When the COVID pandemic began, the in-office world suddenly had to pivot to an all-remote work and learning environment. We thought it would be temporary, a few weeks at most. Many of us threw our daily routines out the window just to survive. Overnight, we became work-from-home employees, teachers, and care providers, all while continuing to manage the household. Workflow responsibilities shifted for a large part of the population. Those initial weeks and months of working remotely slowly turned into a year and now here we are, many of us still finding ourselves working in an all-remote environment. With a staggering number of companies deciding that remote work has been successful, they are choosing either to continue with it or adopt a hybrid model.

 We might walk down the street and see a sign that reads, “Don’t Step on Grass” or go to a meeting where the presenter says, “Please turn off your cell phones.”  Most of us will abide. Others may challenge the situation. But we can all agree that limits are being set to protect and safeguard a piece of property or someone’s self-respect. We may even be grateful that these “rules” (reflecting our  goals and values) are made for us and not by us.  Truth be told, setting boundaries can be a painful process. Not only will you occasionally step on some toes, but you also run the risk of clashing with others. 

It's been 6 years since my last paycheck and yet I never miss a day of work. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom since four months before my boys were born. I stepped away from owning my pet sitting business in 2016 when I found out I was pregnant with twins. 

Are you constantly working before or after work hours?  Are you checking your phone for emails or messages all the time?  Are you working through lunch? Are you feeling burned out?  Are you not taking a vacation?  When you take a vacation, are you still working? Are you not going to doctor appointments because you don’t want to make up the hours?  Then this article is for you. 

Meditation is widely recognized as an effective tool for managing anxiety and stress and for increasing feelings of well-being. Dr. Dhillon reminds us that there are many things that we know are “good for us” but often the details of our lives make it difficult to find time to actually get them done. The struggle with meditation is that many people find it difficult to concentrate for even five minutes, so 20-60 minutes feels overwhelming. 

Welcome back for another conversation about money! In my last blog we talked about the importance of self-reflection and knowledge of one’s own money habits and influences. This installment is going to expand on that and address talking with your partner about money— date night, anyone?

This past year has tested us as individuals and a society more than we ever could have imagined. We have endured long months of isolation, unemployment, remote learning, limited social and physical contact, missed celebrations/milestones, and so much more. Some of us sunk into deep depressions, experienced intense anxiety, and felt more fearful than we ever had of the outside world. Some of us contracted the virus, while others watched people close to them grow sick or pass away from COVID-19. 

The reality of experiencing financial hardship and all the associated stress and negativity has been more prevalent this past year, but it’s not a new thing at all. The goals now are to explore how we make financial decisions, identify the connection between money and our physical and emotional health, and chart a path to self-discovery. It’s a journey!

Something felt off this month. My period was ultra-late, later than it’s ever been. I took a pregnancy test and waited— it came back negative, so it had to be something else, but what? Is this my body telling me, “You’re stressed out! Slow Down!”? I had to investigate.  

In the past few years, the #selfcare movement has taken off in the States, with sister hashtags like #treatyoself and #loveyourself, all echoing a clarion cry to type-A workaholics across America.

When I was pregnant, I couldn’t wait for my baby to be born— to hold her, bond with her, smell her. I thought there would be a natural transition into motherhood, given how excited I was. But, it didn’t happen quite how I expected. After a four day hospital stay due to a C-section, we headed home. With family helping out the first two weeks or so, it wasn’t too bad. But once I was alone, it was harder than I imagined. I felt sad.

"If Mom is good, baby is good." — I heard that quote somewhere and it clicked— if I'm feeling good, my kids are good and, therefore, my household feels good. Everyone is grounded. 

The four tenets of Gentle Parenting include empathy, respect, understanding, and boundaries. With this comes different practices for certain scenarios but, for example, if your child is having big feelings, the gentle parenting practice has you show up for your child from a grounded place and let them feel their feelings before naming what happened. Another example would be to sandwich "no" with a yes— that might look like "We can't have another snack right now, but we can have lunch" or "I can't let you play with this, but you can play with that". So basically, you self-regulate yourself and then keep your child safe as their big feelings run their course before assessing the situation and trying to find resolution, all while talking to your child as an equal. 

As a creative free spirit, I have often shunned structure, routines, and rituals as confining, boring, and stifling to the imaginative soul. However, now that I have reached my late twenties, I am beginning to see that an undisciplined life leads to chaos, confusion, and inaction. I’m learning that order is the necessary foundation for building a beautiful life. 

As Valentine’s Day fast approaches, I’ve been thinking more and more about self love expressed through self compassion. For a long time during the pandemic I struggled to feel a sense of purpose, to enjoy life, to get out of bed, to dig myself out of the hole of depression and anxiety that I felt myself sinking into. There were weeks that bled into months where doing simple tasks like brushing my teeth, putting on something other than the sweatpants I had been wearing for days, or channeling even an ounce of productivity felt insurmountable. I was tired all the time. I wasn’t doing the things I usually loved to do. I looked forward to going to sleep each night because being awake felt like a constant state of stress and guilt for not accomplishing more.

Do you find yourself saying “I’m sorry” all the time? You forget to text your friend back. I’m sorry. You accidentally bump into someone at the grocery store. I’m sorry. You sneeze in the middle of a meeting. That’s right—I’m sorry. If you’ve said yes to any of those statements, this blog is for you. (Also, if you deeply relate to Demi Lovato’s hit song “Sorry not Sorry” this is your kind of blog.)

No one can prepare you for the loneliness that accompanies motherhood. It can be extremely isolating. One minute you are a single person in the world and the next minute you are expected to keep a teeny tiny human fed and alive— without a user’s guide or manual. 

When I was younger, my friends and I always asked each other what our New Year's resolutions were. They typically revolved around getting rid of acne, working out more or getting better grades in school. Honestly, it sometimes turned into a competition to see who had better resolutions (I’m not even joking). However, these goals we set for ourselves were only important for that first week or two of the new year; after that, the resolutions would be forgotten.

Ever since quarantine started back in March, I subconsciously feared the winter months that would inevitably return. I think what gave so much of us hope (especially on the east coast) during the beginning of the covid outbreak was that summer was on its way, and we would, at the very least, be able to spend time outside under the sun. We needed those hot summer days with iced coffee, evening drives with the windows down, socially distanced park picnics that provided much needed in-person human connection.

Last year, I met someone and fell for them… hard. I thought I had met my person, which I think sounded a little crazy to some of my friends considering I had just met the guy. But in my heart, I felt connected to him - physically, emotionally, and spiritually.