Bloom Counselling & Consulting
Suite 230 - 600 St. Anne's Road R2M2S2 Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Feeling like this holiday season sucks? You're definitely not alone. For many of us it will feel really different, and for lots of us - not in ways that are positive or hopeful. Here are some thoughtful words about how to cope this strange season. https://www.npr.org//throw-out-the-rulebook-to-get-through

The lovely Carmella at @re.connect.re.build invited participation in reflecting on the lessons of 2020. Where do we even start? This year has invited us into grief and loss and into out of control spaces. It's invited us to look at ourselves more critically, highlighted our collective blind spots, and both held together and divided us with astounding capacity.... In all of it, we each continue to walk out our own personal journeys of learning and healing. We continue to deepen into our knowledge of self. We continue to look at and explore what arises in us moment to moment. Therapists, too. We are all in this work of learning and growing and healing together. We are all working at getting what we need, finding safety, and tending to the things that still ache within us. We are all figuring out the messiness of being human together. This year has been a lot. It's been hard. And good. And bending. And shown us how resilient we are. Even if we don't want to be. Cheers to these lessons I've learned, and to yours - whatever they may be, and to continued growing, and to a fresh crop of life circumstances to stretch us in the year ahead. Feel free to offer your own reflections, too, if that feels good inside to you. #lessons #2020 #reflect #remember #lookback #lookahead #letsgo2021 #resilient #selfcompassion #grace #learning #always #solopreneur #therapist #winnipeg #ywg

What would it be like to be with our experience rather than judge it? What would it be like to accept all parts of who we are, rather than declare aspects of our self-experience as unworthy, unacceptable, bad, or in need of changing? What would it be like to be a safe haven for our own humanity, rather than a place of condemnation?... What would it be like to accept what we feel, tending to it and nurturing ourselves through whatever is arising, rather than trying to ignore, avoid, or reject our own felt experience? What if we could radically accept our full experience of being human in all its messiness, and spend our energy finding ways to hold onto our integrity in the midst of the painful parts of our humanity, rather than spending energy rejecting or hiding from or numbing uncomfortable aspects of what it means to be a person in this world? What if we could really believe deep in our bones that we are okay as we are rather than convincing ourselves that we would be more acceptable when _____? What if we made room for more nuance and complexity in our lives and inner worlds, and were able to gently hold competing things as true without needing to negate or erase one of them? What if the hard parts of humanity were evidence of our aliveness, and not of our failure? Holding fiercely to what is. To the fullness of the human experience in all of its complexity. And to the goodness and beauty of people, in all of their messy wholeness. The all of us is what is, and what is is so, so good. #winterwalks #thoughts #nature #chillydays #walks #trailsmb #meadow #river #reflect #ponder #reflections #tend #acceptance #isness #allowing #humanness #mess #allofit #bothand #goodanndhard #beauty #therapy #selfcompassion #winnipeg #ywg #wpg

Wanting to remember this season, where therapy looks like this. My basement office aglow with lamps and a wood wicked candle, laptop propped on textbooks, coffee nearby, and face illuminated by the light of the screen. It's not how it was ever supposed to be. Not what any of us signed up for. It's a bit lonely. And I miss my expansive office window and the way I could watch the neighborhood move through the day. And yet, even here, there is still goodness.... There are still insights and aha moments and moments of deep healing and bilateral eye movements across the small screen. My eyes still fill up with tears in the face of tender shares and powerful growing, and my heart still is full of pride and gratitude and delight in the humans who are on the other side of the screen. It is still good. And yet I desperately miss being able to look people in the eyes while I talk to them. I try to look in the camera so clients can feel me seeing them, but everything in me wants to watch their faces and body language and how they feel in their spaces. It's definitely imperfect. Yet I am ending the work week deeply grateful yet again. For the gift of withness. For courage. For the beauty of people. For the magic of connection, and the incredible wonder of healing. It is still happening, even here, in a less than ideal space. Humans are amazing. What a gift it is so be alive to witness the wonder of this life, even as it hands us so much more than we ever wanted to hang on to. Wishing you deep rest here in this breath, and moments of peace and the capacity to hold whatever it is that this life is asking you to carry these days. #homeoffice #laptopglow #reflections #therapy #online #onlinetherapy #counselling #emdrconsultantintraining #gratitude #grateful #bothand #goodandhard #connection #goodness #stillhere #winnipeg #ywg

Ordinary kindnesses. The recovered mitten set on a branch in the hopes that it's owner might discover it. The woman who stops to chat about the weather, sharing gratitude for the snowless trails and balmy warmth in mid November.... The couple who let you pass on the narrow path, waiting off to the side. Small, yet marvellously human moments. Shared space. Energies colliding. Tiny reminders that we exist together. If only we would be as tender with lost and lonely humans as we are with lost and lonely mittens. And just for fun, swipe to try a real life look and find. You're searching for one hidden deer. #wednesday #walks #forest #movement #pandemiclife #smallthings #kindness #humanness #connection #together #collective #lostandfound

May you not be deterred from putting in the work required to find the peace your body needs. #selfcare #backyard #fire #evening #fall #fallfire #peace #calm #quiet #kindness #winnipeg

The neighborhood is calm late into the night as I step out into the dark to take the dog around the block for her last stroll. The sun sets early these days, leaving the evening feeling endless and expansive. The air is still. Crisp, but not cold. A dusting of snow crunches underneath winter boots, and the sound of the dogs tags jingle as she tracks the scent of neighborhood cats across the snow. The streets are quiet, save for the sound of a cat fight across the way and a fe...w outdoor dogs protesting their evening loneliness, and I breathe in the peace and space of the nighttime stillness and it quiets the restlessness in my bones. The sky is clear, stars remaining steady and unchanged, immune to the shifts and uncertainties that happen down below. We find the light where we can. Hold the stillness. Breathe in the moments of respite and calm. Allowing the earth to hold us, and ourselves to just be. #lights #walk #evening #walks #dogwalking #christmaslights #nightlights #evening #nighttime #pause #beauty #notice #grateful #winnipeg #ywg

