November Book Report is here! I read five books this month and I loved them all! To be honest, they were all pretty substantial and if I was still working a full time job on someone else’s schedule I probably would have only finished 1 or 2 of these. But I’ve been making reading a priority because I firmly believe that reading makes you a better writer. Anyway, let me know if you have any questions or recommendations for what I should read in December!

Before You Were Ours by Lisa Wingate – Oh my…this is the book I’ve been waiting for recently. It sucked me in from the get go and transported me into another world. It is a gripping story based on the true story of Georgia Tann who kidnapped poor children and sold them to wealthy families under the guise of adoption. The story has two story lines to follow, one present day and another set in 1939. If you’re like me, you won’t be able to put this down as you become more and more invested in these characters and how their lives intertwine.

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo – In contrast to last month’s Me and White Supremacy which was an intense journey of self-reflection, So You Want to Talk About Race feels a little more like an academic look on systemic racism in America. The author, Ijeoma Oluo, still keeps the book engaging with personal anecdotes so it doesn’t veer into textbook territory, but she cites many facts throughout the book to support her arguments and positions. She discusses everything from police brutality to why you shouldn’t touch a black woman’s hair. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is just getting started on their journey to understanding systemic racism and what BIPOC face day in and day out.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng – By the same author of Little Fires Everywhere, this book is just as twisty and character driven. It revolves around the death of a sixteen year old girl and dives into the stories of her family both leading up to her death and the aftermath. It is beautifully written and truly captivating in it’s exploration of generational trauma and familial relationships. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for something more on the literary side.

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – I am secretly a huge fan of fantasy and sci-fi books! I guess not so secretly anymore… But I picked this book up after I saw it recommended by someone I follow on Instagram. It’s the first of three books and I was super disappointed that I didn’t already have the next two immediately available when I finished it. This book is not for everyone. I wouldn’t even say it’s for all fans of fantasy. There is a ton of world building going on in this novel. There are lots of tedious descriptions, references to in-world history, and places where you have to keep reading even though you haven’t gotten all the background yet. But I absolutely loved it. The setting is a land where earthquakes and tectonic shifts are a regular occurrence. There is a group of people who have power to control the earth’s movement, but their power is dangerous so they are highly controlled and exploited for their usefulness. It explores themes of cultural conflict and systemic oppression. I really can’t wait to read the next books in the series!

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett – This book is just pure art. The descriptions are so rich that you really can picture yourself walking through each scene with the characters. The Dutch House itself acts as a passive character, creating conflict and resolution while remaining a stoic and stable fixture through the years. It is another book that explores complex family dynamics and generational trauma, but it a more removed way than Everything I Never Told You. Elevated literature if you a looking for a book your college professor might have assigned. It would be a lot of fun to analyze and critique in a classroom setting.

By now you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to accomplish based on your self-reflection and motivation work. So now it’s time to write it down!

The act of writing something down is key to cementing it in your mind. A Harvard Business Study found that you are three times more likely to see success if you write it down. There is neuroscience behind it as well, that I won’t get into here. But look it up if you are interested! Basically, writing something down signals to your brain that it is important. And what is more important that the goals you are setting for yourself?

As you write your goal(s) down, use the SMART framework to craft them. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound. If you look up SMART goals you might find different words in place for the A – Assignable, Attainable. I just personally like using Achievable because I feel like it puts more of an emphasis on what you can do as an individual.

Specific – the goal needs to be clearly written and have a narrow focus.

• Specific – Your goal needs to be clearly written and have a narrow focus. What do you want to accomplish? Think “I want to run a 5k” vs “I want to start running more.”
• Measureable – Provide details on how you will measure your progress and success. When will you know you are finished? Think “running a 5k” vs “running more.”
• Achievable – With your self-reflection work in hand, make sure you keep your goal within a realistic scope for yourself. Remember that an immediate goal can be a stepping stone to a larger long-term goal. What is something that will stretch you beyond your current state, but is actually doable? Think “a 5k” vs “a marathon.”
• Relevant – Base your goal on your motivation work and think through what matters to YOU. What is your “Why” for this goal? Think “I want to run to get stronger” vs “Everyone says running is good for you.”
• Time-bound – It is super important to give yourself parameters; to define specific start and end dates. How long to you want to work towards this goal? Think “I will run in (insert specific race) 5k” vs “running more this year.” Hint – it helps to incorporate external deadlines too, like signing up for said race or telling people you’ll do something by x date.

