The Monday-ish Month of the Year
What is it about January?
It starts off with a bang and a rush of energy (New Year! Resolutions!). Then, all of a sudden, everything comes to a screeching halt and the days and weeks move so slowly. While I’m not wishing away time, it does feel like this month has lasted about 90 days. How is it not March already?
Before I forget, if you're in New York City, come take a yoga class with me! I'm teaching a class on February 11 at 10am as part of Girls On the Run's February Fitness Series. Register here. Of course, I'd love to see you at my regular Friday morning sunrise class in Brooklyn too!
Anyhow, let’s get to it, shall we?
What I've Written
I’ve written a couple of stories about the Female Athlete Triad. While, we often think of these issues as only affecting professional and elite athletes i.e. women who work out at a super high-level, ALL women are susceptible. I had a chance to dig into how the condition affects everyday women and why losing your period is a bad sign.
Also on the sports front, have you noticed the rise of zero-waste sporting events? Here’s a story on how they can (and can’t) help the environment. For the runners out there, here are five stretches/mobility drills to keep your IT band happy.
On the nutrition front, here are some suggestions for easy swaps to make your morning meal a wee bit healthier. Jumping on the Keto Diet bandwagon but have no idea what to eat? Here you go - your keto food list.
What I’ve Been Reading
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. I recently dug out my old Dell Books copy from the 5th grade (complete with multicolor highlighted passages). I had grand plans to read it together with my son but he said that’s cute Mom but no thanks. So I re-read this classic by myself. Still magical.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I kept seeing tweet and photos about this book and decided to pick it up from a local bookstore. It looks at questions of police brutality, justice, and activism from the perspective of a black teenage girl. I was hooked from page one and couldn’t put this book down.
How an Octopus Helps Me Think About My Mother's Eating Disorder (Catapult). This is one of the most beautiful essays I’ve read in a long time. It taps into some many issues surrounding motherhood, family, love, Chinese culture, being an immigrant in America, and beauty that mirrors many aspects of my life.
Letter to My Future Self (Player’s Tribune). “You never once let yourself quit. You had to keep going, even though nobody was watching.” Boris Berian’s letter to his future self is powerful and worth a read.
The Follower Factory (NY Times). A peek inside the black market for social followers and the economy of social influence. It’s worth clicking through just to see the execution of the story online.
Op-Ed: Outdoor Companies Drag Their Feet on Inclusion (Outside). “It’s time to stop the dishonest narrative of nonwhites missing from the outdoors. We’re there, just not the way the country’s default culture likes to define it. Our absence, and the supposed need to get us outside, is a fable the outdoor industry likes to perpetuate to justify not showing us.” << Well said.
TK Is My New Philosophy (Woolly). I might have to embrace this philosophy too. TK is journalist/editor short-hand for “to come” and is used as a placeholder for a stat, quote, sentence, etc. that will be filled in later so you can move forward with the story. I use it so much that my phone autocorrects “thing” to “TK”. As a philosophy, it would allow a Type-A, perfectionist like myself to continue to move forward even if I haven’t figured everything out.
After reading this story in The Hollywood Reporter about Ellen Pompeo, I started rewatching Grey’s Anatomy from the beginning. Man, early Grey’s is so good.
Kelsey Miller's Final Anti-Diet Project Post (Refinery 29). Miller has written this column since 2013 and shares some important lessons in her final column. “Quitting dieting was like hopping off a hamster wheel. Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath my feet. I could lift my head and look around, instead of just staring straight ahead into the void, focusing only on moving, burning, counting, and killing time.”
Goodbye, Contributor Network. And thanks for nothing (Poynter). Please pay writers. P.S. Jen Miller is my freelance hero.
Everything I Thought I Knew About Early Parenthood Was Wrong (The Cut). Yes to every single word of this.
Larry Nassar. It’s hard not to read about sexual assault case against the USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor like this op-ed from the woman who filed the first police complaint against Nassar. But the case has opened the door on other issues like the impulse to doubt female pain (especially in the absence of a broken bone or bleeding), and how this case stigmatizes pelvic physical therapy - a legitimate and important treatment for many women.
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