Mental Health

Honor Roll Mom :: Keep Your Expectations Reasonable My oldest child is smart. Like mind-blowingly smart. At 14, I don’t remember a single time he ever had to study for a test. He’s able to remember vast amounts of knowledge and the adults in his life regularly look to him for guidance whenever they have a question about history or geography. He’s been on the honor roll ever since he was old enough to be on it and I’ve been the proud mom, sitting in the front row cheering him on every step of the way. With a child like this, you get used to seeing the A’s and as much as you don’t want to be “that parent," any time...

The Weird Mom Being a mom is rough.It's the understatement of the century, but it's true. The Mommy Wars, where everything is a competition, just serves to make it harder.But I want to pinpoint the Mommy Cold War. I'm the weird mom. When attending things for my kids, I'm a wallflower, because I don't want my inability to human like a normal adult to affect my kids. I'm terrible at small talk, because I will inevitably try to participate, which will in turn result in an awkward silence where people make polite noises and continue as though I'm not there.Things are a little better once folks have acclimated to me, but the sad fact is we are tribal creatures, and I tick...

Summer Is Almost Over, Are You Ready? Heading back to school means new chaos, new schedules, earlier bedtimes, new homework, new friends, new beginnings. Back to school shopping and uniform purchases, completing summer reading, and keeping your fingers crossed that your kiddos didn’t spend so much time having fun and unexpectedly mushed their academic brains. While this next chapter can be exciting, it is certainly a time of transitions, and you’re probably hyper focused on prepping your little ones with encouragement, expectations, and enthusiasm. But inside of your head, if you’re anything like me, you’re also in need of your own affirmations, strength, and serenity. It's easy to fall into this next school year and, like other years before, unintentionally lose...

To The Overwhelmed... I know you are overwhelmed right now. Simple tasks are pushed aside and your anxiety seems to fill the room. Laundry piles up and to-do lists grow longer. You wonder how you let it get this bad and if it will ever feel like you aren’t drowning. I know it takes everything for you to get out of bed some days. To face another day after another sleepless night. A simple shower seems daunting. You feel so broken and unrepairable. Dear Overwhelmed, I see you and I’m here to walk beside you. You are not alone. I’ve been there. Waves of depression and the heaviness of keeping the mask up in public. Avoiding responsibilities, walking around in a zombie-like stage of...

My Job Was Killing Me Some days I would rather walk on hot lava than go to work. Have you been there? Have you ever worked in a job that seems like you will never get anything right? How many times have you literally felt like your job was killing you? I loved my career, but my job was literally robbing me of my life and taking me from my family. That’s right, a place that will fill my position before the coroner ever reports my death to the state was killing me. Even before I set my alarm every night, my heart would race just thinking about the next workday. Then, I would snooze more times than I could count, and...