Finding so much sustenance in nature these days. In her steadiness and gentleness, in how incredibly unwavering she is, in how she invites me to breathe right to the bottom of my lungs and how she shares her beauty so freely, and in how she can hold every single thing I can bring to her without it ever being too much. We need spaces to hold us. Sometimes these are spaces with people, but we don't always have safe relationships to land in.... Yet I think we can find other ways to feel held; in the sway of branches, in the expansiveness of a starry sky, or in the comfort of cozy blankets piled in the favorite corner of the couch. Hoping that we might work to stay awake to what we need this season, and that we might work at showing up for ourselves and finding those holding spaces wherever they may be available to us. #trees #birch #birchtrees #forest #winterwalk #trailsmb #chickadee #birdshillpark #balmy #nature #holding #held #movement #walks #grateful #branches #beauty #stillness #quiet #winnipeg #ywg

Creating. Moving energy. Finding flow. Trying. Stretching.... Connecting with self. Failing. Slowing. Trying again. Accepting what is. Continuing to show up in this grand experiment that is life, offering so much kindness and compassion to myself as I go. Learning. Collecting wisdom. Exploring new spaces. And practicing being with what is, without fighting it. Wishing you space to try and room to experiment in your own lives as you walk into the weekend, hoping you may find your own spaces of aliveness and flow even here. Take good care of yourselves, loves. Life is hard. And yet there's still beauty. Let's keep finding it, creating it, being it . . . . . . . . #create #creativity #flow #experiment #try #trialanderror #energy #movement #art #makethings #weaving #yarn #learning #growing #trying #stretching #accepting #beingwith #beauty #pandemiclife #isolation #isolationcrafts #winnipeg #ywg

The quality of morning light was so rich and alive as I walked the block this morning, the air just the right amount of crisp, enough to wake you up without feeling completely chilled to the bone as one might expect in December on the prairies. A fall coat was sufficient, which felt like a generous gift of mother nature in a year where gifts are harder to find. As I rounded the corner to home, my eyes were drawn the sharp contrast of the weathered fence boards and the intrica...te shadow that graced them - my deep affection for the profundity of negative space finding resonance in the stark outline of dark branches against the golden wood. I will always marvel at the way in which what isn't it or wasn't can so perfectly capture what is. This capacity for us to know and grasp and live with an understanding the shape of something we may never have touched will always be a wonder and gift that I hold with such gratitude. Deeply grateful for slow Sunday mornings and sunshine and shadows. And the beauty of ordinary things that remind me of our capacity to move towards healing and wholeness. #shadow #tree #branches #ordinarybeauty #sunday #slowsunday #urbanbeauty #morninglight #negativespace #nature #naturalart #citylife #longestautumn #prairies #winnipeg #ywg

The other day as I was emptying the dishwasher I saw a picture posted online of a group of people huddled in a circle together, arms around each other with faces smiling. And I promptly burst into tears as I set glasses into the cupboard and forks in the drawer. I miss the life that was, like so many of us do. I miss brunches out and sitting in a coffee shop listening to teenage girls chatter loudly, I miss squeezing behind somebody in a grocery store to pass by, or sitting o...n a bus with someone's shoulder squished up against mine. I miss hugging my friends. I miss sitting around my BFFs kitchen island with tea. I miss seeing clients in person. I miss my kids' friends coming over. I miss being able to have people in my home. I miss live music and crowded spaces and standing right next to someone in a lineup. I miss seeing faces and watching people walk closely together and miss seeing kids play freely in the field. And yet, we press on. We keep going. Because bodies are incredible and resilient. We keep going. Because we can handle this, even though we don't want to and even though it just fucking sucks. We keep going. Because being human is an experience that is both beautiful and excruciating, and we are in a hard stretch here collectively. We keep going. Knowing that hard times have come before and that they have ended, and that this will end for us, too. We'll get to the other side, survey the damage, regroup, and press on. Sitting in the mess of it. Lamenting the losses. Finding small moments of peace. Remembering that we are resilient and can do hard things. Let's keep pressing on, together. #presson #trailsmb #walk #forest #trail #pressonwpg #keepgoing #urbantrails #encouragement #together #pandemic #pandemiclife #loss #grief #sadness #hardthings #resilience #carryon #winnipeg #wpg #ywg #spiritwoods

Grateful for this work. For courage. For the good parts of this platform. Goodnight folks

First. If you've sent an email asking about being a new client during these last six months and I didn't respond. I am really sorry. Some balls got dropped and I know for sure that some inquiries didn't receive a reply. Second.... If you have been thinking about therapy - particularly therapy at Bloom, I do have space for a couple new clients as we move into fall. Send an email to inquire if space is still available and we can see if this is the right fit/time for you. Third. Scheduling and flow is the trickiest of all things. Next to phone calls and responding to emails. Ok. So maybe it's a three-way tie. Small business life is imperfect and delightful and so good at helping me remember that nobody is good at everything and that's ok. And lastly? Your referrals are the kindest and most beautiful thing, folks. The absolute loveliest to know that you trust me with your people and want their wholeness and that you believe in this space and this work and in me enough to send them. I am deeply grateful. Grateful for the gift of being with. Grateful for healing. Grateful for courage. #therapy #space #bloom #winnipegtherapy #ywg #winnipeg #counselling #room #newclientspace #privatepractice #solopreneur #grateful #healing #wholeness

{today's ponderings} Thoughts on how shame is not actually needed to motivate and spur us on to do the things we don't love. Compassion and kindness and attuning to natural energy ebbs and flows may actually be more effective. Thoughts on the commodification of belonging and being seen, spurred on by @faratucker's reflections on Instagrams algorithm.... Thoughts on community care and capitalism and loneliness, and how the capitalist machine thrives off of keeping us disconnected and apart and purchasing solutions that alleviate our aloneness and the pain of social isolation. Thoughts on how I actually really enjoy having a dog. Mostly. Thoughts on family and marriage and how we often celebrate lengthy marriages but don't actually assess the quality and cost of staying, and how maybe there might be value in celebrating human wholeness in whatever form that takes, rather than merely celebrating an institution originally intended to trade women as property. Thoughts on french fries and how much I love them. Thoughts on movement and the sensory delight of decaying plant matter and seasons and death and renewal and waiting. Thoughts on how incredible it is to be old enough to not give a solitary fuck if my monochromatic selection of greys and blacks are fashionable. But rather celebrating that they are comfortable and how that is enough. Thoughts on unlearning and the ways embracing our own realities, deeply and fully, and how embracing difference and diversity rather than pushing for uniformity and sameness is the secret of healing and so central in the shedding stories that we never asked for. Thoughts on space and deservingness and the right to breathe and exist and take up space, and how we do not need permission to be. Trees. Meadows. River. Space. Breath. Grateful. #walk #lovewhereilive #fall #nature #trees #dogwalk #reflections #todaysthoughts #allthethoughts #trail #colors #autumn #deepthoughts #autumnvibes #getoutside #grateful #selfreflection #selfcompassion #beauty #breathe #dayoff #introvertlife #introverted #introvert #winnipeg #ywg

