Handling The Hard Stuff

Handling the Hard Stuff: A Blog about Life and How to Deal

Reward Yourself

We don’t celebrate our wins much as adults. We have a hard time prioritizing the small victories in our daily lives. And even when we do celebrate the little things, we rarely reward ourselves in big or useful ways. When I was little any celebratory act was rewarded with treats. Ice cream or chocolate or…

January 30, 2024
Quiet Quitting

This is a phrase that’s come about in the last few years that essentially means you’re not “giving your all” to something. It is mostly used in relation to your work identity. It goes hand in hand with someone over the age of 50 grumbling “no one wants to work anymore”. That’s true Jim, no…

January 26, 2024
Don’t Mistake Peace for Boring

Let’s be honest, we love the drama. We listen to all the true crime podcasts and audiobooks, we make celebrities out of housewives and Jersey Shorers who spend all their time gossiping and fighting among one another. Every other show on television is about emergency services or surgeons or crime investigations. We thrive on trauma.…

January 24, 2024
Don’t Require an Apology

In so many of my divorce cases, my client will spend so much time and energy being angry at the way their soon-to-be ex has treated them. That anger often dissipates after the first month or so – people learn to cope with their new life, they figure out what it’s going to look like…

January 22, 2024
You Don’t Have to Be Whole to Shine

Even at funerals people smile and laugh. In the throes of the worst divorce cases, I’ve watched clients find moments of happiness. It is ok – and incredibly important – to find good moments even in the midst of awfulness. The longer we live life, the more likely we are to have dents and scars…

January 19, 2024
Loneliness

It’s the time of year when the weather makes a lot of us unmotivated to do anything other than hunker down at home. We also don’t see the sun and don’t have a lot of daylight to look forward to and it’s when we’re more likely to feel deep loneliness and isolation. It’s hard to…

January 17, 2024
Mental Energy

I came across the phrase “Our brain serves back our most practiced thoughts” and it just struck me. We hear so often that practicing gratitude can help with mental health overall. I have a hard time with that. It gets a bit too touchy-feely for me. However, if I analyze where my mental energy goes,…

January 15, 2024
Everyday Isn’t a Thrive Day

We all have good days and bad. Life has its ups and downs. Sometimes we are thriving – all the pieces fall into place and we get things done and feel good about ourselves and our contributions in the world. And some days we’re just holding on for dear life trying to make it through…

January 12, 2024
Financial Hierarchy

Money can be a lot of things. It can be scary or confusing, it can be freeing or limiting. It can create stability and confidence. It can generate feelings of guilt or greed or shame or envy. For me, money is a path to freedom of time. Budgets and debts and monthly payments take up…

January 10, 2024
Set Appropriate Goals

We are all so tempted to dream big in the new year. We make vision boards and set big, bold, ambitious goals for things we wish to do or accomplish in the next 365 days. I am not a New Year Resolution person. I sometimes come up with a theme or a guiding approach I…

January 8, 2024