Here’s an example of a well written goal for myself: I will write 20,000 words towards a manuscript by January 1, 2021.

• Specific – this goal is focused on my writing
• Measureable – my measurement is how many words I want to complete
• Achievable – I know I can easily write between 500-1,000 per day, so this on top of my blogging shouldn’t be too difficult
• Relevant – I quit my job to write a book…so this sure as hell is relevant!
• Time-bound – I want to complete 20,000 words by the end of the year

And because some people learn from bad examples too, here’s what a poorly written goal would look like: I want to make writing a priority this year. “make writing a priority” is non-specific and unmeasurable. A priority over what? And how will I know if I did it? “This year” does have a time component, but it doesn’t tell me a start date or end date. Do I want to write exclusively for the whole year? Or take a few weekends here and there to write instead of other activities?

Hopefully that’s all helpful as you start to write out your goals! Next Wednesday we’ll talk about Step 4 – Action Planning. That’s where we get into the nitty-gritty of what needs to be done in order to be successful!

You guys! It’s November 20th, which means it’s almost Thanksgiving, which means it’s practically Christmas already! I love the holiday season and am soooo ready for it. I think we’re all looking for a bit of magic after this long and difficult year.

One of the things that always makes the holidays feel special for me are the traditions that come with it. I love traditions and, while they aren’t exclusive to the holidays, they sure come out in full force this time of year! From the food we eat to the music we listen to, there’s something special about pulling out the old favorites.

Traditions bring a sense of comfort to an otherwise chaotic and stressful time. Don’t get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the festive stuff. But it also brings with it shopping and travel and family stuff, which can be a lot to manage all at once. I think this is part of the reason we turn to traditions. Something familiar and cozy, like a soft chair that has perfectly formed to your shape. Christmas movies are like this for me. I watch the same ones every year and, unlike other movies I’ve seen before, I don’t care that I can recite the dialogue from memory. I revel in the comfort of something familiar.

In addition to bringing a sense of comfort, traditions are also make the ordinary feel celebratory. For example, I watch football almost every weekend during the season. But watching football with my family while eating the Chex mix that my dad makes every year? Something about that feels special and makes the ordinary occurrence of watching football feel like a holiday event.

Some traditions are great because they create a space for people to come together. When I was in college we had a tradition of a white elephant gift exchange with the same group of people. The party also always featured a raucous game of Christmas-themed charades. This continued on for several years after college and it was the one night of the year that I saw some of these people, or even talked to them for that matter. We had all gone our separate ways but we could all come together for one night to laugh and revisit old jokes.

Aside from all the touchy-feely reasons we love traditions, there is also a very practical reason for them. Deciding on a tradition means taking some future decisions off the table. Traditions can make meal decisions easy, they can help corral large groups of people, and can give us a sense of familiarity when everything else is a bit chaotic.

But, I think it’s especially key this year to make sure the traditions we’ve held on to for so long are still serving us and that we aren’t doing them just for the sake of familiarity. It might not be the best idea to get the same big group of people together even if that’s what you always do. Or maybe think about skipping that one bar with the fun decorations that you always go to. Find the same comfort by treating yourself to some new festive jammies to wear at home. Tap into the celebration by looking up some festive drinks to make at home and dressing in your fanciest holiday outfit for a night in. Find new ways to bring people together, like a virtual movie watch party or a Zoom party with ugly Christmas sweaters. And if things are feeling too different, get in the car and drive around to look at lights and decorations. Not everything this year has to be new and different, but you might end up stumbling upon a new tradition that you can carry into the future.

At the end of the day, we indulge in traditions because of love for the people around us. So my reminder to you this holiday season is to remember to make it about the love…with or without the traditions.

You’ve taken stock of where you are right now. Great. The next step is to determine your “why” or your motivation. This is something preached over and over again in the field of change management. If you don’t give people a compelling reason to change, they just won’t. It is true for enterprise changes and it’s true for personal change.

When I’ve walked through this framework with people before, I like to use the Enneagram as a basis for this step. If you aren’t familiar, the Enneagram is a personality typing system based on your core desires and fears. As an Enneagram 1, I desire to be good and right and correct. I fear doing evil or wrong. So my motivations are always based in what I think is “right”. My husband, an Enneagram 7, desires being happy and avoiding pain. So his motivations are usually based on what seems like the most fun or least painful thing to do.

