Managing Mantras

Depression is a beast. A monster. Maybe even a demon. It is ruthless and relentless and I think it might be evil. It is brain numbing and soul crushing and life sucking. It taints the very thing we need to release ourselves from its grasp: our mind. And it destroys the one thing it takes…

Right Kind of Hard

I would say over the last several years that there has been a lot of talk about a mental health crisis. Especially among our teens. I have heard it from therapists and teachers and parents. I have even said it myself. But I’ve been thinking: what if it’s not a crisis so much as an unraveling. What…

Okay Dokay

Look, I know there’s a lot of good in the world. I know there are helpers and healers and there is magic in the mundane and joy for the taking but also I can’t shake the feeling that there’s so much heavy and the heavy doesn’t seem to be lifting. In fact, I think it’s…

Shut It Down

Announcing a social media departure may be one of the biggest faux pas a millennial can commit but I’m a solid-born-in-1984-millennial and I don’t know how to do things without over explaining myself so here we are. It’s no secret that online apps have offered me more anxiety than education and it’s also no secret…

Easy Does It

There’s a chapter in my book detailing my love affair with cigarettes (yes, that’s a shameless book plug but trust I have a point) and if I’m being honest, it is a battle that comes up quite often. And it comes up most often in times of stress and if there is one thing I…

A Taco Dip Christmas Story

Sometimes things are hard. Sometimes hard things don’t care that it’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Sometimes the holidays are trying and filled with uncertainty and fear and grief and regret and doubt. Sometimes the pockets of joy are few and far between. Sometimes the holiday magic eludes your best…

Heart and Soulful

There’s something about finding your people that is incredible. I spent a lot of years in this online space believing that my words held value even when my book proposal was turned down by agent after agent after agent. They all offered similar feedback: your social media following is just too small. Read: my words…

Near Miss

Last year circa Homecoming 2023 my #1 asked me to help him tie his black suit tie around his bright red shirt collar. Never have I ever tied a tie but since we bought him a real tie over a clip-on I did what any modern-day mom would do and YouTubed it. He crouched at…

Break-cycle

I like walking at my kids soccer practices but yesterday I didn’t have time to go home and change into walking clothes and since I didn’t look how I was supposed to I almost didn’t do one of the few things that makes me feel better. But I caved and decided to walk in my…

Extra Ordinary

Listen, I know that extraordinary people with extraordinary stories are- well- extraordinary.Rags to riches.Rising from the ashes.Beating the odds.Wow, that’s really something.In fact, it’s extraordinary. And I love reading those stories.On one hand, they are a reminder that if a human can survive and thrive in spite of those unbelievable odds then surely I can…