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Cling to Love

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 Writing again - it feels like it is time. For two years I have removed myself from many of the platforms that I took comfort in and found connection in. My heart has been troubled by the division and the hate. Maybe I slept well, maybe it's been marinating and is ready to boil over but today I woke up and knew it was time to write again. I'm not here choosing a side, telling you who to vote for, what to do with your body, or who is right and who is wrong. I am here because love remains the answer and it remains the calling on my heart to share. We have seen our share of shocking, disturbing, heartbreaking events over the last few years. We have argued and been divided, we have chosen a side and judged freely. There will forever be various beliefs, ways of seeing something, and beliefs in how to handle situations - we will and should never all think the same. Imagine a world where we all think the same. I imagine that world would still be flat, have the universe revolving aroun
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Face to Face with Slowing Down

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I think we all have a lot of time right now to do some thinking - I know I do. I also think the most important things in our lives are rising up while the less important or obligatory parts are being let go of - for now. It's truly a beautiful thing. When are we ever going to have a chance like this again to slow down, evaluate what we're up to, soak in some snuggles, and settle down? What does slowing down mean for you? For me, it has meant a lot more reading, a lot more writing, and a lot more thinking. It's meant homeschooling the fellas - or trying my best to - more time to tidy and clean, and an even bigger appreciation for a simpler life. It's been a process, moving through the emotions that come with this interesting situation we all find ourselves in. And I am sure the emotions will continue to ebb and flow, as they always do. In the ebb of acceptance, I've found I have a lot more headspace and a sense of finding pieces of me that had been neglected.
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It's Okay - And it's Going to be Okay.

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Emotions are interesting. My experience with them is sort of like riding a bike - once you've gone for a ride with one you recognize it again pretty quickly. Today I hopped back on the bike with a less than desirable, yet necessary, emotion - sadness. Today sadness came rolling back in like a nasty blast from the past and consumed me for the better part of the day. I don't feel wrong for feeling sad, we are experiencing something that to this point, many of us had only read about in history books or seen similarities to in movies. Sidenote: Contagion is too close for comfort right now. I think we are all processing this in different ways. We feel excited to be together and at the same time overwhelmed to be together. We feel anxious about educating our kids and at the same time, we feel significant being able to educate our kids. We need to stay home yet so many close to us are called to work on the front lines. There's a whole lot going on - it's good, it's
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Finding Your Pace

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We are surrounded by a culture of do more, be more, start a multi-billion dollar business from the ground up, in your kitchen, while raising four kids - all while documenting a perfect home on Instagram. Well, I'm over it. To be honest, I don't think I was ever really into it, but I am declaring that I am officially over it. As a teenager I lived for Sports Med - I know this seems like a real left turn right now, but hear me out - I spent extra hours in the classroom and soaked up all the learnings. I remember at one point seeing one common denominator shared between just about every disease and illness that we discussed - it was stress. At that time, I was maybe fifteen or sixteen, I decided that I would never live a life filled with stress because to me, it seemed to be one of the biggest causes of illness or death. Ten years later I was a new-mom, wading through the experience of all things first-time-mom. I was grateful, very grateful, but I wasn't happy. My strug
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Let's Age Better

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While I was on vacation Participaction's latest report card popped into my inbox. Naturally, I opened it to read - I love their report cards and if you know me you know that nachos and active living are a couple of things I love. Well, this post isn't about nachos and the report card hasn't left my mind since reading it. This year they published their first-ever report card on ADULTS - spoiler alert - our grades are nothing to write home about. Image via Participaction You can read the full report here - and I encourage you to. It won't take you long but it will wake you up to the preventative steps (literally) we can take to make the future better and healthier for us and our children. I mean, it's no wonder our children keep getting poor grades for physical activity (you can read the Participaction report on that here ) when we aren't getting good grades ourselves. And this isn't about shaming either because I know we all have a lot on our plates an
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Parting Wishes - things I learned when I left my dream job

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Recently I, with the support of my husband, decided to leave my dream job. Wow - a dozen or so words to capture thirteen years of dedication to one organization.  It was not a decision that we took lightly, but when the time came, the decision felt like the right thing to do. I've had a couple of months to process it now and have been thinking about writing something. Today, after a conversation with some old colleagues I knew what I wanted to share. I have had the gift of reflection lately with my new found time and capacity. Leaving my dream job - because it was - revealed some very valuable learnings to me: 1- Always be able to remove yourself from your role.  In the final months before my departure, I found it difficult to draw the line of where I stopped and my role started. We had become one and the same. Now, I'll be honest because that's what I do, I didn't recognize this myself. Two things cued me into this. First, I had a conversation with my CEO - t
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Doing it All

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Parents, moms, dads, guardians, friends, humans of planet Earth - how do you do it all?! Does anyone do it all? Life has some serious perceived expectations - and I feel like I've been dancing with them lately. And I don't mean slow dance or even two-step, I'm talking I-carried-a-watermelon-Dirty-Dancing-dancing with what it means to be a good mom, good employee, good wife, good daughter, sister, friend, neighbour, human. It feels like there is pressure from all directions; keep the house clean, make organic meals, pack those organic meals into sustainable lunchboxes, deliver the best material, reach the largest audience, do your make-up, put on real pants - okay the last one seems fair 5/7 days but does anyone else feel me on this list? I think about it daily, in the silence when I'm walking alone, in the noise when I'm driving with the boys, while I'm falling asleep at night. I don't know for sure what the answer is or how to solve it - if you do pl
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