If you are familiar with the Enneagram and know your type, feel free to leverage that. If not, just think about why you want to achieve the goal. You might have to dig deep because sometimes our first answer is “because it’s what I’m supposed to do.”

Maybe think about the things that always make you feel good. Then ask yourself what it is about those things that you find appealing. Maybe you are always looking for the lesson in everything…you might be motivated by learning. Or maybe you will only get up off your ass if there’s competition involved. None of these are right or wrong or better, they are just plain helpful when it comes to figuring out how to think through your goal setting.

Here’s a great example. I have a friend who is 100% motivated by helping other people (she’s a type 2). She really really wants to get her finances in order, pay off debt and build up her savings. But the problem is deep in her mind she feels like saving that money for her future is selfish while there are so many things she could do in the present to help other people with her dollars. But – what if she thinks about building her savings as a way to support her family after retirement? Or as a way to help make sure her kids get the education they want? It might seem like a silly exercise to some people, but as I’ve said before, simple reframing of our mindsets can be the thing that helps us be successful.

If our primary motivations are in conflict with how we think about our goals, our accomplishments will be derailed. And even worse, they will be derailed by things we think are SO IMPORTANT that we won’t always be able to right the ship. But if we build our motivations into the goal itself, we are more likely to keep perspective on what is actually important to use and from there it’s smooth(er) sailing.

I’ll give another example to close out this section. As I said above, I am an Enneagram type 1, motivated by doing the right thing OR by doing things the right way. This can create a huge obstacle when I start setting goals. I can get so wrapped up in trying to figure out the exact right way to do something that I end up never starting. It’s a common problem for people who identify as perfectionists. I had a goal to get this blog started at the beginning of October. And the way I framed my goal, I was bogged down in doing it the right way…building an editorial calendar, trying to figure out a social media strategy, writing posts ahead of time, etc… If you go back to my first post, you’ll see it wasn’t until October 14th that I actually started. It took me two full weeks to stop getting twisted around how it “should” be and to just focus on the next right step. Because of this tendency in me, it’s important that I think about my goals as small steps towards the end state, rather than trying to go too big too soon.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of ways to think through what motivates you. But I really believe that unless you identify your motivation up front and build it into your goal setting…you will have a really tough time working through an obstacles that come up.

Stay tuned for next Wednesday when we dive into Step 3 – Writing Your Goal.

I had a completely different blog post planned for today at the beginning of the week. But given the events of the past few weeks (and months to be honest) I have been thinking a lot about self-care and decided to write about that today.

First of all, I want to get something straight. Self-care is not just pampering yourself. Yes, manicures and face masks and bubble baths are wonderful and can be incorporated into your self-care regimen, but it can’t exclusively be that. Self-care needs to incorporate actual practical things you do to keep yourself well and whole.

A good tool for creating a self-care practice is the Self-Care Wheel. You can google this and various images and websites explaining it will come up. But basically it’s a wheel that shows six equal wedges divided into Physical, Psychological, Emotional, Spiritual, Personal, and Professional well-being. The idea is that all of these aspects are of equal importance in caring for yourself.

• Physical: This is where your bubble baths and pampering come into play, but also ensuring you are taking care of your medical needs, exercising, eating well, hydrating, etc… My big thing for self-care this year has been hiking/walking with my dog and focusing on hydration. I know I do everything perfectly, but if I can get my 6-8 glasses of water and a few miles under my feet I’ll be in good shape.
• Psychological: This can be as simple as listening to music and writing in a journal daily or as involved as going to therapy or a support group. Earlier this year, before I decided to quit my job, I was using one of those apps to text with a therapist on a daily basis. It really helped me get out of a negative mindset and, for me, was just something I needed at the moment. These days I make sure to write in my journal daily and that has been enough for the day-to-day.
• Spiritual: Finding a church community, a spiritual mentor, focus self-reflection, or meditating can all do wonders for your spiritual health. One great thing to come out of this pandemic and social distancing is a lot of churches have gone online with their Sunday services. So if you are intimidated by showing up in person, right now you can log-in and attend church virtually.
• Personal: I may be biased on this one, but I think setting goals is a great way to tackle this one. See my post from Wednesday for part 1 of a series I’m doing on goal setting! But this can also be fulfilled by taking a class, reading regularly, creating a vision board, nurturing friendships, etc… I think this category is the most broad out of all of them in terms of what feeds your personal well-being, but think of it as permission to spend time every day doing something that makes you happy.
• Professional: Professional well-being should not be confused with professional advancement. This is all about finding breathing room with your work and creating space for you to be successful. AKA – setting boundaries! Eat lunch away from your desk, have a “quittin’ time” and stick to it, create a plan for your next career move that plays to your strengths, volunteer for projects that excite you, and learn to say no if you need to.

