Oh my goodness, May, otherwise known as May-cember or the 100 days of May, is here. Recitals, end-of-the-school-year festivities, graduations, here we come! Are we ready?! I wish you the best for the coming busy month ahead!
Playing Catch Up
Dear friends,
We made it through another month! Between dealing with the heat dome and daylight savings-related sleep disturbance, I’m not sad to see March go! And can we agree that 2026 has been quite enough without adding April Fool’s Day into the mix? Life is enough of a roller-coaster without pranks- I propose compliments and/or hugs instead!
Yes To The Stress
Dear friends,
I bet you’re reading the subject line of this email or the title of this blog and wondering whether I’ve been replaced this month by my evil twin! Why would I, a person who opposes overwork and believes in rest, be telling you to say yes to the stress?! I recently made a last-minute decision that has wrecked my careful planning, and I want to share why I think it is important to sometimes choose stress.
Tired and Inspired
Dear friends,
I’m writing this on a rainy cold afternoon, and I can’t say I am looking forward to the gray days and long nights ahead. Just as I typed that last sentence, a hummingbird visited the feeder outside my window and reminded me that there is color and liveliness in every season. So, onward with optimism!
Winning at Work
Dear friends,
Can you believe that 2026 is here? Let us hope for a peaceful and fruitful year ahead. I’m writing this message on my last day of stay-cation, in between helping my youngest with college applications and my eldest with his search for summer jobs. In 2025 I started a new practice. I identified a “weekly win” in some area of my life, wrote it on a sticky note and put it up on a wall in my home office. I purposely wrote down whatever first came to my mind, and I never revised it. If there were two wins I was thinking about at the end of the week, I wrote down both, so I ended the year with 58 sticky notes on my wall.
Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Conference
Take It Easy
Dear friends,
We made it to November of 2025. It’s been a hard one, and I can only hope that better times are ahead. As I write this, I am thinking about the imminent threat to SNAP benefits just as the holiday season approaches. What gives me hope is your activism and generosity. I don’t think we can fill the gap, but positive actions still matter.
Audit Your Life Part 2
Dear friends,
It’s a bonus mid-month blog! Happy Diwali and may the coming year bring love, light, peace, and joy! My last blog was about doing a life audit. We already talked about writing down 100 wishes on sticky notes in one hour, categorizing them, and asking ourselves what underlying values they represent. I did forget to mention in my prior post that I only got up to 87 wishes, and that seems fine to me. Don’t be too rule-bound!
Audit Your Life
Holding Pattern
Dear friends,
Goodbye, summer! Usually I am excited for the back-to-school return to routine that fall brings. This year I just feel like I am holding my breath. With all the harm we’ve witnessed and experienced over the last few months, there is dread about what is coming next. I’m still wrestling with the question of how to move our work forward at such a challenging moment.
Grit Isn't It
Dear friends,
In San Francisco, it’s officially Fogust, continuing the coldest, wettest, gray-est summer we have had in the more than 20 years I’ve lived here. I’ve looked out my window many times and thought about how the surroundings mirror my mood. This summer it has taken intentional time and effort to seek the sun, literally and figuratively!
Midpoint Slump
Dear friends,
I hope the upcoming 4th of July holiday holds some rest and community for you. We are halfway through 2025 already- can you believe it? To me, it feels a bit de-motivating to be 6 months into the year and still have so much to do to reach my yearly goals. I have heard this drop in momentum called “the midpoint effect.” For any project, it is quite common to slow down when you’ve exhausted your initial enthusiasm but you still have a long way to go towards completion. I am experiencing this right now at work. I feel like I am going through the motions rather than feeling engaged and inspired. It hasn’t gotten to the point of “quiet quitting,” but I would like to get my spark back.
Phone A Friend
Dear friends,
Summer is right around the corner, and I can’t wait for life to slow down just for a little while. Somehow we are still here, five months into a very challenging year. I’ve alluded several times to a grant that has loomed too large over this entire academic year, and I am glad to say it has finally been submitted.
Find Your Fun
Dear friends,
Somehow, it’s May. It is hard to overstate how difficult these times are, and I’m glad you’re still with me! The only way we will get through this is together. Many of you know that I am having an exceptionally challenging grant-writing experience right now. Given that my non-work life is always eventful, I have been overworked and tired. My solution- schedule time for fun!
Always Hopeful
Dear friends,
It has been a tough month, hasn’t it? At this time of year, I am usually enjoying the longer days and coming out of my winter hibernation. Since I last wrote you, though, I have been caught up in the chaos of our federal government. Even though I know it is their strategy to throw us off balance, I have still been affected by all of their terrifying and disheartening actions.
Resistance Ikigai
Dear friends,
Sending strength and solidarity to you in this time of upheaval. In the face of such broad-scale dismantling of our values and institutions, I have been pondering how to effectively resist. I do think the most important form of resistance is to carry on our work in the face of these existential threats, but I want to do more. Like many of you, I have been signing petitions and calling my representatives and making donations and showing up at protests. Taking these actions has not brought me the same energy that it did in the past. The problems are so overwhelming that taking any action at all can feel futile. Is this the most effective way for me to stand up for my values?
Ocean Swimming
Dear friends,
I am writing this message on January 29th, and it will post as my February blog. I am sure there will be more executive orders and directives in the next few days, and I expect our stress and uncertainty will continue to be in high gear. It’s hard to know what to say, so I will start simple: you are not alone. Seek out your people and be in community.
Fewer Goals More Wins
Dear friends,
I hope this message finds you rested and recharged! For me, the turning of a new year sparks a confusing and contradictory mix of feelings. The opportunity for a fresh start appeals to the optimist in me, and at the same time, my inner critic reminds me that I have inevitably fallen short of my ambitious goals for the year before. I feel the urge to make resolutions, even though I always aim to resist the relentless, burnout-inducing cultural push to do more and be better.
A Lingering Season
Dear friends,
We are closing in on the end of a rollercoaster year, and I hope you have some rest ahead. I know the future seems very uncertain right now, and I have been alternating between distracting myself and feeling paralyzed by existential dread. The best comfort I have found is in community, focusing on what matters. We are lucky to be doing work that can make the world better, which is its own form of resistance.