Mental Health

Have you read the book "Becoming" by Michelle Obama? Whew, she is a powerhouse! She is poised, well spoken, driven, determined, kind, confident, and a beautiful wife and mother. I read the book shocked that I never knew much about her or the life of a First Lady. It is HARD! She put her law career and aspirations on hold to support her husband. Her life changed over night when her husband was elected and her family life changed as well. She learned a lot of lessons, was unfortunately at the brunt end of a lot of terrible jokes, and she handled it all in the public eye with A LOT of grace. I was thrilled to see that Netflix...

Once I had to drive myself to the hospital across town. Time was of the essence. On this particular day, all of the interstates were shut down due to a very high-profile funeral in which the Vice President of the United States attended. The normally congested side streets were even more choked with cars, accidents, and frustration. With every turn I made to circumvent the traffic, I found myself adding on dozens of minutes to the drive. My heart pounded out of control. I contemplated calling 911. I clenched the steering wheel and screamed at the top of my lungs as if that would move the cars blocking my way aside. Maybe to anyone else, this would have been an...

It all happened so fast. With each new announcement of the government shutdown roll-out, we scrambled to reset our lives. There was no time to think about what it all meant. We had kids to homeschool, jobs to do remotely, and older loved ones to FaceTime. We continued to ignore the sinking feeling that this was a life-altering event that was becoming less and less temporary as we kept things moving. Because that’s what parents do. Even as we canceled parties, soccer games and dance competitions and told our kids that they couldn’t see their grandparents and cousins for Easter, we kept it moving.  But with all of this moving, I realize that I have missed out on the chance...

There’s so much talk about COVID-19 in the present, but what about once we can leave our homes again?  Moms are going to need a break. They are going to need to decompress. Now, before the “they’re your kids group” starts protesting, KNOW THIS.... we love our children. And truthfully, there are very few people we trust more than ourselves with them. However, just like a good workout, rest is necessary.  Personal time is necessary. So when the Social Distancing is lifted, reach out to a mom.  She will need you.  It doesn’t matter if she is a single mom, a married mom, a mom living with her mom, a rich mom, or an economically disadvantaged mom...she will need you. ...

I was on autopilot. Living my life one bad habit after the other. Everyone is guilty of this from time to time. We get tired, fall into ruts, and go about our days going through the same monotonous routines over and over again. Our brains just “shut off” and we sometimes create bad habits without even realizing it. My daughter came home and cried to me one day saying that she was having a lot of really bad days lately. I was also having a lot of really bad days lately. Was she having bad days because I was having bad days? Was it just a coincidence? Were we creating our own bad days? Either way, there we were, having...