{Monday confessions} Instagram can be helpful sometimes. But it also can perpetuate ideas that people have all their stuff together. We select the parts we want to show and hide the rest, and allow the viewer to concoct their own story about our reality based on a frozen moment in time. So often the stories we write based on what we observe in an image fail to reflect what is happening behind the scenes. What a picture can't tell you is that I sometimes don't listen to my voi...cemails before they automatically delete. Administration is so hard sometimes and that is what slips through the cracks. What a picture can't tell you is that I often wear the same clothes to work two days in a row. And sometimes three. Because the effort of choosing a new Monday outfit after a late Sunday night is too much for my brain. What a picture can't tell you is how often I get frustrated parenting and leave the house to calm myself. Often driving to the water, where I can walk and feel in the safety of the trees. What a picture can't tell you is that even with lovely humans in my life, sometimes I - like most people, still feel lonely at times. And it can't tell you that I usually have a mountain of clothes on my floor at the end of the bed that gets big enough to be really cumbersome before I put it away. Or that I, too experience rejection and loss and friend break ups and complicated family dynamics. Social media is a lovely tool for connecting with shared experiences, for learning, for creative inspiration. And it can also be a source of triggering, shame, and toxic comparison that erodes a person's sense of enoughness. Remembering today that being human is complex and nuanced, and that 1080 x 1080px is insufficient space to capture the fullness of delight and depth of struggle that come with being alive. You're not doing anything wrong. This tiny box just isn't the whole story. Keep writing your own brilliantly messy, complex story. It's good. So good. Because it's yours. #instagram #socialmedia #stories #wholepicture #nuance #complex #complexity #human #onbeinghuman #thoughts #mondaythoughts #winnipeg #ywg

May you surrender the shoulds and the have to's. May you silence the voices that drown out your own. May you connect deeply to your own knowing.... May you live bravely in the wildness of what is. #untamed #wild #isness #knowing #wisdom #free #cage #open #live #freedom #compassion #selfcompassion #words #quote #beherenow

Finding the beauty in what is today. Letting the sound of leaves swaying and the warmth of sun on skin and the rhythm of feet on woodchipped paths anchor me to the here and now. Grateful for breath. Grateful for beauty. And for steadying amidst seas of change.... #prairie #prairies #beauty #nature #expansive #refresh #isness #grateful #sun #september #seasons #newthings #anchor #ground #warmth #movement #winnipeg #wpg

Adulting is hard. The way in which our individualistic and capitalist society is structured has divorced us from the communal and supportive ways of doing life that we were made for. Our cultural priorities around achievement, productivity, and the acquisition of more has left us overworked and exhausted. Technological "advancement" has increased stimulation and accessibility, and decreased connection with that which grounds us. It is hard to be an adult in this world, when s...o much of it is not designed for our actual wellbeing. Throw on top of this global unrest with a pandemic, political uncertainty, and climate crisis and adulting becomes even harder. If you, like many of us, are struggling to keep up these days - let this be your reminder that you are enough. You are not failing. We exist in a system that is not set up to provide ourselves with the connection, community, rest, and permission to stop striving that we actually need to thrive. Maybe your inability to do all the things is actually your body wisely rebelling against a society that has set us up to believe that money is meaning and advancement is analogous to success. Maybe this protest is sacred and your resistance to do more, holy. Wishing you peace and pause and a remembering of your goodness and worthiness as something so beyond what you can do, produce, or perform. You are good. And enough. And you are the farthest thing from failure. Sending love to you today. #adulthood #adulting #adult #adultlife #parenting #parenthood #motherhood #mothering #momming #momlife #minirant #rest #capitalismsucks #enough #goodness #goodenough #worthy #rest #pause #community #connection #therapistthoughts #winnipeg #ywg

May we be forever open to being changed in relationship. May we always stay open to learning and discovering more about what it means to be human. May we be humble enough to know that growing is a lifelong process. Forever grateful for the collection of humans who have ushered me into deeper spaces of knowing, who have challenged me to grow beyond what I thought I knew, and who have taught me more and more about what it means to be human.... #whenbreathbecomesair #human #relationship #connection #therapy #parenting #change #growing #quote

Making decisions about decorating things for this Enneagram 1/INFJ is not easy. I have absolutely zero capacity to problem solve design issues, and literally no idea how to visualize spaces without actually setting up things IRL. For me the process looks something like this. 1. Ignore the thing that bothers you. For a long time. Just unsee it. If you ignore it long enough, it's like it's not really there.... 2. Become aware of the thing you've ignored. Then fixate on the thing, and become consumed with solving the "new" problem. Problem must be solved quickly, because caring about the thing is taking up precious mental real estate, and shopping for the thing is hard. 3. Find one possible idea. Pick it to the exclusion of all valid options. Ignore good suggestions from your partner, because thinking about other ideas feels like work, and you've mentally committed to your one idea and need to see it. 4. Procure items. Build items. Set up items. Take photos of items. 5. Have second thoughts about the decision. Google other options late into the night. Tell shame to screw off, because you're okay even if you make shitty decisions and have to redo things. 6. Debate giving up all together on changing things, even though you don't love choice # 1. Persevere. Settle on a new item. The item your astute partner suggested in the first place. 7. Procure new item. Partner builds new item for you, because you're tired of touching things. Set up new item. 8. Apologize to partner for being unable to hear their ideas. Thank partner for being gracious and supportive even though you dismissed their ideas. 9. Unassemble and pack up old item, with partners help - because the thinking and deciding and touching of things had depleted your life force. 10. Return old item, and go back to ignoring things. This, friends, is the story of my life. Decorating is the worst and I just cannot. When I try, it is usually exhausting and stupid and I hate it and it takes forever. Minimalism is my jam. But really it's just that I can't decide, so a stark existence is my safest bet. Also? It's okay to not be good at shit. Because you are okay, regardless. Me too. And? I like my new shelf.

