Lorelei Bachman's Blog, page 3

#WeShouldAllBeFeminists: International Women's Day

Practicing Compassion

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."-PlatoOne thing I have observed while trying to practice compassion is that it gets easier the more you do it. While I am periodically asked for change and usually don't carry any, the last time someone approached me, I was on my way into the grocery store and told him that if he would be in the area, I would bring him something back out. Sure enough, he was waiting outside and took the sandwich I had bought him. Several others then made their way towards me as I loaded my car.For a time, I kept ziploc bags filled with snacks in my car in the event that someone asked. When I offered them I was refused. Maybe it was patronizing to offer an adult a bag of snacks better suited for the playground. I'm not sure because I've never had to beg for food.While I have heard many people say it's a poor idea to give money because it might end up doing more harm than good (for drugs or alcohol), it seems to me that the outcome is not my responsibility as much as simply being willing to help someone who asks for it. A dollar or two won't make a tremendous difference to me financially but it might to the person having a warm coffee on a cold winter day.The following story is shared fromBringing Yoga to Lifeby Donna Farhi:"I well remember the growing sense of frustration and annoyance at the homeless people I often found outside my apartment steps when I lived in San Francisco. Frequently they urinated in the entryways or left the steps littered with bottles and stacks of filthy garbage. I felt threatened by being asked for money and repulsed by the smell of unwashed bodies. After a while I became very fearful of looking a homeless person in the eye or even acknowledging a friendly hello. Then one morning I came upon a sad old man sitting on the steps who asked me for some money. I forced myself to take a good look at him and to meet his gaze and then reflexively walked away. But as I walked away, I could not shake the thought that this man looked like my father. Perhaps he was someone else's father. Perhaps he had been my father in a past life. Without thinking, I walked back to the steps and emptied my change purse in front of his widening eyes. After that day, I decided to work one night a week at a homeless shelter, as much to relieve my own sense of impotence as to help others."Suffering is something that all human beings share, regardless of where we come from. When we shift the focus from ourselves to thinking about others as having similar hopes, dreams, fear and worries, we begin to see the sameness and even the goodness in others rather than the separateness.

