Monthly Archives: July 2018

Deep Connections and “The Good Parts”

Quotations are the lyrics for “The Good Parts” by Andy Grammer.

I’m sorry if I seem impatient
I’m not a fan of pleasantries
See, I get bored with the weather and what’s in the news
The topics we all hide beneath

Small talk is not a strong suite of mine. It makes me awkward. I don’t like to talk about the news at all, because I don’t watch it (it’s always so dang negative). The weather is the weather, and boring to talk about – I also love pretty much all weather to some degree, while most people want to complain about it. Continue reading →

Natural Stress Reduction Challenge

steel-cable-1646051_1920Everyone is stressed nowadays. In fact, as a society, we’ve started glamorizing stress. Think that’s weird? Well, if someone was telling you that they had to somehow figure out how to run to 5 different stores, get their kids to three different sports (all on different ends of town), go to their own high-intensity spin class, and still work full time – what would you think? Odds are, most people think “Wow, they really have their life together! I am so not measuring up.” But, if you really stop and think about how that must feel, they probably feel like a frayed rope trying to hold up an elephant.

These levels of stress are severely unhealthy, and we’re doing them to ourselves. Society has put such a premium on “busier is better” that we don’t take time to relax or unwind.

High levels of stress have been scientifically proven to shorten our telomeres. Telomeres are essentially caps on the ends of our chromosomes that are responsible for protecting our DNA. While they naturally shrink as we age, long-term stress accelerates this shortening process. When the telomeres are no longer there, our chromosomes begin to get damaged, which causes aging and decreased cellular health. Yikes!

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(In summary: Being excessively stressed ages you prematurely and causes cell damage.)

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Being One in Eight is Heartbreaking

This is hard to write, but it’s something I feel I absolutely must – my soul feels broken and heavy, and my heart has been put through a wood chipper.

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Dan and I have been trying to conceive for a long time now. I was worried I may have some trouble, but did everything I possibly could to prepare my body. I adjusted medications, got advice, started tracking my cycle, and started supplements.

Continue reading →