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Ode to JOY
Joy, sweet Joy! Like a shooting star, you left as quickly as you arrived but not before swiftly inserting yourself assertively into my life and affecting every part of it. I always admired your ability to find praise and words of encouragement for everyone around you. You were the ultimate cheerleader, filled with love and opinions on everything and everyone. You were unapologetic in your pleasures. I mean, who else likes “The View”? The thought of that show makes me cringe. And yet, I smile at the thought of you devouring every word said by these “brilliant women” as you called them. You were somehow able to make people feel…
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Reflections at the start of a New Year
I was listening to a podcast yesterday (this is what I do) and the speaker was talking about how she preferred intentions to resolutions. The reason being that resolutions focus on something you want to change or something you weren’t doing that you now want to resolve to do differently. In other words, they begin from a negative place, from something you are NOT currently doing. Usually, at the beginning of a new year, you resolve to change or do somethings differently. For example, say you haven’t been exercising, you might resolve to exercise every day in the New Year. When you fall short and miss a day, you end…
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Tornadoes
I have a terrible personality flaw. I’m pretty patient most of the time. I breathe in and out and manage to control myself… until I don’t… and then I just SNAP. I know my trigger. It’s always the same thing… MESS. CLUTTER. CRAP. The scene usually goes something like this: I’m getting the girls ready for bed. Checking off the list. “Are you done with your homework? Did you brush your teeth? Did you get your bag ready for tomorrow?” I’m tired. A little impatient. It’s been a long day and I’m ready for some silence. I want to close my eyes. And then it happens. My eye catches a…
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The Calm after the Storm
This weekend I fulfilled a birthday promise to my 12 year old daughter. I hosted a sleepover for 10 of her friends at our beach house. Here’s what I learned: 1- No matter how much work and coordination I put into preparing the activity, my daughter didn’t thank me for any of it so I might as well have simplified my life. It’s not that my child is ungrateful or spoiled (though it really makes me wonder and question if I need to start making her earn everything more), they just don’t have the maturity or understanding to know how much goes into planning and coordinating something like this. So…
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Tick, Tock, goes the Clock
The thing is… you think you have time. I remember reading that quote once. It really resonated. Time is something we take for granted. We always think we’ll have more time. So we waste it…being angry, procrastinating, lying around doing nothing. Our energy is spent and we say to ourselves, “I’ll just do it tomorrow.” But what if tomorrow never comes? Or what if tomorrow, fate has other plans for you? Why does a tragedy need to happen in order to learn these hard lessons? Or why do we easily forget them? My dad is spending thanksgiving day in the hospital. He’s always believed he’s going to live to be…
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Best Hacks for Work-Life Balance
Work-Life Balance is an elusive thing. Some argue that it does not exist. That it is, in fact, a constant calibration. Sometimes work requires more of you, sometimes your family requires more of you. Sometimes YOU require more of YOU. Here are 3 ways I’ve learned to “hack” this work-life balance thing: 1- BLOCK YOUR TIME. Don’t roll your eyes. I know it sounds simple. IT IS! And it works! If you haven’t tried it, please humor me. We all have 24 hours in day. 8 of those are or should be spent sleeping. (More on sleeping later) That leaves 16 hours to do everything else. Now here’s the trick. …
