Mental Health

It seems as though there is no shortage of advice these days on the internet about any subject you could imagine. So why is it so hard to navigate the murky waters of body image with our daughters? Do you remember the first time you were critical of your body growing up? I’ve seen my two daughters (ages 13 and 10) begin to grapple with these issues at a far younger age than I ever thought possible. Or maybe it’s that as women we’ve been critical of our own bodies for as long as we can remember. We don’t remember when it started, we only know it’s always been that way. I can remember when my oldest daughter was five years...

When Your Home Is a Battleground. When your home is a battleground, you pull in the driveway in the evening and it doesn’t feel like the end of the day. It feels like the day is just getting started. You have a plan in mind for how the night will go. What needs to get done and what you want to get done. You said your mantras and prayed your prayers. You listened to your podcasts. You convince yourself you can keep it all together tonight, no matter what gets thrown your way. When your home is a battleground there’s territory claimed. The kitchen is yours’s. The front porch is his. There are unspoken agreements. He gets the bathroom early evening; you...

As a 30-something-year-old mom, I find myself in a love/hate relationship with my body. I convince myself not to wear shorts or get in a swimsuit. I squeeze and pinch my stomach wishing it were flatter. Having a candid photograph taken is most definitely out of the question. With my oldest daughter being 10, I’ve become very aware that I need to change my own mindset in order to foster confidence and higher self-esteem in her. Empowerment We are all very aware that social media and advertisements are the breeding ground for an unrealistic body standard that makes women feel inadequate. With that being said, it really is time to change what loving yourself and being healthy looks like. It is...

During the peak of Covid-19 loneliness, I started watching Parks and Recreation. I genuinely looked forward to sitting by myself on the couch, after my daughter went to sleep, to watch a couple episodes of the light-hearted show. It was a huge change of pace from the normal dramas I had to limit myself to one episode a night with. I noticed a huge change in my attitude going to bed throughout watching this sitcom. I loved laughing all by myself with Amy Poehler. I wasn’t hooked like I normally was on shows. I didn’t stay up later than I should because an episode would end on a huge cliff-hanger. It was all just easy-going. What have we normalized? As much as...

Being a mom is hard stuff. Many working moms feel stressed about deadlines and work/life balance. Moms who stay home with littles may feel isolated. Moms with older children in school sometimes feel pressure to prove their worth through volunteerism and perfection. And through all of that, there’s little time left over to manage our own health. How many moms feel like the local urgent care provider is their stand-in for a dedicated primary care physician? Trips to address our own illnesses are relegated to after hours and off times. We fight like hell for our kids when they need an advocate and we applaud others who reach out for help, but many times, when it comes to our own needs,...