So the world is a bit of a dumpster fire these days. And I really don't know anything about anything. School starts next week - who are their teachers? What time do classes start? Do we get a seat on the bus?... Who the fuck knows? There is so much we can't control. And also, excessive ruminating isn't going to change a single thing. So instead, I'm shoving uncertainty aside today and making room to enjoy things. The crisp morning air. Good coffee. The enthusiasm of a dog in the morning. A hike. Sunshine on the deck. A slow day with time to make a comforting supper. Let's not trade enjoyment and delight for worry and fear. Let's not let uncertainty drown out the beautiful parts of existence. Let's invite our bodies into the is-ness of each moment, and find enjoyment there. This is what helps sustain us through all that feels weighty. A piece of chocolate. A favorite song. Fall boots. The sun on the sidewalk. The laughter of children. The funny meme. The snuggle of your pet. Look closely. It's there. You can find it. #enjoy #morning #walks #dogpooppickupstop #joy #delight #pause #notice #thiscovidlife #september #changes #isness

Being with is such a phenomenally beautiful experience. Witnessing others as they connect with inner wisdom and their right to exist wholly and fully as they are is an immeasurable and sometimes achingly overwhelming gift. Ending the day with a reverberation of words, my body feels full to overflowing with awe and deep gratitude.... Today may you be reminded of this You are good. You are worthy. You are loved, as you are. There's nothing wrong with you. Your body can be trusted. You know what you need. You have what it takes within you. You belong to you and that is enough. Because you are enough. You have always been enough. Wishing you all the grace and courage and enough safe spaces to guide you home to yourself. #gratitude #grateful #therapist #therapy #words #belonging #home #safety #fullheart #enough

We spent hours at the mall today, masked up and working our way through back to school shopping lists and bathing in liters of hand sanitizer. The store clerks were diligent in keeping numbers in stores low. Change rooms sanitized. Hands cleaned upon entry. Then we returned home to yet another email from school administrators about changed plans this year, with school configurations shifting to accomodate physical distancing within our division as much as possible. ... Administration within our division have been logistical warriors, plotting out desks and coordinating new class arrangements and navigating bus routes that adhere to distancing requirements. I asked my youngest how much she wanted to know about the new plans, and she asked to be looped in. So much is shifting, and there are still so many unknowns. Changes are hard. There were tears and overwhelm for a kid who likes order and consistency and knowing what to expect. Of course. As we gear up to go back to school, it's understandably overwhelming. This season is asking a lot of us. There is so much we don't know and can't control. And as parents and people living in this time, we have to find ways to cope. My goal as a mom is to encourage resilience, not fear as we face these challenges. Our kids look to us to figure out how they, too, should be feeling. We set the tone. And we have the chance to help our kids be bendy, flexible, and to practice handling adversity. We have the chance to teach them that they can control what they can, that they can navigate the reality of uncertainty now and in this life at large, and that they can be okay. We have prepped here with comfy masks, which we also wear without fussing to model community responsibility and care for others. We school shopped and lunched out and did normal things we do every year. We let them know that there will be Covid tests this year, of course, because we have to be mindful that coughs and sniffles aren't Covid. And we let them know that we'll be here to figure it out with them. We've let them lament. And assured them that this is hard for everybody. But we have also made it clear that we are going to roll with it. We will hold things loosely. We will be flexible. We will care for others. We will check in on each other. We will keep doing life. We will still find joy. We will grieve things we miss. We can handle what comes. We will roll with it. Perhaps you, too, need a mantra for this year. If you do, feel free to borrow ours. And let's work to remember that we can control what we can, and that we have what we need to manage the risks of living. Things are overwhelming, and figureoutable. We can do this. We can bend and flex. We can roll with it. Join me?

There is something so raw about this pups desire to be close, to be touching, to feel cared for. Her enthusiasm around connecting is unrestrained and really fascinating to observe. No matter how long you've left the house, she is thrilled when you return. In the morning you'll find her whimpering at my bedroom door (the one room that's off limits), and some days she just can't help herself and she sneakily army crawls over to my side of the bed to excitedly say hello. She's l...Continue reading

15 years today. As a child raised in a family that requires two hands to count the number of collective divorces, it feels deeply exciting to be celebrating yet another year of marriage with my love. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and in some religious environments where divorce was frowned upon, and where the stigma in growing up in a "broken family" was shame laden and painful....Continue reading

Being human is such an adventure. What a dazzling experience of tension it is. It seems that the so much of the work of existing is about getting good at holding seemingly opposed things in tandem. What a tall task this is.... Tonight I find myself amused yet again by the feral feline fellowship that happens in front of my house every evening. The neighborhood strays congregate at a neighbour's house, a quirky fellow that I believe has taken it upon himself to feed the dozen+ that linger about. Every night. Cat party. My street. Without fail. The consistency of it is strangely grounding, and I find myself enjoying the nightly ritual of stalking the critters as they congregate. I love the steadiness of it. It's soothing in a way, rhythmic. Like seasons. And yet as much as I adore the reliability of such things, I also crave newness and spontaneity and novelty. Perhaps it is about too much of one thing being not good for us? Or the monotony of the sameness of pace? Or that all of one thing and none of another isn't ideal? Maybe it's always about the mixture. The both/and. The holding of multiple realities in open hands. Maybe this is where life is deeply lived and deeply felt, in this space of holding of things in tension. The routine alongside interruptions. The joy alongside the sorrow. The safety alongside the chaos. The work alongside the play. The disappointment alongside the hope. The excitement alongside the drudgery. Maybe life is about being jostled out of complacency, out of rigidity, and into flow. Maybe it's about embracing fluidity and learning to be with what is right now instead of a prescripted box of what should be. Maybe? Cat thoughts. Life thoughts. Night thoughts. Happy evening, all . . . . . . . #cats #catsofinstagram #feral #feralcats #evening #catagram #rhythm #routine #cattown #bothand #musings #thoughts #tension #neighbourhood #winnipeg #ywg

Evening sun. Warm air. Peaceful heart. Deeply aware of seasons, both outside and on the inside. Noticing the subtle shifts as summer stretches on and how the quality of evening air is different than it was weeks ago. And noticing the shifts on the inside that seem to move so much quicker, sometimes jagged, sometimes soft.... There is something comforting about the cyclical nature of things. The way the natural world continues to move through and return again and again to familiar spaces. The way we, too, move in rhythms that shift and bend and return - if we let them. Grateful for this. All of it. Nature. Beauty. Seasons. Feelings. Hard things. Beautiful things. All the things that make us human and alive. #nature #flowers #summer #summernights #evening #eveninglight #cycles #rhythm #return #bloom #unfold #winnipeg #ywg

