All through this Christmas week, I’ve had one repeating thought: “Please, please, please let me not hear ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ in a yoga class.” I’ve been OK and not OK, if that makes sense. Between Monday and Thursday, I wrapped up the last week of seeing nutrition clients before the holiday. I’ll be taking two weeks of rest from my private practice. The practical purpose of this is for me to catch up on my other work and put some…

I’ve been busy preparing for my annual holiday cookie baking marathon, so my vegan meal prep this weekend was abridged. I made a batch of the pasta e ceci from The Vegan Week, and that’s it so far. Fortunately, I have some leftover odds and ends to work with. Those include some tasty roasted cabbage that I’ll be sharing the recipe for soon, cooked brown rice, and a batch of my turmeric tahini dressing. So far, so good. I wanted to make some…

On Thursday, I met up for an early drink with a friend who had knee surgery about a month ago. She’s now venturing out for PT appointments weekly, and she’s finally strong and steady enough to plan something with a friend right before or after. My friend lives alone, like I do. As we sat together and caught up, she said how wonderful it was to be sitting at a restaurant with another person, surrounded by city sights and sounds. We talked a…

Ever have one of those moments in which you seem to be pretty solid, and then you come crashing suddenly into all of your old nonsense? That’s exactly what happened to me yesterday. Since I sent out my end-of-November newsletter, I’ve been thinking very intentionally about the time that remains in the rest of 2022 and how I’d like to show up for it. I’ve been working steadily, but not excessively, and staying connected without getting socially exhausted. I’m working on getting my…

Earlier this weekend I invited a friend and client to consider a mental exercise that helped me in recovery and continues to help me when I’m struggling to embrace the present. I asked her to imagine herself five or six decades from now, looking back on this moment. How would she be glad to have spent her time? What would feel like the most valuable experience to choose? I was encouraging her to honor a holiday weekend, which involved changes to her normal…

When I posted a cozy butternut chickpea stew on Thursday, I mentioned that I’d been eating freezer leftovers all week. Part of the reason for this is that I was home with my second round of Covid. Fortunately, I’d gotten my booster on October 17th, and it was very mild. I only had upper respiratory congestion this time—it never moved into my chest. And I didn’t have an on-and-off-again fever or aches and pains, as I did when I had it last December….

Boundaries seem to be a hot topic these days. They’re the subject of a lot of articles, at least once recently published book, and—at least in my experience of the algorithm—a ton of Instagram content. This suggests that boundaries are a struggle for lots of folks, and I’m certainly one of them. My past efforts to get better with boundaries have been focused on being vocal about it when I’m not comfortable with something. I still have work to do there. In the…