When I was very, very sick, my body served as its own governor. I could not push myself further than I should, because I’d be overcome by a sleepiness that would stop me in my tracks. There were times before I learned this that I literally had to lie down right where I stood to [...]
personal growth
There’s nothing like exiting your comfort zone for discovering more aspects of your character you’re either ashamed of or annoyed by. Last week’s startling revelation and accompanying, out-loud mea culpa regarding my self-loathing seems to have unlocked some secret chamber of my darkest heart, from which has tumbled (or, in some cases, oozed) all kinds [...]
My mother had a saying she used to toss out when she wanted me to (not) do something, a line that alerted me to the existence of passive-aggressiveness some 20-odd years before we formally met: “They’re your feet.” Served up with a shrug in the most detached of tones, that line always-but-always got me to [...]
When your head is down and you’re doing the work, and you must, if work is to get done, allot great swaths of head-down time, you will start to think you’re going nuts. I’m not talking abut the hard-work times when you throw yourself into something to make it: the writing of the five-minute, 20-slide [...]
I am deep into purge mode these days. And I’m not alone in this. Not that we’re ever alone, with almost 7 billion souls on the marble, chances are good that whatever you’re going through, you’ve got some fellow travelers somewhere. But suddenly, or perhaps it’s a creeping sort of suddenness, I see people all [...]
I spent some quality time with my EstroFest ladies this weekend, something that seems gets harder to do the more I need it. There was wine and food (and food, and food) and laughter and even a little homegrown Ouija-board action*. Mainly, though, the central theme of this particular EstroFest was growth as a result [...]
I have a confession to make that some of you who are constantly chastising me about working too hard (*cough* ANGIE *cough*) may find difficult to believe: I am, at heart, a lazy sumbitch. As I can hear the chorus of disbelieving protests rising up from behind (or is that in front of?) computer screens [...]
For better or worse, I live in an area of steep hills, and have done for some time now. Maybe it was all those years of growing up in the flatlands; maybe 18 years of staring out into nowhere and seeing the end of it from my bedroom window with no obstructions got to me, [...]
One of the hardest things for me to reconcile is the difference, often vast, between the world as I would like it to be and the world as it is. I’m not talking about hippy-dippy, kumbaya-peace stuff or even fairness stuff: I’m talking about the physical reality of time, and how much stuff you can [...]
Life has been a little tumultuous lately, largely of my own devising. For example, earlier this year I quit, or at least, quit long enough to take a big-girl step back. I started saying “no”, a lot. And started saying “yes” to things that didn’t always make sense. On the surface. To “normal” people. I’m [...]