A Protein in the gut may Explain why Some Can't Stomach Gluten

Those who avoid gluten may not be food faddists at all.  Researchers are finally honing in on marker for gluten sensitivity in the body.If you've found that you are sensitive to gluten — the stretchy protein that makes wheat bread fluffy and pie crusts crisp — perhaps you've had to bear the brunt of the gluten-free backlash.Some 47 percent of American consumers say the gluten-free diet is a fad, and that's partly because there's been scant proof of what causes non-celiac gluten sensitivity. As far as diagnosing it goes, there's nothing akin to the gold standard tests that help diagnose the 1 percent of the population that has celiac disease.But those who shun gluten (and don't have celiac disease) may not be food faddists after all. Researchers are finally honing in on markers for gluten sensitivity in the body. A study from Giovanni Barbara and his team at the University of Bologna, Italy, suggests that gluten-sensitive individuals may harbour high levels of a molecule called zonulin that is linked to inflammation.Levels of zonulin in the blood have been shown to be high in celiacs already. In Barbara's study, levels in gluten-sensitive individuals almost matched those of celiacs. Though the results are preliminary, they point in a hopeful direction for future tests to help diagnose this controversial condition.About 6 percent of the global population may be sensitive to gluten, according to gastroenterologist Alessio Fasano of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Symptoms can be similar to irritable bowel syndrome, with abdominal pain, bloating, alternating diarrhea or constipation. And there can be other symptoms, including "brain fog," headache, fatigue and joint and muscle pain.Enter zonulin, stage left. Zonulin is an inflammatory protein first discovered by Fasano and his team in 2000. It helps regulate leakiness in the gut by opening and closing the spaces or "junctions" between cells in the lining of the digestive tract. Zonulin is triggered by harmful bacteria, and offers important protection to the body: If you accidentally eat a food contaminated with salmonella, you rely on zonulin to help trigger diarrhea and flush out the bugs.Once the pathogen is gone, zonulin levels drop and the junctions close.So what does it have to do with gluten? It turns out that gluten is a strong trigger of zonulin in some individuals. "No human being completely digests gluten," says Fasano. "And in a small percentage of us, that undigested gluten triggers the release of zonulin," leading to high levels of it.To test the theory, Giovanni Barbara and a team of researchers at the University of Bologna measured blood levels of zonulin in four groups of individuals: those with celiac disease, those with irritable bowel syndrome marked by diarrhea, those with self-diagnosed gluten sensitivity and healthy volunteers. Both celiacs and gluten-sensitives turned up with remarkably high levels of zonulin in their blood. Those with IBS had elevated levels but less than half the levels of celiacs or gluten-sensitive individuals. Healthy volunteers had negligible blood levels of zonulin.The results were presented in October as an abstract at the 23rd United European Gastroenterology Week in Barcelona, Spain. "I was very surprised, but not only by the zonulin levels," says Barbara. "In our study, gluten-sensitive individuals who responded to a gluten-free diet had a genetic predisposition to celiac disease. They had no evidence of celiac, but they did have the vulnerable genes that put a person at risk of celiac."Despite having found two potential biomarkers, Barbara cautions that it's far too soon to recommend any kind of clinical testing. "We need more research to determine the clinical usefulness of these markers. ... Other laboratories need to reproduce our data, and we need to repeat our own experiment with gluten-sensitive patients who have been identified by strict criteria in double-blind studies." Barbara adds that his center only sees the most severe patients who have been unsuccessful finding treatment elsewhere, which may have influenced the results.Fasano, who was not involved in Barbara's study, says the discovery of zonulin is part of a larger, evolving picture. "This molecule is extremely important in a lot of illness,from Type 1 diabetes to other autoimmune diseases. Many illnesses link back to loss of barrier function in the gut." Soon, a trial will begin to test whether it's possible to shut down zonulin production in the gut for a few hours."It would be really great," says Fasano, "if we had a safe medication that could keep this molecule at bay and offer help for celiac disease, gluten sensitivity and perhaps other conditions."Jill Neimark is an Atlanta-based writer whose work has been featured in Discover, Scientific American, Science, Nautilus, Aeon, Psychology Today and The New York Times.http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/09/459061317/a-protein-in-the-gut-may-explain-why-some-cant-stomach-gluten?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202709

A Riddle for you...

We hurt without moving,We poison without touching.We bear the truth and the lies;We are not to be judged by our size.What are we?The Internet has given rise to a strange sort of verbal bravado. Like drinker's courage, people say all sorts of things they would never be brave or cruel enough to say in person, prompting terms like trolls and haters. Even a minor comment or opinion can spark anger and hatred where it is not justified. This happened to me recently and I was surprised by how quickly a thread started on social media that was full of insults from people I have never met. Every time someone left another comment, my phone binged again and I repeatedly glanced at it, not knowing if it might be a message or text, until I finally deleted the topic, weary from the negativity. Like the flowering rose bush in my front yard that blooms beautifully, it is also covered with thorns. I have to be careful how I handle it. I can admire and smell it but am better not to touch it. I have learned to be more selective with even minor comments where open discussions are not monitored or mediated. Two groups I belong to on social media recently shut down for hate speech towards the admins who had posted quite neutral things that someone happened to disagree with and launched verbal attacks. One of those admins told me via private message that after a serious physical injury and an ailing parent in hospital, the activity on her site pushed her into an overwhelming depression.Be careful with the things you say. Once uttered, they can not be taken back. They can be beautiful or they can inflict harm. We've all said things we shouldn't have. If that situation is weighing on you, without rehashing it, offer an apology and move on.As you can imagine, the answer to the riddle iswords.Lorelei

