On Fridays I stop working at 3pm. I pick up my daughter from preschool and we go to gymnastics, where she gets to do cool stuff (her words) and I get my weekly 45 minutes of mommy-talk with other moms in the waiting area. When she is done we go for a special treat. My daughter’s pick is usually a cupcake, which we get from this tiny little place which also luckily makes great lattes. Luckily because if I weren’t drinking a latte I’d be eating my own cupcake and I definitely don’t need those. OK, sometimes I eat a cupcake with my latte, now you know. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s guest post is written by Ally Loprete, an active Work It, Mom! member and founder of Ourmilkmoney.com, a directory of self-employed parents who offer products and services in your community. When I read about Ally’s experience I knew I wanted to provide a way for her to share it with you. I think every busy working mom I know can learn something from what Ally learned, whether you run your own business or not, work full-time or part time, in an office or at home. I invite you to share your reactions in the comments.

—————————

Yes, I was there. I was horribly embarrassed at first, but I’ve now come to appreciate the experience as one of my most favorite journeys.

What brought me to the nuthouse was a breakdown resulting from extreme exhaustion. I’d simply forgotten to take care of myself. I had not slept since 2007. I had lost a pregnancy, I wasn’t eating, my son and my husband were being neglected, and there was no end in sight. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t eat pasta.

There, now you know. In case you were wondering.

More generally, I try not to eat white rice, white bread, pasta, and all the other horrible-no-good-very-bad-white carbs. (Unless I am in Paris, when all bets are off. Baguette with butter? What sane person can say no! Good thing I am not in Paris that often.) It’s taken me a while to find a way to eat healthy without obsessing about it and cutting out most white carbs is one of those things that just works for me. Not that I wouldn’t LOVE a big bowl of pasta with cheese, but you know, it’s just something I am fine without.

Which didn’t present any issues until recently, when my daughter, who loves pasta and eats it often, started asking me why I don’t eat it with her. Read the rest of this entry »

A while back I wrote here about an appointment I had with a new physician, where he told me that I needed to get my stress level down and start doing it by regularly breathing deeply. I’ll be honest with you — I’ve failed miserably to do this regularly. He said I should do it for a few minutes every hour; I do it for a few minutes a day (for which I am still proud since getting myself to slow down is a bigger deal than it should be.)

At that same appointment he sent me for a ridiculous amount of tests, including one (slight TMI here) where you spit in a tube at certain times during the day. Before he sent me for the tests he said he knew what would come back and he was right. Turns out I have what is called adrenal insufficiency. When you’re stressed, your body releases adrenaline (it’s actually cortisol and some other hormones, but who needs to get technical.) In very simple terms, I’ve worn out my adrenal glands with stress so much over the past however many years that they no longer produce normal levels of adrenaline. (Some adrenal insufficiency is caused by an underlying condition, like Addison’s disease, which is luckily not my case.)

And it turns out that adrenaline is important for pretty much everything from your energy level, to your immune system, to your body’s ability to process nutrients. In other words, not having enough adrenaline is not a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »

I went to a new doctor yesterday. This doctor is an MD, but focuses on alternative medicine in his practice. For someone who has had almost no experience with alternative medicine — and frankly, who thinks of herself as too left-brained for it — I was a bit hesitant before I went. But what he said and how he said it made so much sense to me that I couldn’t find anything to argue about.

The appointment was just a regular checkup, but the doctor quickly zeroed in on my stress level. It’s high. Well, that’s a lie, it’s HIGH. And while I know that a consistently high stress level can have negative — and serious — health consequences I’ve chosen to be in the mindset of “It won’t be like this forever so I’ll just push through.” But as the doctor asked me some questions I realized that this might be a really stupid idea and that some of the consequences might already be here.

He asked about my energy level, which I quickly answered was great, I am always hyper energetic. He said “OK, but if you stop what you’re doing and just sit down on the couch, how do you feel?” I had to be honest and say that I’d feel extremely tired, exhausted. Do I get sick more often than I used to? Yes, actually, and it’s taking me longer to get better. Trouble sleeping? Yes. Random low blood pressure? Yes. Add to that a whole bunch of other indicators and the verdict isn’t tough to guess: This level of stress is already not something my body is handling well.

And (here’s the dreaded how-do-I-do-this part…. Read the rest of this entry »

According to this article in the New York Times women who don’t speak up when fighting with their husband run the risk of having some pretty serious health issues. (We featured the article in our Media Watch and a few members shared their thoughts on the topic - check it out.)

But how many of us simply don’t have enough time or energy to argue with our husbands or partners due to the many demands of work and family and not enough time to get it all done?

I had lunch with a woman recently who told me that by the end of the day when the kids are in bed she is just too exhausted to raise issues with her husband. She thinks he is too and so they just let them go, choosing to watch TV or go to bed rather than have a heated discussion. I would be lying if I said that this never happens to me and my husband. Read the rest of this entry »