Is it too late to talk about the New Year? Probably… I know some would say we’re way beyond talk of resolutions, intentions, and productivity. My procrastination made me miss the hype that comes with Jan 1, the hype that reminds us how much fun it is get to “start over” and hope and plan for better things to come. Yes, this is what procrastination does: it makes you start a blog post the second week in January, and then you don’t sit down to finish it until 6 weeks later. I felt motivated. I promise. I knew my plans...
Today was my last cancer treatment. Actually, by the time you’re reading this, it was yesterday. It’s been a strange day, one that holds a mix of emotions that leaves me unsure of how to feel. It’s good though. On the one hand, I’m beyond excited to be done. After 14 months of treatment, I never imagined arriving at this day. The idea of finishing what felt like a list of never-ending treatments, seemed impossible. I await the moments of anxiety and fear of recurrence that will pop up, and I wonder if my life will ever stay feeling normal...
We often hear how we can manifest what we want simply by thinking about the very thing. It’s the Law of Attraction. My first exposure to this kind of thinking was when The Secret came out quite a few years ago. While some of the principles seemed pretty cool, I remember thinking, “so, if I say I want to win the lottery, then I will win it? Why hasn’t it worked yet?” I didn’t buy into it, and I’m not sure I want to. We can’t just say we want this or that and expect to get it. It’s not...
A funny thing has happened to me in recent weeks. I’ve started feeling happy, and positive, and more like myself again. I’m not going to lie, it felt really strange at first. Part of me didn’t trust it at all, and the other part of me thought maybe it was too soon. I kept waiting for it to go away and be replaced by the fear and sadness that has consumed my last year. Then one word popped into my head: Resilience. And all of my newfound enthusiasm made sense. On August 13, 2018, I came home from my mammogram...
We spend so much of our energy trying to be happy. Happiness is such a buzzword these days. It almost seems like an addiction itself. The attraction to it is so strong that we often shun any sadness we might experience. It’s no wonder we’re addicted. It feels good. In fact, nothing feels as good as happiness does. But where would happiness be if sadness didn’t exist? Just as courage cannot exist without fear, happiness cannot exist without sadness. Which brings me to my point: embracing our sadness will help us shake it off. Image by Fran__ from Pixabay When...
How do you use intuition in your life? Merriam Webster defines intuition as “the power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference.” In other (easier to understand) words, it’s that wisdom that is guided by your feelings. It’s what you know in your gut to be true. Rationality and reasoning don’t factor in here. In the professional world, we often think there is no room for woo-woo stuff like feelings and heart. However, the best leaders often credit their intuition for their success. Knowing how powerful intuition is to guide us, I’ve...
If you’ve ever done yoga, you’ve probably gone to a class where they happen to talk about the one theme you needed to hear that day. It happens to me often. Sometimes my blog posts do that for someone too. I hope this one arrives on a day you need it. Several months ago, the day my hair started falling out, I randomly went to yoga, and the teacher spoke all about what happens when it seems like our world is falling down around us. Literally a part of me– my hair– was falling down around me by the handful,...
Last week I wrote about how unique this New Year transition has been. Taking a back seat on all of the New Year’s hype was a bit different for me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about dressing up and going to the biggest party in town. That’s never been my style. I’m talking about the party that’s going on in my head– the planning and excitement for a new year and a chance to take inventory. As I watched the New Year happen all around me, it gave me a new set of eyes. It helped me to...
Happy New Year! How was this holiday season for you? This New Year in particular was very unique for me. It felt different from all the others. Since I spent the week recovering from my final round of chemotherapy, the actual New Year was far from my mind. I remained isolated from most human contact throughout the whole week. My only source of human interaction was social media (which I don’t recommend, by the way.) As I saw all the posts of my network’s reflections, recaps, and resolutions, I felt even more disconnected from the hype. I watched the New...
If you’re anything like me, you probably like to think you have more control over your life than you do. Then reality smacks you in the face when you get a pesky reminder that you’re not really in control of any of it. This getting cancer thing has been one of those reminders for me. Cancer rocks your world. I always imagined how difficult it would be, but you never quite “get it” until you actually get it. Experiencing life’s most serious challenges always provides that smack in the face. In August when I was first diagnosed, all I felt...