There is something sacred about morning hours. As a resident night owl I rarely experience them. But after the most beautiful, ridiculously early start to the day - I'm beginning to wonder if experiencing the peaceful stillness of the quiet morning is precisely what this heart of mine needs. As I sat by the water with my coffee and a book, listening to the sound of birds, the rustle of leaves, and the hum of a world slowly starting to wake up, I found myself pondering need me...eting. Here's what rolled through my heart. There's a part of me that longs for ideal need meeting. For it to be easy and simple and to be exactly the way I'd like. I certainly have a vision in my head of the life that I long for, and it is in certain ways a far cry from the life that is. And alongside that, there's a certain grief about the aspects of my life that don't match my longed for narrative. Some of that grief extends deeper, and I continue to peel away the layers and tend to those sorrows. And yet even in this space of imperfection and longing, in the moments of where I am not able to get what I need in exactly the way I need it, even here I could drink in the enoughness of what is. As I watched the morning come to life, I was deeply immersed in the satisfaction that some is better than none. Imperfect isn't unsafe. Imperfect can still be good. Imperfect can be enough. Letting go of an idealized experience, and being deeply immersed in what is, is a gift I can give to my here and now self. Tending to what is, in the space and room and with the resources of now is my adult task - rather than waiting to have things unfold in an idealized and unlikely way. I am able to get some of what I need. And that is often enough. Today that looked like a godawful early wake up, in exchange for peace and solitude and some really murky river water. Wishing you space to meet your own needs today too, in whatever imperfect ways it may unfold. #urbanbeauty #citylife #theforks #art #river #morning #walks #peace #peaceful #grateful #space #grief #introvertlife #introvertmom #momlife #thiscovidlife #solitide #aloneness #winnipeg #wpg @theforkswinnipeg

{fireside ramblings} My introverted self has been suffocating a bit lately. It happens every year, usually as summer winds down and the last few weeks before school set in. I ache for the routine and structure and aloneness they comes with a return to regular life programming.... I usually celebrate the start of school with breakfast at my favourite place, where I eat hash browns and drink coffee leisurely - revelling in the way my server remembers my order and how I take my coffee, while rewarding myself for showing up in full capacity for both clients and my family as summer unfolded. This year, the fatigue has set in sooner. Though later than anticipated when considering this really is month 4.5 of perpetual peopling. All the bonus stars for holding it together this far. It would be lovely if my energy and capacity was greater. It would be easier sometimes if I was more extroverted. It would be less taxing if I wasn't deeply sensitive, or if I wasn't deep diving in my own therapy work. It would be lovely in that it would perhaps alleviate some of the summer overhelm. But also? It would change me, and I would be a different version of myself because of that. I think I've learned to love myself just as I am and I actually like how I live in this world and I don't want to actually do anything to mess with it. I don't want to wish away some of the beautiful parts of being human, and the ways that I exist in the world, simply because being human gets hard sometimes. I don't want to avoid the tension of personhood. Being human is both delightful and difficult, sacred and fraught with struggle. There is room for all of what it means to be human, both the good and the hard. There's nothing wrong with struggling. There's nothing wrong with feeling overwhelmed. There's nothing wrong with needing space. There's nothing wrong with needing to tend to yourself. There's nothing wrong with being weary. There's nothing wrong with being you. Rather, there is information and opportunities to show up. There are signals and signs from within that speak to a need for care and love and rest. There are messages that call for a shift in pace and careful choosing. As you listen to your own self in this complicated world, may you experience grace and tenderness toward your full humanity. May you give yourself permission to fully show up, making room for the comfortable and uncomfortable parts of what it means to be a human. May you be an attentive listener to your own body and it's wisdom, and may you lovingly honor what it needs and the deep knowing it holds. May you learn to hold those slippery parts of self, the tricky parts, with gentleness and care. All of you is worth celebrating and loving and knowing, just as you are.

Survivors, of all kinds of wounds. Maybe nobody has told you lately. Maybe you need to hear this. Maybe you need to know that your struggle and commitment to showing up is not lost in this life.... You have been handed more than one should ever have to hold. Some of you have been given less than you needed. Some of you were taken from. Others forgotten. Others still left to care for the needs of others while your own went unmet. Some of you are working at healing, at returning for wounded parts of self that need to know the coast is now clear. That it's safe to come home. Some of you are learning that you are the one you've been waiting for. Others are working at finding stable spaces to land, while nursing leftover wounds others unjustly inflicted. And others are still picking up pieces while raising little loves, working tirelessly to give them better than what you got. And maybe some of you are simply surviving and managing pain in whatever ways you can. You are still here. You are still showing up. And sometimes it's brutal. And beautiful. And exhausting. And demanding. And relentless. And unfair. And it's sometimes impossible to sift through the trauma stories and the truth. But you keep showing up. Leaning in. Feeling. Undoing avoidance. Grieving. Unearthing unspeakable things. Loving. Trying. Trusting. Hoping. And trying again. And your efforts are not in vain. You deserve all the goodness and beauty and connection and safety and love that you long for. Your spirit is tender and vulnerable and so deeply strong.You are writing endings that are so vastly different than the beginnings, and your stories here matter so very much. You are who this world needs. You are working so hard. I am so awed. So proud. Glossy eyed at the depth of your spirit and at the spaces in you that keep aching and hoping, and maybe even knowing, you are worth it all. Honoring you today. You are amazing. Just in case nobody has told you that lately. #survivor #trauma #ptsd #cptsd #recovery #resilience #heal #healing #mentalhealth #iseeyou #hardwork #showup #keepgoing #persistence

Reflecting today on pride month as it draws to a close, and on growth and change and what it means to love without condition. Thinking about implicit and explicit bias, and how we have an obligation to keep changing and learning - and how dangerous it is to stay deeply entrenched in one way of thinking. 15 years ago or so I attended a small Christian college in rural Saskatchewan. It was a space that I think in many ways I benefitted from, but also a space that I have most ce...Continue reading

