Over the past few months of Quarantine Life, the concept of ‘things as tether’ has floated across my consciousness more than once. For starters, being housebound while the rest of the world is essentially at a standstill gives you a lot of time inside your home. For another, the concept of “quaran-cleaning” gives you an opportunity to determine what you really need in your life. Contemplating the usefulness and true value of what you own is actually a gift. Two…..
As someone who works in media and publishing, I literally get paid to be online. Immersed in the sea of toots, updates and hashtags, I marinate in bits, bytes and bon mots (and mal mots?) each day. It can be difficult for me to disengage my brain from the firehose of data that streams past me every day. However, I have found that it’s bad for my mental health to spend too much time in the digital realm. Since social…..
If you’ve been staying in and self-isolating during the pandemic, first of all: thank you. When we are asked to do something to help, most of us look to the grand or sweeping gestures, the BIG sacrifices to make a difference. During this extremely stressful time, we are asked to be still. Being still is difficult for me. My grandmother used to call me the Dutch Cleanser Girl (it’s an advertising reference to a powdered cleanser that had a similar…..
For most of us, we’ve experienced over two years of some version of lockdown. It has been a period of trauma and uncertainty. Even with the vaccine rollouts, there will be months, if not years of recalibration ahead of us. Early on during Quarantine Life, I sent out a message in response to a “hustle porn” tweet that essentially said if you don’t emerge from lockdown without having mastered a second language, launching your next company etc., you were a…..
One of the founders stories I share within my book, Circuit Train Your Brain, is how I faced eviction not once, but twice within the first five years of my moving to Chicago in pursuit of scaling the nonprofit I had established. Part of my next book is unpacking how those experiences happened. Under-earning was one reason; my lack of focus was another. There are many other reasons, and I’m still sifting them out. During a particularly perilous time in…..
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the feelings of loneliness many of us have been experiencing (even we introverts who are more comfortable than most with being alone). Sending out an S.O.S. can be difficult for everyone, but it’s especially difficult for “strong” people. I speak with authority on the subject, because I’m generally someone that many consider a strong and resilient person. Spoiler alert: there are occasions when I absolutely need help. Today, I’ll share a few of the reasons…..
Today’s post is a brain dump toward my next book—a work in progress. One day, while walking to my neighborhood Starbucks, I happened to pass a man walking his dog. He resembled the stereotypical “Chic-kah-go” guy from the SNL “da Bears” skit featuring George Wendt and the late Chris Farley. As he walked, I was able to overhear his end of the conversation in snippets: “Yeah, well it ends in September and then they’ll have to go back to work.”…..