Forget about Wordless Wednesday, today is our last Weedless Wednesday!
Yup, pot became legal in my country this morning.
Leaving Global TV this morning, Sainte Catherine St. smelled of pot. Everyone out there just smokin’ in the streets, having a jolly ol’ time!
I asked my Instagram peeps this question yesterday.
Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay. Yesterday, this is what mental health and self-care looked like for me. I was finalizing my Global TV script, blogging for WomenOnTheFence and making last night’s yoga playlist (hello A Star Is Born) outside at a café on a warm and sunny Montreal day. Sipping green tea (cuz we know that green tea is an antioxidant with a lot of health benefits).
Let’s not forget 1 in 4 will experience mental health struggles at one point in their lives. On World Mental Health Day, let’s talk about what keeps us well (ex: social connection, movement, restorative sleep, medication if necessary), and let’s talk (either out loud or to a loved one) when we’re not feeling so well.
Help is out there. I know, because I needed it in 2001 when I teetered on burnout.
This is that story.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness and Prevention month. You may have read about my own personal breast cancer scare a few years ago, but one thing is for certain… breast cancer affects us all. If you look around, chances are someone you know or love is fighting a tough battle.
I speak a lot about women of action around here. When I learned about Nancy Brinker years ago, I knew I had to help. Besides donating money to her organization, I became fascinated with sharing her story with my readers.
To appreciate her, is to know that story.
Let me first tell you a bit about her charity, Susan G. Komen.
I was teaching an exercise class a few years ago and a rumor popped up that a man coming to my class and I were having an affair. We weren’t. We barely said, “Good morning.” But he was losing weight and feeling better about himself and feeling more confident, and the gossip started.
I was 43 years old at the time.
Because of the rumors, I presume, he started going to another instructor’s class.
She was in her early 30’s.
I heard, “So now he’s going to a YOUNGER instructor! That’s even worse!”
I’ve got to be honest. I still cannot stop thinking about the deaths of entrepreneuress Kate Spade followed by the very gifted storyteller, Anthony Bourdain.
I keep asking myself, What is the bigger picture here?
I read this tweet on Twitter, “I just hate the fad vibe of all this. Depression and suicide was just as prevalent yesterday, last week and last year. Why does it always take some celebrity dying, before people really start acknowledging this stuff? Worst part is people will forget again within a week or so.”
And I answered, “I kind of feel the same. And the same goes for gun control– it takes a school shooting to shine the light, but then we forgot ’till the next one. But I am hopeful there are some good people out there fighting the good fight to create change.”
Nervous twitching preceded silence the day my fifth grade class participated in its first sex education class. Ovary, uterus, fallopian tube and cervix labels hovered below a title that read “Female Reproductive System” in bold letters. Once I graduated into middle and high school, the importance of protection was added to the list, and we were shown how to use a condom.
It wasn’t until several years later that I discovered a missing component to these sex-scientific lessons — pleasure. Now, as a grown woman, I’m left wondering why the cover up of the pleasure piece of female sexuality? Is there something imbedded in our society that’s fearful of women enjoying sex too much?
Research shows that denial of female sexuality starts in early sex education instruction. Whereas boys are openly told how their puberty is marked by erections, ejaculations and masturbation, females are left to ponder a hidden anatomy structured for periods and pregnancy. Peggy Ornstein in Girls and Sex describes the illustrations used as, “The classic diagrams of a woman’s reproductive systems, [that] blur into a gray Y between the legs as if the vulva and the labia, let alone the clitoris, don’t exist.”
I never set out to be a single mom. I’m not sure that many women do to be honest (despite what the media might like us to believe).
I always wanted to be part of a family, part of a close-knit group of people who looked out for and loved each other. I didn’t experience that growing up; I was abused by my grandfather at the age of 5, my grandmother told me not to tell anyone as I’d be taken away and, when she thought I had told (although I was too frightened to tell a soul), she tried to drown me in the garden pond. That was the start of the sexual harassment and abuse I encountered both inside and outside of my family, over many years.
I grew up being told that no one liked me, loved me, or wanted me. That no one thought I’d achieve anything and that I was stupid and hopeless. Although school was my sanctuary, and I loved it, I didn’t do very well academically due to a series of undiagnosed learning difficulties. I left home the day after I turned 18, got married at 19, had my daughter at 20, my son at 22, and was divorced by 25.
How much screen time is too much screen time?
Here in the UK, Ofcom found that by the age of four the average kid is spending three hours a day in front of a screen. If you are a teenager, that rises to almost seven hours daily.
How scared should you be about your screen time?
Reading popular articles about the effects of screens on your health is enough to give anyone an anxiety attack. While it has been found that using screens to learn can be beneficial, it’s when screens are used for entertainment or distraction that things gets worrisome.
“Christmas is over, you’ve put on weight, it’s cold out, it’s dark out, your credit card bills are in, you’re not going to get another day off until March, and you’re tired.
You might even be depressed.
If so, you are not alone, especially not today. For today, according to one measure, is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year.” (Montreal Gazette)
Blue Monday sounds pretty gloomy. But for many, it truly is. For some, the January funk is a result of cold weather, overspending during the holidays, a relationship gone sour, or job dissatisfaction. For others, it’s something more serious.
Today, no matter where you’re at, I wanted to give you 10 power tips to help beat the winter blues. Ten power tips to get you out of the January funk. Ten suggestions you can do NOW, to give yourself some relief.
This has been a long time coming.
It’s no secret that I give keynotes and talks on work-life balance at conferences and companies. It’s also no secret that I’ve been a yoga student over fifteen years and now a certified teacher. So marrying both my passions for offices both in Montreal and other cities is everything I know and love. I cannot wait to work with employees to achieve wellness through optimally balancing career and personal life.
I thought, “What a great way to spend lunch: a 30 minute power talk and a 30 minute stress-busting yoga class.” So I created it.
I help busy women (like you!) prioritize self-care so you can experience less stress, more calm and greater joy every day!
