Licensed therapist (LMFT). Unlicensed artist. Drawing and writing stuff about mental health and self care.
When protests first emerged across the country after George Floyd’s death, my brain started thinking a mile a minute. What do I do? What can I do? How can I help? What will feel like ‘enough’? During the first week of sitting with the anguish felt across the country, I did a lot of soul … More Grieving and Self Care for Activists and Allies
I created a new saying with my husband to communicate when I’m so busy my head’s about to explode. It happened by accident. He came home from work on a seemingly normal day and asked me a simple question, not knowing that I had spent the whole day putting out fires with the sweat and … More 10 Mindful Exercises for Busy People
As an overthinker and perfectionist, sometimes I get into what I think is a productive flow: I’m getting a billion things done, and quickly. I’m multitasking the crap out of everything. Even when I’m stuck with having to focus my actions on one task, at least my mind is multitasking; I’m creating more to-do items … More What Mindfulness Is and Why It’s So Awesome
Fingers pointed to a common phenomenon experienced by many: Fearing that leisure time means wasted time. At some point, we’ve stopped valuing leisure time. Which leads to severely cutting back on it. Which leads to forgetting how to do it, even when we finally carve out time for it. … More 7 Tips for Healthy Leisure Time
Imagine you’re taking a multiple choice exam, and you come across a question you’re unsure of. You do your best to contemplate the right answer, but in the end, you have to rely on– *cringe*– a guess. So you choose ‘B’ and hover your pencil over it. But then you second-guess your guess. Maybe it’s … More Recovering from Perfectionist Paralysis: PART 2
Holidays and anniversaries can be especially difficult days when you’ve lost a loved one. The empty space left behind can completely engulf you. I have originally posted this article on Memorial Day, 2019, and this holiday honoring fallen troops makes me think of the grief experienced by surviving friends and family, and how painful and … More Pop Therapy: One Reddit User’s Wisdom on Grief and Loss
I recently took a training on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy where the trainer told an insightful story about starting where you are, and accepting where that is even if it’s not ideal: There was once a man who was lost while looking for a remote town. He ended up in a completely different town in the … More Recovering from Perfectionist Paralysis: PART 1
I frequently work with people who join therapy groups saying that they experienced a major loss, such as the death of a loved one, and that they never felt that they gave themselves the time to grieve. Even if their loss occurred years ago, they often point at the grief, and having neglected to cope … More 4 Essential Steps to Actually “Keep it Together” When Things Get Rough
I had two days left at work before starting maternity leave. The group therapy sessions I had been leading with my regular cohort of clients were going well. At my job, clients join and leave the program at different, unpredictable times, so I had been crossing my fingers that no one new would be assigned … More Healthy Boundaries: Essential Steps for People Pleasers
I’m very picky about what kind of T-shirts I wear. Probably more so than I am with formal clothing. Any graphics or words on it need to truly reflect who I am. So naturally, I don’t buy them often. Too much thinking involved. But several months ago I bought one that read: Hang on. Let … More Interrupting the Overthinking Mind
The Overthinking Brain 