I think this year has highlighted the need to make self-care a priority. But it is important to think about it holistically. If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed, run through the categories above and check in that you are putting effort into each section. Oftentimes we’ll find that one or more areas are being neglected which is leading to an imbalance. Make sure you are considering your whole self in your self-care.

The idea of setting goals is ubiquitous in today’s world. We have goals for our careers, goals for our bodies, financial goals, family goals, house goals! The list can go on forever because people are constantly setting goals for how they want their lives to be. #goals is pervasive on instagram as a response to photos of couples, home decor, outfits, etc… But what does it really mean to set a goal for yourself? How do you do it? Is it simply aspirational or something more concrete?

The way in which you think about and craft your goal can be what makes or breaks your success. Most of us think of goals in terms of the ideal state that we want to get to. Going back to Instagram for a moment, #goals is rarely posted on pictures that show the process, in fact, the process is rarely shown on social media at all. People see a photo of a beautifully designed house and think “oooh! Goals!” We think of a goal as the perfect end state where we want to be. But the truth is that a goal can’t simply be “I want a perfect house!” A goal should encompass everything it takes to get from where you are to where you want to be. And doing that well takes time, self-reflection, and honesty.

When I sit down to set a goal, the very first thing I do is reflection. I think about where I am right now and how I got here before I even start thinking about where I want to go. Don’t skip this! It will set you up for success by a) giving you a clear picture of your starting line; and b) helping you right size your expectations for the future. For example, if I want to buy a new house and have that as a goal, it is important for me to be clear about details such as how much money I have set aside for a down payment, what my equity in my current house looks like, how much I can spend each month on a mortgage payment, etc… These things will help me zero in on a realistic goal. Maybe I what I want is out of my budget at the moment – knowing that ahead of time will help me make a proper plan. Options are 1) get super aggressive with savings and/or making extra income; 2) set the goal for a date further in the future; or 3) re-evaluate if I should set my expectations lower. Keep in mind, lowering expectations isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, being realistic about what you can achieve in a given time period will create momentum to help you eventually realize those more lofty and seemingly unattainable goals. And this step of self-reflection will help you create a solution oriented goal that you can actually work towards.

So..that’s my step one of setting a new goal. There are more steps after this one, but I truly think this is foundational to being successful in your progress. You can’t move forward until you understand where you are and how you got here. Next week I’ll dive into Step 2 – Defining Your Motivation.

I’m so excited to be sharing this with you all and would love any thoughts or feedback you have a long the way!

I get that setting boundaries isn’t sexiest topic, but it truly is one of my favorite things to talk about. When I started my old job, I was tasked with introducing myself to the team via a template they had put together. As I started answering all the questions I realized my professional introduction could be boiled down to “Hi I’m Kristin. And I like structure and boundaries.” It became a bit of a running joke while I was there. Things would start to go off the rails and I would jump in with “Structure and Boundaries!”

I think that setting boundaries for yourself is one of the best things you can do for yourself in terms of self-care. It’s worth the time and energy to think through what you truly want in a given situation, what you are responsible for, and then whether or not you think you are being taken advantage of. It’s also important to remember, if you answer yes to that last one…the other person is likely not doing it on purpose! The vast majority of the time people do not know you are uncomfortable with a situation unless you tell them with your words.

So…here’s an example from my corporate past. I had started a new position at the same company and was working with a whole new cast of characters. I moved from doing daily customer support activities to a big internal project team. It was the same company, but a completely different culture that I had to learn. I already had my work email accessible on my phone and had notifications turned on, because in my old role an email at 10pm meant something needed immediate attention. Very quickly in my new role I noticed emails coming in just as frequently between 5pm to midnight as they did during normal working hours. And I read every single one. And usually responded right away. After a few months of this, I was exhausted from feeling like I was constantly working even when I wasn’t at work. So I finally brought it up to my boss.