I often hear of an imaginary timeline that people feel they're behind on. Folks have an idea in their head of where they "should be by now," and there is often a lot of shame when these milestones or targets aren't reached at the right time. It's all too easy to compare our progress to others, and to feel disappointed that we're not farther along. We look at our age or life circumstance or bank account and feel like we're missing it, and we need to catch up to belong. Feeling... out of sync and longing for that which you may not yet have is hard. Of course there is a yearning for those things that will help you feel rooted and anchored. But you're blooming in your own time. And it's the right time. And you don't belong on anyone else's schedule. You're not doing this wrong. When we see others grow and settle, we don't always take into account the protective factors and supports that made growth possible for them. It's not an equitable playing field. Some people are planted in fertilized gardens with automatic sprinklers. Others are trying to grow in the middle of a prairie winter and are wondering why they're struggling. It's hard to bloom when we're not safe. When we aren't supported the ways we need. Some of us have extra work to do before we can even root. And getting safe can take time for those for whom safety has been precarious. Let's be extra gentle with your growing, compassionate with your story, and gentle with your progress. There is no wrong. There is no timeline. Where you are is okay. You will bloom in time. #grow #growth #time #patience #adulthood #adulting #settle #bloom #flower #clematis #backyard #selfcompassion #patience #itsokay #winnipeg #wpg

Boundary setting can be so hard. Taking care of ourselves in a way that creates discomfort or hurt feelings for another isn't always easy. Especially if we've grown up cleaning up other people's discomfort as a means of acquiring safety. Boundary setting is hard, even as it is still good and so necessary.... In learning to hold our shape and keep our space and not self-abandon, we practice asking for what we need and move in ways that are kind and loving toward ourselves. This is new for a lot of us, to include ourselves in the love that we give. And for some of us, loving ourselves and taking care of what we need - and not curating the comfort of others - is a novel experience. As we experiment with boundary setting and start to implement new ways of relating, it can be super discouraging when our efforts to set limits aren't respected. This is so hard, especially in the early stages of establishing new patterns in relationships that used to function differently. And? It's so common to have folks plow through our boundaries as though we haven't said a thing. As we start to establish new expectations in relationship, we might need to set boundaries with the same people more than once. In a few different ways. It's frustrating AF. And still not evidence of you doing anything wrong. Keep setting your limits. Keep taking care of you. What you're asking for isn't wrong or too much. You're allowed to take up space in relationships. Keep showing up and holding your own space. It's yours. You are worth caring for. #boundaries #repeat #relationship #selflove #selfcare #selfcompassion #family #friendship #limits #therapy #winnipeg #ywg

Reflecting on rest and what it means to be held + pondering the idea of safe landing spaces, and what it looks like when those are absent in longed for ways. Sitting with questions about authentic relationships, expectations, and what it means to show up in ways that are honest. Sorting through the complexity of relationship, and the both/and of relentless compassion and sometimes painful accountability, and what it looks like to take care of self in the midst of complicated ...relationships. Sending love to those wrestling with their own relationships this weekend as many folks celebrate the dads in their lives. Holding space for those with complex and challenging relationships, for those that were hurt instead of held, and for those who are missing what they longed for or perhaps missing what they were lucky enough to have but don't anymore. Take extra good care of yourselves, friends. . . . . #fathersday #parenting #parents #complicated #grownupkid #reflection #compassion #accountability #bothand #expectation #disappointment #grief #loss #longing #family

I lay awake in the night pondering all the things. Friendship. Community. Living well together. Belonging. None of these are new thoughts, rather they exist in a series of overlapping spirals, twisting in and out of each other and moving ever deeper, seemingly unending. I lay awake in the dark, thoughts drifting and my body feeling through what it means to know what you long for and needed alongside the radical acceptance of the reality that it isn't ever coming.... There is something profoundly gut wrenching in holding deeply the awareness that things were not as they should be, perhaps even still aren't as they should be - and yet that ache can somehow be simultaneously held alongside the knowledge that all is okay, or perhaps okay enough. That here and now, in spite of that raw sorrow, that it is still okay - perhaps even good? That in spite of it all there can be joy and delight and beauty. I think this is a spot of excruciating humanity. In the both and of loss and sufficiency. Longing and contentment. Sorrow and yet still joy. The chasm that exists between such polarities seems almost impossible to merge, and yet somehow, they can and do intersect, opening up a tender and vulnerable and beautiful space of deep personhood. I wish I had more words for all of this. But for now these rambles will have to do. What hard work it is to be fully human. To fully lean into our humanity, into our felt sense, into our most intimate and vulnerable spaces of need and longing - and to be gentle and kind and with our own selves there. Courage to you, and to me, as we keep exploring these complicated intersections of personhood. Sending love to you today. #thoughts #rambling #thursday #reflection #clearlake #socold #humanity #onbeinghuman #intersections #bothand #tension #personhood #curiosity #infjlife #allthethoughts #rmnp #manitoba

In awe of survival these days. In awe of bodies. Of brains. Awed by the ways we adapt and shift to survive. In awe of the capacity of humans and the resilience of spirit and of the will to survive.... In awe of the capacity to find joy, to delight, and the way new stories are written when some are hard pressed to even find a pen. Awed by the beauty and depth and by the incredible goodness of humans. May you celebrate your survival, however it unfolded. May you learn to trust your body, and see how it has worked for and not against you. May you find safety here, now. May all of you come home to yourself. You are so very good. You matter deeply. You are so worth loving. #thoughts #survival #trauma #recovery #ptsd #cptsd #adapt #good #goodness #worthy #self #selflove #selfcompassion #healing #growth #safety #therapy #emdr #winnipeg #wpg

Sometimes we believe things deeply, and hold to truths and realities with our whole being. We can't imagine ourselves believing or feeling anything different. 19 year old me got a tattoo expressing devotion to a faith system that I no longer subscribe to in the same way. Oops.... Other things I have deeply believed to know and be true? I went to college certain I wasn't going to date anyone for the year. I was instead dating in October, engaged in March, and married the following August. I am surprised I didn't give myself whiplash. I wasn't going to ever have my own practice. I 100% didn't want the work of it. Didn't ever want the responsibility of all the things. Clearly we know how that worked out. And the latest? I didn't ever want a dog. Wasn't going to get one. Except then we fostered one (mostly for the sake of my kids), and now we have a permanent dog. Because she was the right fit and having her is good for us. I was wrong about it. And lots of things I thought I knew. And I was pretty vocal about about lots of these things, until things shifted. And now I am here with a different story. It is uncomfortable to change our minds, to retract that which we used to feel strongly about. There might be an element of shame that comes when others say, "I told you so..." Or point out the ways we have dramatically changed. But that discomfort that comes with shifting? It's okay. And it's manageable. We are allowed to change and grow. It's actually imperative that we change and grow. As we take in new data, have new experiences, and explore frameworks beyond those that we grew up in - we will change. It's a beautiful and brilliant part of this life. And as we engage in anti racist work, it is also necessary for us to be able to humbly acknowledge the ways we were wrong, off base, and steeped in bias and bad learning. We are allowed to shift. Let's embrace the work of being human, the learning, the changing, and the growing. Also? I really do like this dog. And I couldn't have imagined we'd be dog people. But here we are. Cheers to change. Let's keep growing. #dog #fosterfail #iwaswrong #change #changeyourmind #learn #newthings #dogpeople #unlearn #wpg

