I left work and hopped on the subway a little before 9pm on Friday, which is always a long work day with my new schedule. My car was fairly empty when I boarded, but more and more people entered as we made our way downtown. Many of the other passengers were dressed for a night out in New York City. The car buzzed with restless, youthful weekend energy, intensified by the news that we’d have 70 °F weather on Saturday. (We did, and…

As I enter a new and especially busy period, I’ve been thinking a lot (and sharing a lot) about time management. One of the funny things about time is that it seems so concrete in one moment and so subjective in the next. Sometimes looking at the clock gives me an unwelcome reality check—how have hours gone by, when it felt like only minutes? And sometimes the opposite feels true: it’s as if time has expanded to accommodate my engagement with something. (I…

One of my ongoing projects is an effort to slowly, but steadily, ensure that older recipes on this blog are kept healthy. This means that I periodically revisit old posts, re-test the recipes, and make sure that they work as intended. I double check measurements, read over my instructions to see if they make sense, and spruce up the recipe card so that everything is clear. Some people have old journals or diaries that serve as records of their personal histories. I have…

I’ve had a lot to learn in the past four weeks, as is true for anyone who assumes a new role. And like most fresh hires, I’ve been overwhelmed at times. The patient-facing care comes easily to me. It’s continuous with what I do as a private practice RD, only more specific and with a different group patients. But one-on-one time with patients is only part of the job. When I’m not counseling, I’m busy reviewing medications, brushing up on lab values, navigating…

I was planning to be away this weekend, but my travel plans fell through at the last minute. As a result, I’m home, reveling in the fact that it’s a three-day weekend, and there’s no place for me to be first thing tomorrow morning. Mondays have been more of a jolt than usual in recent weeks. I’ve started a full-time role as a renal dietitian for a hospital system, working with dialysis patients. Some of you may remember that I spoke about plant-based…

A long time ago, a therapist told me that if one person in a relationship over-efforts all the time, the other person will inevitably under-effort. I no longer stay in relationships where that dynamic is at play. But I haven’t grown out of the tendency to over-effort or overextend myself unsolicitedly. I’ve had a lot on my plate lately. As a result, I’ve had no choice but to ask people—friends, colleagues, family—to be a little more accommodating than usual. This hasn’t been a…

It’s customary for many of us to think about limitations as being impediments, barriers to overcome. This week, I spent a lot of time thinking about how limitations can be freeing. This was initially on my mind because, in my never-ending effort to heal my tortuous relationship with time management, I’m reading Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. I think it’s an insightful book, and I’m its target audience: a person who has trouble letting go of the fantasy that,…