Tomorrow is a day known to Jewish people as Yom Kippur- the holiest, most religious day…
Tomorrow is a day known to Jewish people as Yom Kippur- the holiest, most religious day…
I congratulated our grade 7-11 students this morning on a fine start to the school year. There’s a palpable buzz on our campus. Teachers are impressed with students’ positive engagement in the classroom, and our athletic teams have been busy practicing, playing, and preparing for an exciting fall season of competition. For those students who are uncommitted, it’s not too late. If they’re shy and haven’t tried out for a team, I urged them to be brave, ask a friend what’s involved, or find the coach, and give a team/activity a try. Young people never regret being part of a team – and pulling on a school jersey. As Nike says, they need to “just do it”!
We are having a club and activities fair and the same message about involvement applies: students should dive in with both feet and try a new activity or build a new skill. They need to accept a challenge and see where it takes them. We’re lucky at our school as there’s a lot of choice here – literally something for everyone.
Today we celebrate the 6th anniversary of a blog that was born out of feeling stuck, on the fence, alone, confused, and wanting to create a space for women to get inspired, get off the fence, grow, succeed and thrive. You have made that happen. I am grateful for this community who has stood by me in my darkest hours, my greatest triumphs, and given me a safe place to be authentic myself. You have also helped each other, and inspired each other into action. Never underestimate the power of a few simple words on a page.
Last year, I celebrated our 5th blogiversary on my weekly segment on Global TV. I honored WomenOnTheFence’s blogging anniversary by sharing some blogging tips and tricks that I think are still relevant today, so, if you are thinking of taking the dive, a few tricks of the trade from a six year old (which in the blogging world, is probably over middle age).
Hi Girls, and Happy Hump Day to you!
We’re smack in the middle of the week, which means we’re still in WORK mode, but we’re also approaching LIFE mode with the weekend a couple of days away.
Work/life balance is something many of us strive for, but it’s often hard to know if we’ve made it there. Are we balanced? Can we juggle career and our responsibilities at home, giving them both the love and attention they require? On a side-note, although technology has allowed for a lot more flexibility in the workforce, 70% of workers also admit that it brings work into their personal lives.
We are born, so to speak, provisionally, it doesn’t matter where. It is only gradually that we compose within ourselves our true place of origin so that we may be born there retrospectively and each day more definitely.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke
You could argue that I came by my family unit for all the wrong reasons and you’d be right. I used to be good at doing things for the wrong reasons. Once upon a time my Baroque inner life turned my outer life into a complicated opera, a never-ending one.
I may have been the protagonist of my inner world, but I certainly was not welcome as the protagonist of other people’s lives. I had to figure this out the hard way.
My deep-rooted insecurities brought out a deplorable level of egocentricity and self-obsession. The good news is I have worked through my dreadful ways. I am a much healthier version of me.
So this about sums up how I feel about turning 40 this year and deciding to choose my face.
I have wanted to write a blog post on this topic for a long time, but the beautiful Catherine Deneuve so eloquently says it as it is. As we age, we either choose our face or our ass.
Why? What does this mean?
I’ll tell you what it means. It means that when we eat, like TRULY enjoy life and EAT (and I still mean healthily), our ass grows but our face glows. And when we stop eating to spare our ass, our face gets gaunt, hollow, wrinkly and dehydrated.
It’s true ladies. Sorry. I’ve seen it.
I decided this year I would choose my face. My ass has grown, but what is life without enjoying and living in moderation?
The ON THE FENCE question of the day to my gals over 40: Have you chosen your face or your ass?
Hello and good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend.
I called today’s post Mixed Monday, because that is exactly what we’ve got today.
We’ve got an anniversary, a new beginning (first day of school), another new beginning (new business), and a fun weekend to share.
16 Years Ago
Yesterday, April 23rd, marked the 16th anniversary of my first company. Yes, for $37.00, exactly 16 years ago, I registered my company on a hope, a prayer and 37 bucks. I found this on my hard drive last week. It was one of our earlier attempts at marketing and customer loyalty. One of my best friends Lori designed it for me. I was, after all, marketing my business on a shoestring budget.
I listened to something this weekend that I was merely curious about at first, and instead of tuning in for a couple of minutes, found myself lying in bed Sunday morning and listening to the entire hour.
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Andy Lassner.
Maybe you follow him on Twitter, maybe you don’t (you should if you don’t, the guy is funny as hell). Andy, (Executive Producer of The Ellen Degeneres Show) and I have been following each other on Twitter for a few years now.
Here I am actually, nine months ago dancing on The Ellen Show.
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But I digress…
Sunday morning, I saw that Andy had tweeted out a podcast he did on the new show Failing Up, where successful people, their stories, and the failures they experienced along the way, are showcased. The failures that have brought them to where they are today.
I don’t want to give away Andy’s story of drug addiction, hitting rock bottom, resilience, and then coming back in a big way, but Andy is such a remarkable example of a human being who got his ass of the fence.
And it for that reason that his interview lives on our blog today.
If you have an hour in bed tonight, I highly suggest you listen in.
I know I am on a blogging break, but I came across this today and very much wanted to share it with you. An extremely powerful visualization of privilege.
This video courtesy of Buzzfeed, illustrates the concept of privilege.
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love words. As a kid, I consumed books by the dozens, and wrote spiral notebooks-full of my poems and thoughts. What I didn’t understand then was the power of those words, to both elevate and diminish me.
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Photo credit: revgeary.files.wordpress.com
By the time I was 16, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I even looked the high school career counselor straight in the eye, and said the words out loud. “Oh, you’re going to write the great American novel?” she mocked. Then, she advised me to take a typing class, so I could be a secretary. It was obvious she’d had lots of practice stabbing pitchforks into kids’ dreams.
The brutal truth was, nothing she said was worse—or more destructive—than the negative messages I was already telling myself. As I moved through high school and college, studying the beautiful words of Shakespeare, Austen, and Morrison, I became convinced that I could never be talented enough to be a writer. No one makes money writing, I chastised myself. You think you’re going to be the exception?
I help busy women (like you!) prioritize self-care so you can experience less stress, more calm and greater joy every day!