In the Spotlight: Rachel Weisz

Isn’t it inspiring when you watch a film where the acting is so good, you find yourself considering it for a long while afterwards? In my opinion, British Actress Rachel Weisz is one of those so skilled at her craft, she never disappoints. I have been reminded of this in two of her latest movies:The Light Between OceansandDenial.The daughter of Edith Ruth Teich, a psychoanalyst and George Weisz (pronounced Vice), an inventor, Rachel began acting while studying at Cambridge University. She is the recipient of numerous acting awards including: the Guardian Award, Most Promising Newcomer by the London Critics’ Circle, The European Film Production’s Shooting Star Award and an Academy award for her role in The Constant Gardener. (IMDb, 2017).One thing I appreciate most in her work is that she plays very real, imperfect characters that are incredibly relatable. In the film adaptation ofThe Light Between Oceans, she is the mother of a child and German husband who are lost at sea while fleeing persecution from the people in the village. She suspects her child may still be alive but is riddled with the devastation of what has happened and a frenzy to recover what she has lost. And yet, she is redeemed by her humanity and understanding of what the other characters are feeling and suffering with to the extent that she is driven to make decisions for the best of everyone involved.InDenial, Weisz plays American professor Deborah Lipstadt in taking on a Holocaust denier in a UK court case. Based on a true story, she tackles how freedom of speech can be used to distort history unless challenged. This time, her performance is feisty as much as it is authentic."In 2000, Lipstadt made international headlines when she was exonerated in a British court on libel charges brought by Irving over passages in her 1993 book "Denying the Holocaust" that identified him as one of the most dangerous proponents of the denial movement."(Photo: Lipstadt & Weisz. www.emery.edu, 2017).Both movies are available on iTunes and Amazon.comWatch for Weisz in the upcoming period mysteryMy Cousin Rachel, premiering July, 2017. Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier and adapted by Roger Mitchell, a young Englishman (Sam Claflin) plots revenge against his cousin (Weisz) believing she is responsible for the death of his guardian. That is, until he falls under her spell.

Helping new Immigrants in your City

(Photo: Bulent Kilic/Getty)“I am from there. I am from here.I am not there and I am not here.I have two names, which meet and part,and I have two languages.I forget which of them I dream in.”― Mahmoud DarwishAs of this month, Canada has resettled nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees into a new life.*  Several success stories have been shared via CBC radio of small businesses that have quickly blossomed. One was a man in Calgary who designed and created modest clothing for women with religious considerations. The demand became so great that he was able to lease shop space to expand. Another was a group of women in Ontario who began a Syrian food restaurant with the help of the Christian women’s group who welcomed them at the airport when they arrived.While some settle in quickly, others take more time to adjust to their new surroundings. Social supports are essential for finding housing, learning how to bank and buy groceries, improve language skills and find groups that foster emotional support. Many newcomers have experienced significant trauma.My daughter shared an experience that was posted on her anonymous University Facebook group of a student who was apprehensive about welcoming refugees to Canada. He had seen rhetoric on social media about newcomers taking existing jobs and depleting social systems like welfare and healthcare. While he didn’t consider himself overtly racist, he had heard gossip about terrorists coming to Canada, posing as victims of war. Then he had the following experience:While seated next to a Syrian woman and her children on a city bus, the bus came to a stop, picked up a few people, closed its doors and before accelerating again, the pneumatic brakes of the compressed air system made an audible hiss. Instantly, the Syrian woman leapt from her seat and threw herself over her children to protect them. Her behaviour was an automatic response of having lived through air strikes, fearing her children would be injured or killed.The student said it changed him. He realized he had no right to judge what this family or any other immigrants to Canada may have suffered and that they needed his kindness and compassion. Immigration is never an easy choice but under life and death circumstances, it is especially difficult.If you are looking for ways to help, consider:-Contacting an immigrant settlement organization in your city-Taking part in a welcoming event-Donating clothing and other needed supplies to a family through United Way, the food bank or a religious  organization-Helping with education such as library programs that encourage literacy-Teaching your children to be welcoming and kind at lunch hour and recess to those who may be new-Do not participate in commentary that divides or labels any particular group*Statistics Canada, 2017

