Sometimes I slug the coffee down. Sometimes I sip. Depends on what I'm trying to achieve. What's on my mind as I wrap my hands around a steaming mug of superhero? Lions and gazelles. I've got Africa fever lately. My sister lives there. My husband's going there. I just put an Africa-shaped blood stain in one …
Tag: motivation
2017 in the Rear View Mirror
2017. Crushed it. Really and truly. Those of you who know me know I beat myself up at regular intervals. I raise self-flagellation to an art form. My friends tell me I'm too hard on myself. If there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do me no harm. I like to think I have an …
Writer Mind
I'm in the valley every writer goes through. I keep showing up day after day intending to make something amazing. If I were an artist, I'd be making stick people. If I were making dinner, it would be haggis. If I were conjuring up an animal, it would be a platypus. Sure, I just got …
Book Review: Outliers
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell Non-fiction Hardcover, 309 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company I grabbed this off the classics section of my library on a whim. I'm not sure how it got shelved in the classics section, except to think that some brilliant educator realized Outliers should be required reading for anyone …
Swimming Over the Moon
I've decided, now that I have three years swim-parent experience, swimming is a sport about the following: 1. conquering your fears, 2. conquering your flesh, 3. extreme repetition, and 4. pressure. As a child, the extent of my swimming was the drowning preventative offered by the local pool. I had no idea there was a …
A Volcano Hike: Mt. Liamuiga
A rust-ravaged truck would take us to the base of Mt. Liamuiga. After the 45 minute drive through St. Kitts, our 2+ hour ascension hike would begin. Behind me lay the Adventure of the Seas with its hushed hot tub waters and attendant waiters, plush deck chairs, everlasting soft-serve ice cream cones... What had I done? Across …
The Only Resolution You Need: Be Resolute
Resolute: 1. marked by firm determination 2. bold, steady. In a fit of New Year's zeal you wrote a bunch of resolutions. And in a fit of cold reality already broke at least one. Now you're starting 2017 as a failure. Why even bother with the rest? New Year's resolutions are like trains. One car …
Shooting up Motivation
Phenomenal. I want that to be my word of the year. Easier said than done, I know. I have a plan. But first, a story. I choose to tell you about working out, though there are many areas in which I want to be phenomenal. Working out is a universal bane, er... goal. I'm not …
A Rip-Your-Arm-Out Moment
I want to talk about the paralytic wake of failure, those moments right after we've been dealt a blow. Failure is most bitter when we expect greatness. If I were to run a marathon tomorrow, I'd fail, but it wouldn't be a blow because I expect a body that sputters through a 5K to have …
What You Give to Get “Amazing”
Gabe. 10 years old. He’s amazing. That’s how the pain and hardship begin, when someone besides mom utters the seemingly innocuous words: You’re amazing. My amazing boy practices swimming with kids a minimum of three years his senior. When he was with kids his age, swimming practice started at 10AM. But his amazing asserted itself, and …
KL Griffiths 