Welcome to On Her Own
A place for the woman who has herself together and is just messy around the edges AND the woman who aspires to be that woman
- Jane Smith
Personal Coach

How to secure your home when you’re away
When I collect news stories to post on Instagram and Twitter (are you following me there? @onherownlife for both), themes often pop up. Whether it’s the media paying more attention to a certain type of oddball event after they’ve seen it once, me doing the same, or some kind of weird zeitgeist where a kind

The mindset you really need to win a fight
Many of us have some idea in our minds about how we would respond if we were verbally or physically attacked by another person. Often, especially if we are already a few steps into our self-defense journey, we imagine that we will have pithy words for the attacker, and that we will easily and successfully

The power of apology
A video has been floating around this week, of a man who was shot by his neighbor in a parking lot outside their homes. He was being dropped off by a friend and coworker, who had pulled his truck into the neighbor’s assigned parking spot. As his wife came out with their newborn infant to

Will you be my friend?
This past weekend, CCWSafe brought together a group of people from within the firearms and self-defense industry, and I was lucky enough to be invited. It’s always a little intimidating, going to events like this, and wondering if you’ll know anybody there and whether you’ll feel like you belong. You have probably experienced similar as

Bonus time!
For some of us who are gainfully employed and paid biweekly, it’s a three-paycheck month instead of the usual two. Others of us here in the US might be expecting an income tax refund soon. Hopefully, all of us have had the experience of a little income that we didn’t plan for as part of

Safety from without and within
A year ago this week, I published an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer that explored how who I am can contribute to my vulnerability to violence and unpleasantness. It’s disturbing to realize that bad things can happen to people who are like us in some way, to us, but it’s even more disturbing when we