Your Broken-hearted Friend: 10 Things not to say to Someone Who's Divorcing

Statistically, January is the heaviest month for breakups, primarily because nobody wants to inflict hurt or upset over the holidays. Whether this fact makes you more grateful for your own relationship or reminds you of how long you’ve been struggling yourself, you may be at a loss for words.Consider the following recommendations of what NOT to say to someone close to you who is going through a divorce. Undoubtedly, you want to be helpful and you may be afraid you will unintentionally inflict hurt on an already vulnerable person. Nobody knows what’s going on inside a marriage better than the people in it. Try not make assumptions from the outside and hold people to a certain standard. Instead, offer loving support in the best way you can and resist the urge to judge or gossip, especially if approached by a third party.1.“Divorce causes as many problems as it solves.”Really? Even when the marriage is emotionally or physically abusive? Even when financial ruin or addiction is involved? Leaving any relationship takes courage. It means stepping out of your comfort zone into the unknown and trading a future you thought you had figured out for an uncertain one. And part of being a responsible adult means keeping yourself (and children, if you have them) safe. Life will always have problems and each individual has the right to choose how to deal with them. Resist using damaging idioms.2. “Subsequent marriages are more likely to fail if you’ve been married once already.”Okay, statistically somewhat true. But only if the individual makes the same hasty mistakes again and again. Sometimes that is the case but since you don’t have a crystal ball, your friend may be the exception. This discounts real change, hard work and counselling that focuses on breaking patterns and starting again which many people do. In addition, marriages later in life are less susceptible to religious and societal pressure that affect a younger demographic. When you know better, you do better.3. “I envy you and don’t at the same time.”This is a roundabout way of saying I’m jealous you’re almost single but you don’t know how hard it’s going to be. It's also a reminder that marriage is not easy for many people. Otherwise, who would envy a divorcee? Rather than assuming the future is fraught with difficulty, consider that many mature relationships succeed in finding great depth and meaning with partners who didn’t know such happiness could exist, especially the second time around.4.“But you were the perfect family / so good together. What happened?”Human beings are variables, not constants. It isn’t math class. Changes occur. Perfect couples & families don’t exist and voicing extreme ideals sets people up for failure. Every couple or family is real with triumphs and setbacks. The demise of any relationship relies on a many factors."What happened?"is asking for a quick answer to a very complex question, possibly wherever you ran into them. Wait for an opportunity where they can open up privately without pressure.5. “I haven’t spoken to you because I’m still mourning over your breakup.”Wait. What? Somehow their breakup is negatively affectingyouwhile they are facing single parenthood, lawyers, strained discussions with an ex, new finances and so many other things? This is completely insensitive and dare I say, selfish. It's not about you. They need your support. Don't make anyone feel responsible for the fact that you're uncomfortable.6. “You’ll find someone again when you least expect it.”But isn't this statement full of hope? Perhaps. But maybe your friend is finding themselves again. Maybe the thought of trying again is too much right now and they need time to process and heal. Maybe waking up alone is a relief rather than lonely. Remember that the goal is a healed, whole person finding another, not two halves finding a whole. Relationship success and compatibility relies on happy, healthy individuals who also enjoy autonomy, not dependance on others.7. “I’m so sorry.”This one is tricky. It is well-intentioned because you really genuinely feelsorryfor anyone going through something this tough. But it can also imply failure or injury when sometimes it's actually a relief. For example, when I was a teenager, a friend of mine watched her parents struggle through infidelity, financial ruin, drug use and joblessness until her father decided to leave the marriage for his mistress. When someone said they wereso sorryabout her parent's divorce, she bravely responded,“Really? Because it’s the best thing that could have happened to our family.”Remember,thatwhile it may be difficult, it’s not always necessarily sad. And as a side note, my friend's family, post divorce, went on to thrive.8. “I never liked him/her anyway.”Try not to polarize people. Your friend chose that partner for all sorts of good qualities which may still exist! They may intend on being amicable. Don’t list somebody’s faults like you were stockpiling ammunition for when you could vent freely. This is bad form.9.“The breakup of families is responsible for the moral decay of our time.”No, it’s actually not. Selfishness, bad politicians, joblessness and intolerance affect our society much more. Two people being in a toxic relationship doesn’t bless society. There are no brownie points for suffering through a bad marriage or showing children a poor example.10. Don't share insensitive quotesRemember, some people die (physically, emotionally, spiritually and/or psychologically) trying to make things work when they can’t do it alone. It takes two. So the implication that they didn’t try hard enough is callous and unfair. Nobody wants to fail at anything. It is smug to wave the longevity of your relationship at someone while theirs crumbles.Okay, what can you try instead?I hope you’re okay. I sure understand.I love you both. Relationships aren’t easy.Is there a day we could go to lunch and chat?Can I run somebody to lessons after school for you?What would help you most right now?I’ve seen a lot of strength in you. You can do this.I know you don’t quit easily and this must have been a really hard decision.The Gold Standard of replies:As your friend, I know you tried everything you could.It will get harder before it gets easier but things will improve.It takes courage to do what you’ve done.I admire the way you’ve navigated this.My sister shared an especially poignant suggestion to me one day during my own divorce. She told me of a friend with divorced parents who dedicated themselves to getting along for the sake of their children. They managed to put their differences aside to the extent that they both came to every birthday party, school concert or award ceremony. Tension never rose to the surface. They simply accepted that they had made a family together and nobody would prescribe hatred to them. This may not always be possible and is a highly mature and diplomatic approach, relying on both parents cooperating. But if your ex stays in close proximity for the sake of the kids, it's worth a try. It's what is calledTaking the high road. It might not come right away but later on, after a step back, serves as a reminder that it doesn't always have to be ugly.You could also share what has helped you if you’ve been through something similar like school counsellors for children, support groups, reading materials or spiritual resources like nature, yoga or meditation.Be kind my friends,Lorelei

