Category: My Life

Ending 2020 on a High Note

- Alexis Leave a comment
The author's house covered in snow on Christmas day 2020

Happy Holidays! The season may look different this year than in years past, but I have to say, this was one of the best Christmases I can remember. My son (2 years 10 months old) loved every single present he got and wanted to play with each one before we could convince him to open another one. He drew on a rainbow scratch pad, played with Peppa Pig characters, bowled, got a huge kick out of recording his voice on a microphone and playing it back, banged the keys on a toy piano…and I had the joy of watching his excitement. My daughter (4 months) was pretty relaxed all day, just taking it all in.

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Giving Thanks to Those Who Shaped Us

- Alexis Leave a comment
Middle school girls in renaissance-inspired costumes with their drama club director at a school Shakespeare festival

The night before Thanksgiving, I did a guided meditation on the 10 Percent Happier app called “Gratitude for Benefactors.” The meditation asks the listener to call to mind a person who helped them in some way. The first person I thought of was, surprisingly, a teacher I had in middle school. I haven’t seen her in years, and I had never before thought about how much she encouraged me or the learning opportunities she provided.

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Preparing for Life as a Working Mother of Two

- Alexis Leave a comment
My son modeling his new spaceship backpack

This is my last week of maternity leave. I don’t plan on having any more kids, so heading back to work on Monday marks the end of the newborn season of my life. I had anticipated having children for a long time, and after I had my son, I’d looked forward to experiencing a second pregnancy and birth, and to welcoming a daughter. I have my ideal family now, but it’s a little bittersweet to think that I won’t be doing it all again.

As hard as it will be to leave my baby on Monday, I’m eager for something of a return to normalcy. I’m not sure what normalcy even means in 2020, but maternity leave can feel like a pause in life, and I think I’m ready to hit play again.

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The Body Knows: Learning to Listen to My Gut

- Alexis Leave a comment
The author smiling and wearing a baby on her chest

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on tuning in to my body. The first lesson that Kara Loewentheil teaches in her coaching program is that emotions are physical sensations in the body. To process an emotion, you have to allow yourself to feel the physical sensation and then name it. When I feel a lump in my throat, a knot in my stomach, a racing heart, or heat rising in my face, I now stop and take note of it. I observe the physical sensation with curiosity. I ask myself, what thought is causing this emotion? What can I learn from it? What is my body trying to tell me?

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