Wellness Podcast

In this week's episode, I give my 4 favorite pieces of advice from previous episodes on how to make it through a particularly busy/stressful/transitional period. If you are not a teacher or student, this advice can help for any busy or transitional period in your life, but for me, it's the end of the spring semester and summer break is almost here. 1) Quit what and where you can, from episode 76...

This epsiode is a continuation of week 145, where I talked about 3 things that ADHD can look liks vs what is actually going on. In this episode, I do the same and talk about 3 more things: ADHD can look like 1) risky behavior/impulsivity, 2) hyperactivity/fidgeting, and 3) forgetfulness. In each of the 3 parts, I give examples from my own life of my experiences with my child and a few things that...

In this episode, I define both "numbing" and "real comfort" and give examples of each. I talk about the lessons we can learn from Anne of Green Gables, who felt all her feelings all the time and why that is important to do (at least most of the time). Action item: if you find yourself doing something that doesn't feel right, just pause and think about how you feel and why you are doing the thing....

In this episode, I tell a story about past me in graduate school during an interview, feeling bad for the middle aged man who was driving me around in his old minivan. But now, I am that man, and let me tell you, don't feel bad for me! I talk in this episode about how middle age is not the worst time, and for me, the time of middle parenting (parenting kids who are school-aged, not toddlers and...

In this episode, I talk about 4 of my favorite ways to save money. Although this may seem like it's not related to wellness, I still think that spending more money than we plan to spend (or more money than we actually have) can really hurt our mental health, too. So, my 4 ways are 1) use the public library! For books, DVDs, etc. as much as possible 2) Use those memberships! From Costco to the...

In this episode, I define "hope" using Brene Brown's definition from Atlas of the Heart: Hope is a way of thinking or a cognitive process, not an emotion, that's made up of three components: goals, pathways and agency. I give an example of my own: my goal is to keep promoting what I want to see more of in the world: kindness, compassion, understanding, and strength that is not about having power...

In this episode, I talk about how creativity can help us in troubled times, about what creativity is (loosely defined), how it can help us (flow, community/connection, etc.) and give a few examples of some creative things I did this past week! Even if you don't think of yourself as a "creative" person, there are a ton of different creative things you can do (that don't even have to involve...

In this episode, I talk about 3 things that ADHD can look like, in my experience from my own child, and what is actually going on. I am not an expert on neurodiversity but have listened to many episodes of the Beautifully Complex podcast that has included many expert interviews, and I'd like to think that I am an expert (at least) on my own child. I hope this episode helps all people who know...

This week, I talk about what I did to help me get through what turned out to be a tough week: 1) Dance in the kitchen (or wherever) 2) Limit news (or at least read news that you trust) 3) Do something each week to take care of the world/your community 4) Take care of yourself in any way that you can (take a nap if you need it, a bath, watch funny TV, even sometimes stress eat chocolate and then...

In this episode, I talk about the why and how of making small connections with people in your life every single day. I explain a study that was presented on the Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos, where commuters in Chicago were asked to either talk or not talk with other people on the train on the way to work. And surprisingly, the group who had (even somewhat awkward) conversations on the way...