And what a revelation! He clued me in to the fact that, yes, we had a lot of self-professed workaholics on the team and, no, I did not need to be reading emails after working hours, let alone responding to them. At that point I set a boundary for myself. I turned off my email notifications on the my phone (but kept my inbox accessible because I was traveling a lot). I then sent a quick note to the worst email offenders and let them know that I wouldn’t be checking email after 6pm and if there was a true emergency that they could call or text me to get in touch. There was zero push back and I reclaimed my life outside of the office. Now were there instances later where someone was frustrated that I didn’t read the email they sent at 10pm before our 7am meeting? Sure. But those conversations were a bit easier to have because I had already established that boundary and set expectations.

Setting boundaries is a skill that has to be learned and practiced. But trust me when I say the more you do it, the easier it becomes! When you take the time to examine these situations you learn more and more what you need to be successful. People might try to make it seem like you are being lazy or aren’t being a team player. But that isn’t the truth and don’t let it derail your progress. I know people who are struggling because they told their boss their working hours could be flexible, but it now means they are basically on call 24/7. Setting boundaries doesn’t mean you are backing out of a promise of flexibility. You can still be flexible, but maybe you need more notice of late hours or maybe you need to set aside certain days where you won’t work late.

Are these conversations always easy to have? Of course not! You are risking disappointing someone, like Brene says in the title quotation. But it is so important to make sure you are taking care of yourself. People love to talk about self-care and they reference baths, face masks, exercise, etc… but I think setting boundaries will get you the biggest bang for your buck in terms of self-care.

You’ve probably heard this quote before and either used it yourself, or had it used against you, to support cranking through your to-do list. Because otherwise you would be that worst of all bad things…a procrastinator! We are taught in some sense, and by the use of this quotation, that productivity is measured in number of things accomplished as quickly as possible. I have also always subscribed to that belief until pretty recently.

A few months ago I read an article with headline “Manage your energy, not your time.” And it stuck with me. I’ve always been really good at time management – making lists, calendar blocking, setting a timer for tasks I dread – but I’ve never been great at managing my energy. I tend to put 100% effort into everything as it pops up on my to-do list, which means by the middle of the work day I’m pretty much spent. And while it seems like I’m being more productive because I’m checking things off my list, it actually reduces the amount of total work I’m able to get done in a day, not to mention the quality of the work I’m doing.

I’ve worked in several difference environment with several different bosses and teams. Each situation had a unique set of expectations that came with unique challenges, but I found more success overall by sticking to the formula below as closely as possible.

– Look at the full picture. Whether it’s taking time at the beginning of the week or at the beginning of each day, take stock of everything that needs to get done and by when. Organize tasks into priorities and schedule them. Managing your time would look like blocking your calendar for “working time” and then just tackling your to-do list during that time. Managing your energy would be determining when you feel the most creative and scheduling time to create those slides, graphics, etc… during that time. Or when you feel the least cranky during the day and earmarking that hour for answering email.

– Use the snowball method. You may have heard of this method in reference to paying off debt. Start with the small things first and leverage the momentum to carry you through the bigger things. This works with task lists also, it feels good to check things off and it motivates you to do more. In fact, I know a guy who tops his daily to-do list with “get out of bed” just so he can start each day with a win.

– Break up undesirable tasks. I hate making power point decks. I always use too many words and not enough graphics. I’ve never gotten the hang of what should be in the main deck vs the appendix. However, this was a pretty central responsibility in my last two jobs. So I would plan at least three chunks of time to work on my slides. The first round was just outlining – I’d create the title and agenda slides, then just put the headers on each subsequent slide. Then I’d take a break and do something else. Round two was all the words. I didn’t hold back and just loaded those slides up with walls of text. Then I’d take a break and do something else. The third round was going back and editing the words down and really thinking through places where I could show something instead of telling. And then if I had time for a fourth round, that’s where I’d make formatting changes if needed. In order to make this process work for me I had to plan pretty far in advance of when these slides needed to be completed. Sometimes my breaks were just a short coffee break or another meeting. Other times I could wait a full 24 hours before coming back to it. Both ways let me be much more productive with my time than if I sat with those slides and just forced my way through in one sitting.

