Love Yourself First
Yesterday, on Valentine’s Day, maybe you bought someone flowers. Maybe you took them out to dinner or prepared them an extravagant meal. Maybe you told them you love them to the world and back, and wrote them a card saying [...]
Media Boundaries and Self-Care
That was then… The year is 1993. You wake up in the morning, you brush your teeth, take a shower, and get dressed. Before settling in for breakfast, you retrieve the newspaper from the patio of your home and glance [...]
Frog Legs and Bad Relationships
It’s amazing what a person can grow accustomed to. I wrote a few months ago about how stressful it was when I went into my office one day to find that my building was under construction. Everything was scaffolding and [...]
5 Breathing Games to Calm Your Nerves
I’ve been talking a lot about self-care this week. It seems that in trying times, the superpower I can offer people – whether it’s friends, clients, or strangers on the internet – is the question, “what are you doing to take [...]
Balancing Authenticity with Kindness
I recently became aware of a New York Times op-ed from earlier this year called “Unless You’re Oprah, ‘Be Yourself’ is Terrible Advice”. The article explains that while authenticity is the buzzword du jour, it’s actually not something most of us [...]
What’s Your New Year’s Resolution Style?
Welcome to 2017! It’s time to make some resolutions for the New Year! But how do you do that in a way to maximize your likelihood of success? Let’s start by identifying your New Year’s Resolution style with a fun [...]
Say Yes to the Stress
I spent the better part of 2016 planning my wedding, and in that process, I learned a lot. I learned how to negotiate a vendor contract to make sure my interests were protected. I learned how to delegate and then [...]
How to Make a Feedback Sandwich
Recently (and not-so-recently), I’ve written a lot about assertiveness – how it can feel mean but is actually the kindest form of communication, and how being "nice" is overrated. One of the most viewed articles on this blog is about [...]
Nice is Different Than Good
We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood. She’s on her way to Granny’s house when she encounters a Big Bad Wolf who turns on the charm, waylays her, and coerces her into spending a bit more time [...]
Say Thank You Instead of I’m Sorry
A few weeks ago, I called a friend to wish him a happy birthday. We spent about half an hour catching up, first talking about his celebration plans, and then more general life events. As we were getting off the [...]