I would have told you 15 years ago I wasn't racist if you asked. I would have pointed to the diverse community that I grew up in. I would have pointed out that I had a friend who was brown. I would have told you that my step-siblings are biracial, and that I wasn't racist. And I would have meant it with all sincerity.... But I still remember the day about 13 years ago when I was walking to work from my apartment, across downtown, when I walked by an indigenous man and felt afraid. I looked down. Surprised by my own body response, and have since spent many hours unpacking and working at unlearning the stories my body held about indigenous people. I have to actively work at rejecting colonialist leftovers. I noticed then, and became ever more aware, that a lack of obvious and external racism does not mean we are free from internalized racism and from experiencing the benefits that white skin affords us. My whiteness means I get the benefit of the doubt. It means my son is less likely to be followed by cops when he begins to drive. It means that I don't get asked to leave my bag at the front of the store when I walk in, that my snarky parenting is excused as a bad day, and that I don't have suspicious eyes on me as I walk through the drug store - all of which would be different experiences if I were in different skin. It means my voice is often taken more seriously than those in the room who are black, indigenous, or people of color. Even if I have less expertise. I have had many of these gut checking experiences over the years, where my own internal and implicit racism emerges. When I see it pop up I am often so uncomfortable, and deeply aware of how much unlearning I have still to do. The privilege and power of whiteness is woven into our societal fabric in a multitude of ways. The idea that white is more often right doesn't need to be explicitly said in order to be communicated. As a white woman, it is imperative that I continue to explore the ways that I contribute to and am complicit with systems that uphold whitness and it's bullshit power, systems that continue to oppress and kill marginalized people. I think it's critical that we do our own work of unlearning so that we can actively pursue justice for all people, and I share my own experience here in an effort to let you know you're not alone. And to let you know that good intentions aren't enough, that the absence of overt racism doesn't mean you're off the hook, to encourage you to look carefully at how you benefit from your whiteness, and to consider how we might learn to be better allies for those who have been victims of a system that was rigged against them from the start. If we are pro life and for people, we need to be for all people.

It's so easy to shame ourselves for all that we haven't done, didn't do, or are struggling with. It's easy to be hard on ourselves for the ways we have and perhaps are presently still managing and coping. Wondering what it might feel like to offer gracious words to ourselves, to remind ourselves not that were failing - but that we are doing the best we can with what we have. Let's trust that we are using the skills and resources we have available to us at any given moment. Le...t's trust that we can keep learning more. Let's hold space and compassion for the reality that our best sometimes might be disappointing, but that we are not disappointing. I'm doing my best. And I trust you are, too. #doingmybest #kindness #selfcompassion #grace #human #showup #gentleness #energy #attune #loveyourself #weekend #enough #goodenough #worthy #worthiness #selflove #words #mantra #winnipeg #ywg

Sending love to those who adore their mamas. Sending love to those for whom it's complicated. Sending love to those who needed more. Or different a mama altogether. Sending love to those without a mama.... Sending love to those who are drowning in motherhood. Sending love to those who long for it deeply. And to the ones who wonder if they made a mistake. Sending love to those mothering alone. Sending love to those who know motherhood isn't for them. Sending love to the mamas breaking cycles of trauma. Sending love to mamas who are missing their babies gone too soon. Sending love to the stand in mamas, the bonus mamas, and to the grandmas who are doing it all over again raising their grandbabies. Sending love to those whose hearts are full. Sending love to those whose hearts ache. And to those whose hearts shatter into a million pieces today. May today have moments of whatever you need. May you rest deeply in the knowledge that you are good. May you hold to the truth that you have always been worth loving without condition, and to the knowledge that the love you have to give matters and is needed in this world. May you offer all the kindness and love you have always needed and have always deserved to your innermost parts today. Whatever you need this day, wishing you space and room to hold that close. . . . . #mothersday #motherhood #mom #momlife #mothering #parenting #parenthood #selfcompassion #selfcare #love #heymamas #takegoodcare #mama #family #community #bonusmom #gratitude #grateful #complicated #relationship

This season of not knowing is so interesting. So strange. So hard. The losses and disappointments pile up, with rhythms and events that anchored us in our lives having been so violently uprooted without giving any indication of their return. Each week it seems there are fresh griefs and more farewells required. Today, however, it was a sweet gift to welcome back a small part of our old life. A visit to the park for the first time in months was undoubtedly magnificent in all o...f its ordinariness. The cold north wind couldn't deter delighted hands and feet from climbing and swinging and imagining. It's been said that grief is love with no place to go. What overwhelming grief it is when so many things you love are paused and out of reach. What a gift it is to get to love the simple things up close again. #park #playground #climb #play #playstructure #covid #pandemicparenting #pandemic #smallthings #joy #ordinary #celebrate #anchor #root #momlife #motherhood #grief #love #loss #gratitude #grateful #winnipeg #wpg

Sometimes we might find ourselves shifting out of old shapes and patterns and ways of moving into new ones. Sometimes we discover new stories or lenses or perspectives that provide an accurate and deeper sense of clarity in ways they didn't before, and we start to see and understand things in ways that we struggle to unsee. New information and experiences and understanding can call us to action, as we find ourselves constricted by the smallness of what no longer fits.... Sometimes, though, it's hard to reconcile moving on from what was, especially if old structures or templates provided security or safety. Especially if there was goodness within those frameworks. It can be painful to shift; and sometimes we stay, out of fear, out of obligation, out of guilt for growing, or perhaps out of fear of what it might mean to no longer belong in the same way. Perhaps there is room to see these shifts not as an abandoning of what was, or as an outright rejection of old patterns and structures and ways of existing in the world, so much as an expanding to include new truths, new realities, and new patterns of movement that are more honest and true, and that more fully and deeply align with here and now you. We can hold gratitude for what was, and perhaps see the necessity in how it used to be, honouring what was while opening arms wide to embrace and make room for all that is here now, too. #growth #change #embrace #movement #shift #honest #vaguethoughts #grow #spiraldynamics #evolve #permission #dynamic #expand #expansion #tuesdaythoughts #therapist #therapy #winnipeg

