Category: Uncategorized
-
Learning To Embrace Life On Life’s Terms Through Surrender
The first time I heard the expression “life on life’s terms,” I was sitting uncomfortably on a crisp white coach. The fuzzy throw pillows surrounding me were also stark white. I have no idea why the therapist who designed that office space chose EVERYTHING in white. But instead of being calming, the blaring bright white […]
-
Finding Light in a Pandemic
When the superintendent announced our schools would not open this fall for face-to-face instruction, I wasn’t surprised. We were in the middle of a pandemic. Perhaps it was my intuition; maybe it was my natural tendency to prepare for the worst… most likely it was a little bit of both. For whatever reason, a deep sense […]
-
Why You Need a Theme Song in Today’s Surreal World
Something happened with a song today. I have to tell you about it. At the risk of dating myself, I admit Ally McBeal was one of my favorite TV shows back in the day. Filled with hilarious story lines the show was about a quirky lawyer working with an ex-boyfriend she still had feelings for. […]
-
How To Cope With Mom Guilt Now
When I joined the local mom’s group almost ten years ago, I had no idea what lay ahead in the next decade. Becoming a mother turned my world completely upside down, as I learned an entirely new way of being. Thankfully connecting with other women in various stages of this journey called motherhood helped tremendously. […]
-
How to Cope with Involuntary Homeschooling When You’d Rather Hide
Today marks the fifth week since my kids have gone to school. What the teachers cutely call distance learning, I refer to as: Involuntary Homeschooling. Maybe because it reminds me of my years working in Community Mental Health when we involuntarily committed patients against their will during a crisis. Putting the involuntary into homeschooling Homeschooling […]
-
Have You Found Any Hidden Lessons in Pandemic Life?
All over the globe, the COVID 19 pandemic has turned life upside down. While we attempt to adjust to our new “normal,” the uncertainty of what the next day or even the next hour may bring looms over us all. Adjusting to pandemic life is a roller coaster. Anxiety and hysteria run wild making it […]
-
This Moment Right Now
From my well-intentioned mother and older sister, from the sanctimonious veteran moms I encounter in person and online, and even from strangers in restaurants and checkout lines. Over and over again I hear, “Enjoy this moment because it won’t last.” And it aggravates me every single time.
-
It’s Not About Your Kitchen Sink
When I was a brand new mother trying to navigate a world ruled by feedings, diaper changes, and growth spurts, I felt like I was drowning. Deep down I believed there was some secret, some formula, some checklist that I hadn’t yet gotten my hands on. Once found, it would make this mothering thing a bit more magical. And a lot less terrifying. I was wrong.
-
A Tablespoon of Peanut Butter Reduced Me to Tears…. Surviving Anorexia
The moment a tablespoon of peanut butter reduced me to tears is etched permanently into my memory. My heart raced and tears streamed down my face. I stared at that peanut butter and was paralyzed with anxiety. Time stood still while that single serving tub of peanut butter taunted me from the cold sterile table.
-
What an Enormous Crashing Tree Reminded Me about Anxiety
And this is how anxiety works. I start to jump ahead into the future and all of the possible ways things could go wrong. And they are infinite really. There are so many things that could happen in any given minute. Too many to even predict. Anxiety tells me: I must try to predict every possible impending crisis so that I can either prevent them, or prepare for them. The catch is- there are so many variables, so many possibilities, so many unknowns, and so many things that are simply out of our control. NO amount of worrying can keep “bad things from happening. All worrying does is rob the present of joy and piece.