Mindful Monday: Life's Truths

January has a funny effect on me. It tends to make me re-evaluate where I've been and where I'm heading. And well, it led me down an introspective rabbit hole. Bear with me. :) 

Life. It’s a funny thing. It's ever so complex, and yet it can be boiled down to a few truths that are universal to all of us.

• ​Things always change.
• Loss is unavoidable.
• Nobody knows what they’re doing.
• And hindsight is always 20/20.

These four statements are true, no matter your age, your background, what part of the world you live in, or what generation you are from. However, we rarely accept these truths.

Things are always changing, and yet we try our darndest to control it all. I think it’s one of the biggest illusions we tell ourselves is that we’re in control. When in reality, trying to control it all leads to stress and anxiety. It's such a catch-22. Not being able to control life's circumstances leaves us feeling stressed. And on the other side of that coin, trying our best to control it all also leaves us stressed. And while easier said than done, the serenity prayer says it best. "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." It's being able to know the difference of what is or isn't in our control that will save our sanity.

Coupled with things are always changing, nothing lasts forever. We lose jobs. Friends come and go from our lives. Our money seems to disappear faster than we make it. Our health fades. And unfortunately, our loved ones don’t live forever. Even though we know loss is inevitable, we don’t ​tend to handle it well. Loss of any kind creates an awful void​.​ Unfortunately, many adults have learned how to compartmentalize and not deal with it. Instead, I would encourage you to sit with the loss. Feel your feelings. Be upset. Be mad. Because at the end of the day, if you don't acknowledge what you are feeling, it has a way of showing up when you least expect it and usually in unwanted ways. 

And here’s the thing, nobody, I repeat, nobody knows what they’re doing. We’re all making it up as we go, doing our best putting one foot in front of the other and that’s OK. Not Oprah, Dr Phil, Brené Brown​ or anyone else, for that matter, knows what they are doing. I assure you, they are not "in" on life's secrets. Instead, we must walk alongside each other. We must support and lean on one another. Lend a hand when we can, and be brave enough to ask for help when needed. 

The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard ​once wrote, "That life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards." While yes, I would absolutely agree to the value of being retrospective, we can't live in the shoulda, woulda, couldas. I get, all too well, that hindsight is 20/20. But we can't beat ourselves up by second guessing our decisions. 

All this to say, give yourself grace. Life is hard. Change is hard. Loss is hard. We are all doing our best, trying to make the most of this journey we are on.  

Mindful Monday: Ultimate Weight Loss

Happy 2026! 

People often start a new year with goals, typically focusing around health and fitness. The most common goal being to lose weight. 

But did you know that the ultimate weight loss is forgiveness? 🤯 (read that again) 

While we ask our students and even our personal children to forgive their classmates or siblings, as adults, we are not always quick to do so. Maybe our life experience has led us to be weary of others. Maybe the same person in our life has done us wrong multiple times. Perhaps the wounds are still fresh. 

But at the end of the day, how much are you holding on to? How many others are living 'rent free" in your head? How much is disrupting your inner peace? It's time to forgive. It's time to move on. It's time to lose that heaviness. There is no better time to shed that extra weight than now. 

Here's the takeaway, when you forgive someone, it's NOT for them, it's for YOU. 

So as we start another calendar year, consider losing what’s no longer serving you. Here's to us all letting go of the extra baggage we've gotten so used to carrying around. Try forgiveness- not for them, but for you.