For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been engrossed in the audio version of The Body Keeps the Score, a book about trauma by Bessel van der Kolk. It’s a 16-hour listen and the subject matter is pretty intense (but fascinating!), so I’ve only listened for about an hour or two a day. I’m almost done, so feel free to …
For a while, I have not felt right about my career choice. The thing is, I really enjoy learning about just about anything and so much of what I learned in graduate school was interesting and useful. So it just didn’t occur to me along the way that I might not love the practice nearly as much as the theory. …
I’ve been thinking over something that came up a couple of times at my sister’s vort/wedding. Some well-meaning people who also had married younger siblings wished me a “welcome to the club.” But…I didn’t want to be part of anyone’s club. I wanted to be free to have my own process, and to get to a place where I was …
It’s hard to believe that we’re already on the other side of Yom Tov! This year has gone by so quickly — I remember writing in my journal in October that I had another 8 months left to the school year, and where have they gone? It’s been an interesting year with some unexpected developments and I feel that I’ve …
A few weeks ago, I came home from (another) disappointing date and felt utterly drained and completely out of options. I called a friend, who stayed on the phone with me for an hour while I cried. She told me, “The only thing to do is not give up. We are not in control of what happens when. But we …
A few weeks ago, a family friend called and said, “I was working on a shidduch for you and the mother said she spoke to your references and they told her you’re not interested in someone who X.” Now, this was inaccurate and I told this person as much (and I highly doubt my references, who know me well, worded …
I want to plan my wedding! The wedding prep around here has totally given me the bug. Recently, I started keeping a wedding notebook so I have somewhere to jot down all my thoughts and ideas for my wedding iy”H. So far I have pages for Things To Do First Upon Getting Engaged, Music I Like, Chuppah, Thoughts on the …
For three days before my first first date ever (not a typo), I could barely eat. Looking back, I can identify what fears were running through my mind, but at the time I had no idea. My pre-first date nerves have calmed way down, but it’s still a challenge to maintain complete presence of mind. I wrote down some things …
This week we’re going to hear the megillah. I always enjoy following the drama of the Purim story. The climax, of course, is when Mordechai tells Queen Esther to go speak to the king about Haman’s evil plot. As we know, Queen Esther is hesitant, telling Mordechai that anyone who goes to the king uninvited is put to death. Instead …
Happy Rosh Chodesh Adar! Mishenichnas Adar marbim b’simcha – so let’s discuss simcha. This is a topic that comes up rather often on the blog, as it’s something that can be a struggle for anyone going through a nisayon (and not just shidduchim, obviously!). Recently, two married friends told me, separately, that the number one best thing I …
