It is indeed ironic that Valentine's Day, a day supposed to be all about love, can spark such controversy over whether it should be celebrated or not. People tend to love it or hate it. I'm sure you've heard each of these arguments from people in your life and you likely agree with one more than the other: 

The argument for celebrating it: Valentine's Day is a random day of the year where you get to show your significant other how much they mean to you. You get to pause and really appreciate each other. It's nice to get flowers and chocolates and go out on a date. With life being so busy, we forget to do these special things sometimes and Valentine's Day reminds us of this. 

The argument against celebrating it: Valentine's Day isn't really about love, it's about buying crap that doesn't really matter for the person you're in a relationship with. It makes people who aren't in a relationship feel bad and lonely. ...

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It's January 1st again. A new year, a fresh start. It only makes sense that I would be sitting here writing a blog about New Year's resolutions. I already know that there's a lot out there on this topic, but why not add in my two cents (and make it specific to relationships while I'm at it)? First of all, what are we really talking about when we're talking about resolutions? According to Google when I type in "definition of resolution", it says "the firm decision to do or not to do something." Some might view a resolution as a promise or agreement with oneself to carry out a specific goal that they have. The tricky thing is that we know that New Year's resolutions...tend to not last. We get tired and fall back into our old ways. We also can place really high expectations on ourselves. Where are we going wrong and where can we do better? One area I see people get hung up on is making their resolution too specific. Now, typically I a ...

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My former boss had a bumper sticker with this quote from Maggie Kuhn on it (which I found ironic, because she is a very outspoken, no-nonsense woman). I glanced at it every time when I was in her office and always found great comfort in it. It reminded me that a) speaking our minds is hard and takes courage and b) you can cut yourself slack with it. 

I've held myself to a really high standard when it comes to speaking my mind over the years. I've expected myself to do it in the moment, effortlessly, with calmness and grace. While I have had that happen, the truth is that far more often, I get quiet. I realize something bothered me long after the fact rather than in the moment. Then I rehearse over and over what I want to say in my head, plan when I want to do it, and get very nervous going in. I get frustrated when it doesn't go how I want it to go and oftentimes, I don't say anything or only say a ...

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