– Be over prepared, if possible. This is a bonus tip if you are doing a lot of work at someone else’s request. They are going to ask questions. There will be follow-up. Once you’ve gone through that process once or twice you should be noting what kinds of questions you are getting frequently and start coming prepared with those answers. For example, if you are in a role that is creating new processes for a certain group of people and presenting them to leadership for approval…be prepared to answer the questions of how much is this going to cost,will this take more time than the current process (if yes, how much), and have you run this past any of the end users to get their feedback? You will be asked these questions even if they weren’t in the original request for information. Coming to a meeting over prepared is going to save you a lot of back and forth time in the long run.

You may have seen these tips before but maybe not int he context of thinking about how to best use your energy throughout the day or week. SO go ahead and try it out. It might just help you to work smarter instead of harder. Or it might give you back a few well earned moment in you day.

How often have you denied yourself to even consider a dream or a hope because it seemed impossible or someone else said you shouldn’t do it? I am raising my hand x100 over here. My whole life has been a series of attempts to follow the shoulds, the dos, the musts. And guess what? It never quite worked out how I thought it would.

We often find ourselves asking “what-if” in an attempt to explore worst case scenarios. People live their lives planning for “what if I lose my job?” or “what if I get sick?” We have insurance and savings accounts to feel more secure about the unknown. Because what if everything goes terribly wrong? Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with insurance and savings…but so often that desire for security becomes a limiting belief that seeps into all parts of our lives.

At the beginning of this year I set a goal for myself to explore the gray areas and get more comfortable in chaos. And as we all know…2020 has been nothing if not chaotic! And right now, in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, I am challenging myself to ask the following questions – What if everything goes terribly right? What if I take a chance and it works out?

I fully recognize and appreciate that my privilege has meant that the majority of my life has been comfortable and safe and secure. That the fact I can sit here and spend time writing this blog post is not a luxury everyone can afford. Some people are too focused on getting food on the table and can’t fathom shaking their lives up any more.

But, I truly believe that when we start changing the perspective not he questions we ask ourselves…we start to see opportunities open up. We see open pathways where we used to see the mustn’ts, don’ts, shouldn’ts and impossibles.

Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.

Welcome to FoxyEverAfter! After a lot of thinking, talking and planning…I am finally launching my blog! John Steinbeck is my favorite writer and I chose the quote above because it represents what I want this space to be.

Freedom from respectability: things will probably get messy here. I will share my opinions about all kinds of topics, I’ll definitely make mistakes, and likely I’ll say things you don’t agree with. But I’m not here to create a specific atmosphere. I’m here to write and find my voice and show up for an audience.

Freedom from the necessity of being consistent: This isn’t a fashion blog or a beauty blog. It isn’t a blog about social justice and politics. But that doesn’t mean I won’t talk about those things along with goal setting, the Enneagram, meal planning, organization…and whatever else I decide to write about. An exception to my no consistency rule is that since this blog is a place for me to find my voice and practice writing for an audience, I am committing to posting every Wednesday and Friday for the time being.

Lack of these two can really tie you down: After feeling tied down by these things (and more) for the past several years, I quit my job last month. Yup. In the middle of economic uncertainty and a global pandemic, I quit my steady, secure, and (not so) well paying job. The truth is it was sucking the life out of me. I was unhappy with trying to show up 100%, being told it wasn’t good enough, and then not having anything left over for myself or my family at the end of the day. Definitely expect more on this later, but for now know that I want to be a writer, so I’m showing up here to write!

So that’s why I’m launching this blog. I’ve actually written this “1st post” a few times…each time it comes out a little differently. I don’t know what this blog is really going to be besides a little bit of what’s inside my head written out to share. I will talk about BLM and what I am learning about my own privilege, I will talk about how I’ve managed my anxiety, both well and poorly, during the pandemic, and I’ll talk about setting goals and how I motivate myself towards progress. I’ll also probably talk about other things like meal planning and recipes! Things will get heavy and some days will be light. But that’s life, right?

So feel free to follow along if you are interested. If you feel moved to do so, write a comment. If you have a question of me, ask it.

More than anything this is an exercise in stepping out of my comfort zone and expanding into a new space creatively. Thanks and I miss you all.