Today I am writing about something that may seem only tangentially related to my themes for the year, but it actually ties into several of them. I want to talk a little bit about battling with feelings of shame when you backslide in one area or another, especially living in a culture that is obsessed with productivity and progress. It can feel so discouraging to experience a regression of any sort, and no one really wants to talk about that stuff, which is why I feel like it is really important to talk about my own struggles with the backslides I have had this year. Continue reading
real talk
The Warm Up: It’s not Sexy but I am Finding it is Necessary
Over the past month or so, while I’m between official “training seasons” and just trying to maintain a base level of fitness and stamina, one of the habits I have been working on is warming up and cooling down before and after each workout. I will admit that adding the cool down came pretty naturally to me. I can immediately feel the difference between when I bring my heart rate down gradually vs. coming to a dead stop. I also happen to really enjoy stretching and giving myself the excuse to do a post-run or post-strength stretch feels marvelous. It is also a time when my brain is riding high on endorphins and I can decompress and think about the work I just did. The warm up though? That is a totally different story… Continue reading
Genuine Thoughts: Rapid Fire Questions
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, one of my favorite podcasts right now is Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us. Whenever she has a guest on her podcast, she ends her interview with ten “rapid fire” questions and since I’m not going to be on her podcast anytime soon (lol) I thought I’d respond to them on here because I find them fascinating and lovely. Continue reading
Scaling way back… August Wrap up and September Goals…
I’ll be super honest- August really kind of kicked me in the teeth. Our schooling plan got changed last minute before the quarter started and full days of synchronous distance learning while managing two other tiny humans has been really hard. I just flat out gave up on most of my August tending list, which is the first time in a VERY long time something like that has happened so drastically. I’m feeling pretty low and part of me didn’t even want to do my Powersheets for this month, but I told myself a little is better than nothing so… You’ll notice for September I have SUPER scaled back because my one real goal this month is just to survive rest of the first quarter of school… and maybe cry a little less while doing it… Continue reading
My mental energy is all spoken for…
I’m going to be honest- I have no mental energy, no “emotional spoons” left for much of anything after just making it through the day encouraging the kids and trying to maintain some semblance of a new normal. Continue reading
Why Am I Writing This Blog?! (A Glimpse at Another “G” for 2020)
A question I ask myself every year as the end of the year approaches is if I want to keep blogging in the new year. And maybe it’s the hormones or the knowledge that exhaustion is around the corner, but this year in particular I struggled with this question and it led me to ask the bigger questions of WHY am I writing this blog anyway? Continue reading
Dear Assault Survivors- I love you. It gets better. Let’s hold on.
*Trigger warning- this post includes discussion of sexual assault and suicidal thoughts
I am one of many, many people who is a survivor of sexual assault and had a really horrible week last week. I thought I’d be writing a fancy pre-amble to find the nerve to get to that sentence I just wrote, but walking around the issue doesn’t make it any easier to talk about, so there it is. It happened to me and I was in a dark, dark place for a very long time. For years, I thought that if I wasn’t ready to relive my trauma and open up about details then I better keep it hidden and not talk about it at all; but after the past week and the way I felt like I was barely hanging on even with the support systems I have in place, I felt the need to write this and share it. If you are a survivor of assault and you are still processing, I want you to know it will get better. I know it doesn’t feel that way, but please hold on.
This entry is written to those fellow survivors out there, but I really believe it might be helpful for those who know and love survivors too– and odds are good that applies to you whether you know it or not. Continue reading
How I’m Doing on Goals Halfway Through 2018!
The year is officially halfway over and I’m ready to check in on how I did with my goals for June, what’s up for July, and a little more overview on the first half of the year. So let’s jump right in with a June recap: Continue reading
Productivity does NOT Equal Fulfillmet
I don’t get a lot done these days. To do list items sit for weeks that used to easily get checked off in a day. I have to be very intentional when thinking about where I want to put any extra time or energy I might have, and some days that gets me down. But something happened that reminded me of the perspective I should be having about this time… Continue reading
I don’t do it all, My life is a mess.
I have several posts halfway drafted that time has prevented me from posting. So if there’s suddenly a flood of posts, you’ll know why. But for now, I wanted to write a post addressing the fact that several people have asked me since starting this blog how I “do it all” and I wanted to make it very clear: I don’t. Continue reading
Alphabet Resolutions 