Missing pre-pandemic life a little extra tonight, and deeply aware of the both/and of these times. There is gratitude and grace. There are small sustaining practices. There is joy. And yet there is also grief and longing for the rhythm of what was, and a wondering of when post covid life will return, and what it might look like when it does. It's both/and. Always. Everywhere.... Holding space for all of it here. And always holding coffee. #isolation #covid #pandemic #hardthings #bothand #coffee #itsdecaf #unknowns #therapist #allthefeels #feelings #grief #imissmyfriends #introvert #introvertlife #momlife #motherhood #parenting #pandemicparenting #winnipeg

I stood by the water yesterday, carefully perched in a dry enough space to watch the ice flow swiftly down the swollen river. . . My body was aching for trees and water, thirsty to drink in the vibration of each to calm the hum in my own heart. .... . There is something so extraordinary about the natural world. About the way that seasons flow with such astounding regularity and consistency, something so marvelous about the reliability of leaves in spring, the delicious humidity of summer, the barrenness of fall, the desolation of winter, and the return to fullness that will inevitably arise. . These rhythms are medicine to my heart, and remind me of that hope is not in vain, and that beauty and light always return with certainty and surety. . . There is something profound in realizing that the river is not anxious about its swell, nor are the trees concerned about the present state of their leafless branches. Nature marches on with confidence and unwavering resolve, ebbing and flowing and blooming and withering with a forceful and yet gentle confidence, reminding us that the very cycles that guide them guide us too. . . "It will be okay," it whispers. "All will be well," it breathes. "Just wait and see." . . . . . #river #redriver #spring #melt #ice #floodseason #lessons #peace #eveningsky #nature #sun #sunsets #rhythm #lessonsfromnature #grateful #beauty #swell #peaceful #calm #slow #ground #winnipeg #ywg See more

It's hard to keep track of days. They are blurring one into the next, with fresh mornings emerging without awareness of where we are in the week until I open the calendar and acquaint myself with another day that looks so much like the one before. In this stripped down life I am holding the simplicity and slowness alongside the slight suffocation of continual space sharing and the discomfort of not knowing when familiar life will return. There are so many giant feelings unelo...quently juxtaposed, with lines blurring and folding into each other until it's nearly indistinguishable where one ends and another begins. I think this murky middle that we have been forcefully invited into is a space that can be just so uncomfortable. As the noise and hustle of life is stripped away we are left with ourselves in a raw and vulnerable way. With our fears and our feelings and unmet needs, with space and time to confront aspects of ourselves or our lives that we have managed to avoid or drown out until now. We might find ourselves reaching for old coping strategies to quiet the noise, or in bodies that are freezing up in the face of so many unknowns. These are complicated times. And we shouldn't know how to do this. But we're learning. There are small moments of grace and beauty that can be found in these days; some folks have to look harder and have heavier loads. My heart aches for those who are thrust into a fight for survival. Know that my reflections are not intended to minimize your lived out realities, or suggesting that grace and beauty can put food on your table or pay your rent. Yet my own experience now is that moments of grace and beauty pull me back here, now, and keep me out of the uncertainty of next week or next month or what the next school year might look like. The far apart driveway chat with @purelymassage, the delivery of Costco snacks to a friend, the way the evening sun shines on barren tree branches, a bright star (maybe a planet?) in the dusky sky. The way movement pulls me out of irritation and overwhelm and hauls me back into my body. Small moments. These are anchoring me in the midst of other more challenging aspects of this strange season, and I will continue to stay small - eyes focused in front, not gazing too far ahead - but letting myself be here, now. Sending love to you today, and breathing out grace - that it may find you where you're at. Grace for you. Grace for those you meet. Grace for the short tempers and the tears and the sink full of dishes and the to-do list that didn't get done. Grace to remember that we are all learning as we go, and that being human is messy and hard and grace to remember you're doing your very best.

Last night's tumbling thoughts on pandemic, loss, hope, privilege, and pain, and the stories we write to make sense of our world. Buckle up, it's long https://bloomcounselling.com//thoughts-on-how-we-make-sen/

Hi body. I see you here, having a hard time, not knowing which way is up. Not knowing whether to ramp up or shut down, whether to tense up or collapse into a puddle on the floor. Maybe even doing both in the span of a few minutes.... I see you...I feel you, not knowing how to discern whether you're safe or not. Shifting moment by moment, news article by news article, new protocol by new protocol as you try and acclimate to an ever changing reality that nobody is prepared for. You're not supposed to know what to do here, it's ok. I see you trying. Learning. Showing up in ways that you can. Thank you. I feel you relishing the safety of your home, and yet on guard as you walk into the world at large with jaw clenched and a reticent wariness of humans you'd typically move warmly towards. I get it. These are such strange times. I feel you needing people, while desperately needing aloneness. Getting bits and pieces of what you need, while accepting that for a while we just have to wait on the rest of it. I see you cycling through old ways of feeling safe and settling, and am so proud of you for doing your best. For showing up in the ways you know used to help. Maybe some still help a little now, too? Maybe some ways we can retire, I'm not so sure they're still helpful. I feel you delighting in goodness + beauty + kindness. Your eyes get glossy and face wet when you witness the warmth + community + generosity of humans. Body? There is so much that is unknown, and that's so hard, isn't it? You're usually so good at preparing for things, but this is just so beyond anything we've ever known. The weeks ahead are murky, and we're taking it day by day. That is all we can do. And? Even though there is much that is uncertain, here is what I do know. You are doing a good job. And you are working for me. I will keep listening, with love, knowing that we are in this together and that you need my kindness, not condemnation. And I know we will get to the other side, where you can rest deeply, where you can fully exhale, and where the world will make more sense again. Thank you for being in this with me. You're doing the best job.

Behold my work from home outfit. Not pictured? Sweatpants. Let's be clear. Nothing about this worldwide experience is okay. It's utterly devastating and brutal on a multitude of levels. And yet here we are. So we find human moments of goodness and beauty and connection. And find the small joys and little gifts of this fuckshow of a time.... Clearly most of us wish we could wake up and go back to life as it was, but given that that's not an option, we look instead into what is and search for sustaining elements of this experience. Today for me, it's being able to have a one minute commute in sweatpants. What's sustaining you today? #pandemic #covid #workfromhome #smallthings #solopreneur #momboss #mombosslife #privatepractice #sweatpants #coffee #repeat #videotherapy #cardigans #simplejoys #notice #bathroomselfie #winnipeg #wg