Learning to Let go

“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”–Eckhart TolleWhen a New Year rolls around, we turn to resolutions: ambition for things we are going to tackle or change about ourselves in the future. But what if instead of making lists of everything we are ready to take on, we ask ourselves what the act of letting go looks like and how it might change our lives for the better?Buddhism teaches that attachment is at the heart of suffering. So what happens when we loosen our grip on emotional clutter? Life begins to get easier. To clarify, this isn’t about stripping ourselves of all our worldly possessions and fleeing to an Ashram in Tibet. It is about the ideas that inhabit our minds and how we think about ourselves and the world around us. It means we learn to care about things not out of fear of losing them but rather because we understand that nothing is certain so we must learn to appreciate what is here- right now, in the present.This might look like:Feeling grateful for a job that you love rather than focusing on not being made partner in your firm.Feeling blessed for a strong healthy body that bore a child rather than lamenting not reaching your pre-pregnancy weight.Celebrating an amicable split instead of hating a former partner, friend or neighbour.Understanding that with endings, life offers new beginnings. Who knows what wonderful things might be waiting in the future?The following poem by Ernest Holmes sums this up nicely:Without a thought or a word, she let go.She let go of fear.She let go of judgments.She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.
 Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.She didn’t ask anyone for advice.She didn’t read a book on how to let go.
 She just let go. 
She let go of all the memories that held her back.She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.She didn’t promise to let go.She didn’t journal about it.
 She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.She made no public announcement.She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
 She just let go.She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.She didn’t utter one word.
 She just let go.No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations.
 No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.There was no effort. There was no struggle.It wasn’t good. It wasn’t bad. 
It was what it was, and it is just that.
 In the space of letting go, she let it all be.A small smile came over her face. A light breeze blew through her.And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.Here’s to giving ourselves the gift of letting go…There’s only one guru - you.Life has taught me some beautiful lessons on letting go over the past few years. I had a particular struggle with outcomes, to be honest. I worried about the future endlessly before, wondering if all my goals and aspirations would make life what I wanted it to be for myself and my children. I can attest to the fact that more truth and authenticity came into my life when I stopped setting the bar so impossibly high and lived each day more gently and kindly to myself and others. I asked myself what I truly felt rather than what everyone around me was saying. Letting go of the "what ifs" and the "Maybe I should have..." has gradually resulted in an existence devoid of anxiety and a peaceful knowledge that I have the strength to deal with whatever comes my way.May you have an amazing year ahead,Lorelei

Angry When People Make Mistakes in There Posts? Consider This.

