Personal
This is where you will find posts about all things personal to me. This section includes posts about interesting things I do or make, reflections on everyday life, and everything in between.
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The Chaotic Life
Life is chaotic. It is unavoidable. Even if you tried to keep every moment of life planned and scheduled, chaos is going to happen. It is part of what makes life great and fun. It can also be overwhelming at times. As a mom to two very busy kids, chaos is an unmistakeable part of my life. When I was in grad school, my anxiety reached crippling levels. There was so much to juggle in such a short time period, I felt like I could never meet all of the demands placed on me and if I did, I felt like I could never do a good enough job. I…
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Grad School Completed
Graduation is this week (not that I will be attending) and I can finally consider my grad school journey complete. I feel like I am finally closing the door on a very stressful chapter in my life. Hopefully I will find it easier to keep my sanity in tact for the next chapter. I should have graduated three years ago, but I went into post-residency instead. That was the right decision for me at the time. I was dealing with an overwhelming amount of stress and pressure and knew I wasn’t in the right place to add a thesis to my load at that point. It would have been nice…
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Getting back to me
For the past six years, I have been overwhelmed by this shroud of anxiety. Now that my thesis and grad school are behind me, I feel like I can finally breathe a bit more. I want to exist as person beyond my anxieties and being a mom. I feel like I have forgotten who I am under the weight of my anxieties and I need to work on getting back to that. So how am I going to do that? 1. I am recommitting myself to writing everyday. When I write, I feel like I am really alive and more than a mom. In addition to writing on this blog…
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Writing
Today, I just want to write. Writing has always been a passion of mine. Unfortunately, lately Saoirse does not make it easy to get that writing done. She is a velcro baby (well, toddler now I suppose) and the instant she sees me computer she has to be right there poking at the screen and banging on the keys. So, I avoid pulling out my computer when she is around. The thing about being a stay at home mom is, she is always around. Pretty much my main opportunity to write is if I wake up early enough in the morning and have time to write before she wakes up.…
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What’s in a name? Our last name decision
When we made everything legal last Friday, we finally had to address an issue we had been dancing around for years: our last names. Tradition would have me change my last name to match Cal’s. However, I am not big on tradition for the sake of tradition. There are so many different approaches to last names with marriage now. I could hyphenate. Cal could hyphenate. We both could. We could choose a new name altogether. Cal could change his last name to mine. You get the idea. For us, this decision was further complicated by the fact that we we had children before getting married. When Ryan was born, I gave…
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My Awesome Bookworm Beachfront Proposal
On March 18th, Cal suggested an impromptu trip to the beach. It is still very cold in New Hampshire in March, but it was nice to go to the ocean. Ryan collected seashells, while Saoirse and I watched the waves crashing on the shore and enjoyed the fresh ocean air. The beach was surprisingly busy. A lot of people had the same idea to go enjoy a cold but sunny day by the ocean. Even without any other plans, it was a great family day. Cal had bigger plans though. While we were alone on our stretch of beach, Cal told me he had a gift for me. He handed me a…
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Mo Anam Cara – My Soul Friend and Our Journey to Here
Today we are going to City Hall to take care of all the paperwork to get legally married. We are going to Ireland in two weeks for the ceremony, but it is a lot easier to take care of the legalities here first. The Irish have this beautiful concept of a soul friend. According to the philosopher John O Donohue, the anam cara is a “friend of the soul”, a person with whom you can share your true self, mind and heart. A friendship that applied across all convention and category. Someone with whom you can experience unconditional understanding, love and belonging. For me, Cal is that soul friend. I…
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Catching Up Again
It has been roughly 5 months since my last post. I definitely did not meet the last goal I set for blogging regularly. Looking forward, I can only do better. I have made a lot of progress in the past 5 months. The biggest thing: I finally finished my thesis and submitted it, all I have to do now is wait for my MSW to come in the mail in August. I cannot describe the overwhelming sense of relief at finally having that off of my shoulders. If I had not finished it by May 30th of this year, I would have run out of post residency time and all…
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Our Family
As I attempt to get back into blogging, it seems helpful to give a more detailed introduction to each of the member’s of our family. Ana (me!) – My name is Ana, and this blog is all about me! I became a mom halfway through undergrad, but through the support of everyone at my school, was able to finish with my BA in Psychology and then went on to graduate school for my Master in Social Work. I am steps away from finishing my MSW, all I have left is the completion of my thesis. I have always been fascinated by how the mind works and have worked helping others as…
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Developing a routine
When Ryan was first being evaluated for autism, the question of routine kept coming up. “Does he need to follow a particular routine?” “Is he routine oriented?” “Does he thrive with routine?” I initially did not realize the little routines he followed so carefully, and how well he did when he had a routine that he could count on. As we learned more about autism and the way Ryan’s mind worked, we really discovered just how much a solid routine helped. Ryan truly thrived with a routine. Similarly to Ryan, I also really thrive when I have a routine that I can follow and stick to. It is a way…
