It is no wonder collegiate athletes are required to take a sports psychology course and why higher-level athletes, such as Olympians, focus as much on their mental stat as they do physical training. Further, I’m realizing more and more that the tactics athletes use such as visualization, self talk, goal setting and achieving a state of flow are not only helpful on the field and the court but also in everyday life.

All of my childhood memories include my older sister, Savannah. She and I did some pretty weird and funny things when we were little girls, but because we were together, it all seemed like one big exciting shared adventure. 

One of my bachelor’s degrees is in psychology. I wanted to be a therapist or psychologist to help others. I’ve always been intrigued with human development and the vastness of the mind. For a while, I worked as a school psychologist, but that role is more about testing and shuffling paperwork than working one-on-one with individuals, so I moved on to other avenues. Nonetheless, I’ll be forever grateful for the knowledge I gained in those undergraduate years.

In what feels like a previous life, I was a mom blogger. After the birth of my youngest son, now age 10, I created a blog called Zealous Mom. This was during the early years of blogging when it was all about content and connecting with others in the blogging community as opposed to pushing out posts on social media and seeing how many likes and views it could get. 

It is mind-boggling that in the year 2022 a barbaric, nonsensical war rages in Ukraine. It’s an example that no matter how evolved we are or how technologically advanced we become, the wickedness of one human can impact the world and destroy precious lives. 

They say nostalgia and reminiscing can do two things to the psyche: be a buffer against ailments like depression and anxiety or exacerbate pre-existing mental health conditions. Personally, I’ve experienced both sides of the coin. 

My mom was a tiny Southern lady who graduated salutatorian of her senior class and never said a cuss word in her life, minus the one time someone cut her off in traffic and I heard her whisper the word for a female dog. But underneath that seemingly demure exterior was a fierce and funny woman, a lady that held multiple degrees, could make some mean fried peach pies and started a successful tour company after she’d retired from 35 years of teaching. 

My older son turned 13 on Jan. 19, and my younger son turned 10 on Jan. 20. They are both officially in the double digits, which is hard for this mama to believe. Since they were babies, we’ve hosted a dual birthday party, as opposed to separate celebrations for each boy. 

I listened to a podcast recently that blasted January’s public relations company for making everyone feel bad about themselves. Instead of promoting “New Year, New You,” the podcasters honor “New Year, Same You.” Although we’ve entered into 2022, we have the same mind, same body, same soul. 

I read a quote recently by Charlie “Tremendous” Jones that said, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read.”