The wrongtheirin the title is intentional.  It’s okay, really — it was done that to illustrate a point. While a grammar mistake in a title is one thing (learn to proofread already, amirite?!), occasional slip-ups are actually explainable.See, our brains store language in a way that Maryellen MacDonald, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, likens to “a network.” This network may know the rules of grammar, but other forces like pronunciation and word associations can scoot in and take over.PRONUNCIATIONWhen typing, we tend to pay attention to pronunciation. This means we may accidentally slip in a homonym or a contraction of a word instead of the word we mean. When we’re in a rush, the chances of these types of mistakes are even more probable. Words like “are” and “our” and “then” and “than” sound so similar that both words are activated as options in our brains when crafting a sentence.Even words that don’t sound exactly alike can slip in. For example, I made the mistake of writing “ingrained in your brand” instead of “ingrained in your brain” below, no doubt because the words sound similar. They’re not even that similar, yet my brain landed on the wrong word. Luckily, there’s this thing called proofreading…HABITSHabits are another major roadblock in the quest for perfect writing. Our brains are used to matching certain words in pairs — so sometimes we go on autopilot. We wouldn’t be able to type as quickly or efficiently without practice, but sometimes that practice does us wrong.For example, let’s say you update your status that you’re at a frozen yogurt place, and you type, “Just finished a yummy dinner at Bob’s! Time to eat some more than head to the movie!” Your brain automatically spit out the pairing of “more than” because that’s typically the combination you write.Another example? You slyly text your friend — while in the same room — for the sole purpose of mocking your other friends for not understanding your pedantic critique of a book. “Ha! That went over there heads!” Not only were you rushing to get that text out, but your brain fell back on habitual patterns. Because you type “over there” more frequently than “over their,” it’s ingrained in your brain to write the former.Now, not all people make these same mistakes, depending on their individual habits. But rest assured, everyone makes grammar mistakes! Even you.Resist the urge to reach for a snarky comment the second you stumble upon someone else’s grammar mishap. Outrage and sputtering superiority may just make you more likely to slip up yourself. Add in autocorrect and even more problems ensue! We can’t win 100% of the time.So try to focus on the intent behind a mistake, and if you must point it out, do it kindly, eh?(And proofread before you post!)For full article see:http://blog.theliteracysite.com/bad-grammar-consideration/?utm_source=twc-twcfan&utm_medium=social-fb&utm_term=20160420&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=bad-grammar-consideration&origin=twc_twcfan_social_fb_link_bad-grammar-consideration_20160420Author:C. Kramer earned a bachelor's degree in English with a creative writing emphasis from Hope College. Her mother battled breast cancer, and has been cancer-free for sixteen years. C. Kramer now resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

To mothers of young kids

As I loaded my bags in the grocery checkout line, a young mother behind me worked to manage 3 small children while unloading her items onto the conveyor belt. I had seen her throughout the store. The little ones were getting restless and she was doing her best to get what she needed before things hit fever pitch.I looked up at her and caught her eye.“I know.” She said. “I’m that mother with the kids everybody hates.”The cashier and I quickly reassured her that we weren’t thinking anything of the sort. In the fact aside from the odd tired cry from the littlest, they were very sweet. But fatigue was written all over her face.“I’ve been there.” I said. “These are busy years. Then they grow up and need you in different ways but it is not the same as managing so many little bodies.”“I believe you.” She said.  “I don’t have teenagers yet but I believe you.”It reminded me of a time years ago when after a long day in the city, we decided to try  a sit-down family dinner at a restaurant before a two hour drive home. The kids were young. We all crowded around a booth and worked to manage drinks and high chairs while keeping little hands off sugar packets and salt & pepper shakers.  All the while I was convinced the people around us were ticked they had been seated in the same section as us.As we stood up to leave, the man at the table across from us looked at me and said, “They are so well behaved. It’s really remarkable.”“Surely you don’t mean that.” I said. He said he did, that they had managed the meal so well. I thanked him and we headed home.Parenting is tough work. Nothing really prepares you for the longs hours and thousands of little things you are called upon every day to do when you have young children. Then add to this the ridiculous idea that somehow you are failing if your children act like… well, children.How exhausting to impose this expectation on yourself. Children aren’t supposed to be little adults, they’re supposed to be children. Part of their magic is the total honesty of being tired or thirsty and saying so, noticing the funny little things you would not normally pick up on, singing out loud in public with no inhibitions or going out in rain boots and a Halloween costume just because.This is a shout out to all the mothers out there who are doing a great job. Hang in there. Go easy on yourselves. I know you’re tired. I know some days seem thankless until all of a sudden, you get a sticky little kiss and hug from your toddler and it’s all worth it. What you’re doing has immeasurable impact. The crazy but precious season will pass more quickly than you think and one day those little people will grow up and realize just how much you gave. What a miraculous thing to raise a human being. You’re amazing! Don't let yourself believe anything else.