You are not missing a hundred things. You are missing one. And it is the one thing no seminar, no promotion, no partner, no round of applause can hand to you. You have to give it to yourself.

Here is how that went for me. Imagine Self-Worth and Self-Doubt trying to be roommates in my mind. They fought all the time. Self-Worth loved to work out, eat well, and meditate daily. Self-Doubt didn’t sleep much, laid around the house all day, and never cleaned up after herself. Self-Doubt would lock Self-Worth out on a regular basis, and somehow Self-Worth always found a way back in, doused Self-Doubt in love, and then Self-Doubt would leave for days at a time.

This cycle went on for a while. During one of Self-Doubt’s disappearing acts, Self-Worth invited Gratitude to move in. This changed everything. Self-Doubt could not exist where Gratitude lived. Gratitude, when practiced often, not only keeps Self-Doubt out, it strengthens Self-Worth. Now, Self-Worth and Gratitude? That’s a powerful team.

So if Self-Doubt is currently a co-habitant in your mind and you really want to live a more empowered life, you better invite Gratitude over for an extended stay. It’s not about becoming someone new. It’s about coming home to the woman who was always in there, and finally being the one who tells her she is more than enough.

I believe I am more than enough and am excited to see all I can do and experience in this lifetime. What are you excited to experience? What are you grateful for?

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]]><![CDATA[I Want to Fight]]>https://www.taynegriffin.com/p/i-want-to-fighthttps://www.taynegriffin.com/p/i-want-to-fightMon, 27 Jul 2026 04:01:11 GMT

In 2008, my husband and I were in a sweet spot in life. He was kicking butt in the mortgage industry and I had just come off a president’s club winning year in my pharmaceutical sales position. Our daughter, also our first born, was four months old and we were in the complete throes of new parenthood. All the love, all the “firsts,” and let’s not forget all the sleepless nights. The future looked bright, right on the other side of some sleep. Then it happened.

The housing market crashed in a way our generation had never seen before. As investments, my husband and I owned properties — five, to be exact — and over the course of mere months we lost every. single. one. Including our own. The mortgage company my husband worked for collapsed and we found ourselves in uncharted waters.

The day came when we were going to be removed from our home. I’ll never forget reaching out to our circle of friends, asking them to help us move our belongings out because the bank was evicting us. All of them came. I watched them load our life into pods as I stood holding our now seven-month-old baby. Holy shit. This was not on the ten year goal list when we made it.

My husband looked at me and said, “We don’t have to do this. We can walk away from it all, rent a house for as long as it takes to clear our credit and begin again. I’ll let you decide.” I looked at our life piled into a guest bedroom, our tiny daughter in a pack-n-play in the living room, and felt the absolute injustice of it all. I realized I had spent most of my life not standing up for myself. I feared bullies. As a little girl I had to face them at school but I also had to face them at home. I learned to be quiet, toe the line, and never have an opinion.

It was then I turned to him, looked him dead in the eyes, and said, “I want to fight.”

This was such a turning point in my life. It was the moment when I said I wouldn’t back down and I believed in myself enough to know I could weather the storm. We fought the bank for six months in court. I drove by our house every single day. I held my commitment to fight so strongly, I would sit in front of our now vacant house and see us moving back in. I would see the weeds get cut down and the pool shocked back to blue water. I saw our daughter playing in the yard.

The day before it would all be over forever, our attorney found discrepancies on the documents the bank’s lawyers had presented to the judge. They lied on their documents. She let them know they could give us our house back or she would expose the fraud in a court of law. They agreed to let us purchase our house back for a fraction of what we owed on it. We won. I chose to fight and WE WON. Underneath all the self-doubt and insecurities, my self-worth rose up and said, “Lady, you’ve got this.”

Choosing to fight doesn’t always result in winning but it has taught me to know myself as someone that can face and survive a challenge.

What fight are are you contemplating? Is there already one you’re proud of? Tell me…

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]]><![CDATA[The Suffering Is In The Decision]]>https://www.taynegriffin.com/p/the-suffering-is-in-the-decisionhttps://www.taynegriffin.com/p/the-suffering-is-in-the-decisionSat, 18 Jul 2026 15:56:14 GMTRETURN · ISSUE No. 01

There is an incredible, internal shift that occurs when you decide something for yourself. I don’t mean when you think something might be a good idea or you think, “I’ll give it a try,” or “Let’s see how it goes.” I mean, when you truly DECIDE. Do you know that feeling? When you’ve said “That’s it!” “I’m doing it!” Or “Enough, never again.”

There is no suffering on the other side of decision. The suffering is in the decision making process. It’s like standing on the edge of the high dive when you’re scared of heights (totally me). To jump or not to jump. I want to but I’m scared. I know I can do it and rationally I know I’ll be fine (probably) and all my friends are already in the pool after their jumps, smiling and cheering me on so I know it’s fun and still…the suffering. It’s so irritating. Just freaking jump already!! AHHHHH!

And then maybe you climb back down the ladder. Defeated. Feeling like a failure. A total wimp diggity dog. Fast forward to when you actually decide to go for it. You march up the ladder, say to yourself “You’ve got this,” and then run to the end and take a flying leap. After, the combination of relief and adrenaline rushing through your body is exhilarating.

That is what deciding feels like. Not the trying-on, not the maybe, not the someday. The leap. And here is the part nobody tells you: the leap is the return. Every time you truly decide, you come back to a version of yourself who was always in there, waiting for you to stop negotiating and just go.

My mind and heart are open and ready to think big. That’s the mindset I choose to live inside of when I’m standing on the edge of something. Because thinking big isn’t reckless. It’s a decision to stop shrinking. It’s a decision to believe that the greatest life you’ve ever imagined might be just one mindset shift away.

My mind and heart are open and ready to think big.

So here is my invitation to you. Stop suffering in the middle of the decision. Stop climbing back down the ladder. Whatever it is you keep circling, keep almost-choosing, keep talking yourself out of — decide. Say it out loud. “That’s it.” And then take the flying leap. I’m already in the pool, smiling and cheering you on. You’ve got this.

With much love and great gratitude,

Tayne

P.S. If you know a woman that might need this conversation in her life, please share it.

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