Personal Growth
Can people-pleasing be inherited?
Neither my mother nor my father would ever say a bad word about anyone. If they had nothing nice to say, they said nothing at all. It was an admirable trait, and my parents were formidable role models.
Continue ReadingLet hope choose you.
I had this blog almost ready to send Wednesday morning. It started like this: “I choose hope in 2021, in spite of everything that could still go wrong—COVID, political turmoil, record snowstorms like we had here in upstate NY last week, failing to get a book deal.” Had I sent it, I would have felt foolish. That afternoon, watching the siege of the US Capital unfold, my hope was overpowered by fear and bewilderment. Yet hope still chooses me.
Continue ReadingLiving Life Small Leaves Room for Growth
Living life large seems to be what society values. Why didn’t it feel right for me?
Continue ReadingOur Wake of Kindness
Sometimes, what looks like conflict-aversion is really a choice to be kind.
Continue ReadingAccountability matters–here's why.
Holding others accountable is hard for people-pleasers because it involves confrontation, which carries the risk of rejection. It’s less scary to pretend negative things don’t happen.
Continue ReadingPandemic Brain
Pandemic Brain is like a pinball machine. When I realized that was what was going on, I already felt better. Funny how naming a problem can do that.
Continue ReadingVulnerability, humility, and ego.
A recent coffee flood and ego-boosting news from the New York Times tie together many threads.
Continue ReadingRacism is hidden within ourselves.
So what am I gonna do about racism? That’s the question we’re all asking ourselves, isn’t it?
Continue ReadingPost-traumatic growth–the end of the pandemic tunnel?
I’ve been thinking about that phrase, “The light at the end of the tunnel.” At this stage of the pandemic, I can still see the light, but it feels like this damn tunnel keeps getting longer and longer.
Continue ReadingMaking Meaning—the Sixth Stage of Grief
I had alluded to a sixth stage of grief last week, but I didn’t want to get into it, as I thought my blog was already too long. I didn’t want to lose you. Sadly, I did lose someone.
Continue Reading