Mental Health

Before I’ve even had a chance to brush my teeth, the day sometimes seems to already be heading downhill. Rushing around and nagging everyone to get out of bed, get dressed, brush teeth and hair, make beds, and pack the chrome book has already started us all off on the wrong foot. After I kiss all of my kids goodbye and send them off to school, mom guilt quickly sets in. I start to think about how much is expected of kids these days, and how they really are doing a wonderful job at keeping it all together, considering all that has been thrown at them this year. 2020 – Need I say more? Back in March, their little worlds were turned...

My son turned one at the end of August. We didn’t have the celebration we had imagined, but we did get to celebrate him and the fact that we made it through the first year. We had a small gathering, grandparents and godparents. It was lovely and exhausting.  In preparation for the party, I hung a “1st BDay” banner from our unadorned curtain rod...It’s still there. I see those gold, semi-inflated letters as a representation of all of the chores that I’ve left undone, all of the unchecked boxes on my to-do list. I also see it as the time I’ve gotten to spend with my son and on myself.  As a working mom, it is sometimes difficult to reconcile my son...

I whole-heartedly jumped in so many activities fearlessly in my childhood, teenage, and college years, even when I absolutely sucked at said activities. My mom cheered the first time I got a foul during my short basketball stint because I was actually on the court I was in the right place on the court for the first time to have a chance at even getting a foul Yet, I still proudly walked around with my status as a basketball player. I look back at my 18-year-old self and can learn a few things from her. I gave a speech called “Failure is an Option.” That girl knew that it was okay to try new things and fail. She knew failure was...

    I’m sitting at my kitchen counter, thanking God I finally got my two-year-old to nap, and I start to make a list of what I want to do the rest of the afternoon…fold (AND put away) the laundry, figure out the dinner situation, cut out box tops for school, etc. And the question that often lingers in the back of my mind slowly creeps to the forefront: am I wasting my degree? Should I be wearing a suit sitting behind a desk somewhere instead of wearing maternity leggings in my kitchen? To provide a little background, in my junior year of high school I decided that I was going to be a lawyer. It was after I and...

By now, you’ve most likely either heard of or watched Netflix’s recent controversial and unsettling documentary The Social Dilemma. I think cinemablend.com describes the film well, saying it “examines the various ways social media and social networking companies have manipulated human psychology to rewire the human brain and what it means for society in general.”  What makes its perspective so convincing is the series of interviews weaved throughout — almost all with Silicon Valley engineers who played very important roles in the original designs and concepts associated with companies like Google and Facebook.  While The Social Dilemma uncovers a lot of questionable intentions behind social media platforms I was already aware of, it also forces viewers to consider how those intentions...