Health & Social
Struggling with body image, then and now
Content warning: This article discusses disordered eating and eating disorders. I always thought it made sense to obsess over how my body looked. It just seemed irresponsible not to. To be an elite athlete is to strive for perfection— toward an ideal standard of performance and a standard idea of excellence. It is an…
Read MoreThe Myth of Multitasking: How to Reduce Stress and Improve Productivity
It’s one o’clock on a Tuesday and I’m wrapping up three hours of therapy. In the next 90 minutes, I have to do my notes, check my emails, eat my lunch and leave enough time to get my beloved afternoon coffee before starting up again. It’s a tall order. Do I walk away from my…
Read MoreRed leather pants. . .
I wear them every year on my birthday and have since I turned 40 (this year I turn 62, so it’s been a bit!). Let me explain why this tradition is so important to me, even if it mortifies my own four kids. As a woman now in my 60s, I resent the image of…
Read MoreTeaching Consent About More Than Just Sex
Although we have heard more about “consent” recently, nearly every time it is in reference to some kind of sexual situation. Consent is vital to understand in terms of actually having sex; however, all children need to understand the concept of consent well before they reach the age of consent in order to truly make…
Read MorePoison Ivy
For months, she struggled silently with a sense of worthlessness. She had panic attacks that left her trembling. Nightmares that made her cry. She’d told only a handful of friends about the sexual assault she endured while she was home the summer after her freshman year. Now, as she finished her sophomore year at Yale…
Read MoreOn Edge
Transitions take our feet out from under us, make our knees weak, our hearts hurt, especially ones we don’t plan. The loss of a beloved teacher, the disappearance of a pet, grandparents saying goodbye before a flight home. Our boy, Elias, comes without filters, without the ability to express his feelings in words, and grief…
Read MoreOff To See the Wizard
On April 24, 1990, my father was killed in a Pennsylvania hospital. He was in the third day of recovery from elective reconstructive knee surgery when an error his doctors had made erupted somewhere in his abdomen. Most of his blood vessels ruptured and he bled to death. His doctors had prescribed too large a…
Read MorePull Those Damn Bootstraps!
“Just pull yourself up by the bootstraps!” This exclamation captures the prevailing attitude of many Americans, mostly conservatives, toward the least advantaged among us. The sentiment is accompanied by a belief that we live in a meritocracy, where one deserves what they get and get what they deserve. It is a silly admonition because, of…
Read MoreThe Toxicity of “The Body Positivity Movement”
While scrolling through social media this past summer, I saw a lot of content surrounding the body positivity movement. Influencers were pushing their viewers to love their bodies, embrace fluctuations in body shape and weight, and reject the beauty standards imposed by society. While in theory, these ideals seek to empower and promote diversity and…
Read MoreHow I used honesty and action to overcome my anxiety
I vividly remember my first-year panic episode. It occurred the night before I had to deliver a major speech for my communications seminar. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, drenched in sweat, shivering, struggling to catch my breath. After realizing this was a panic attack, I began performing breathing exercises in an attempt…
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