It happened again last week at my regular chiropractor appointment.  I’ve been suffering from a sciatica flare-up and the back cracking seems to work.  My doctor who happens to live across the street from me asked me how much walking I did the day before, given that I was groaning just rolling off the table.  When I told him my Fitbit recorded upward of 16,000 steps, he exclaimed, “You sure stay busy for being retired!”  Who ever said anything about being retired? But I hear it all the time from family and friends, who murmur in somewhat suppressed amusement about my many hobbies and the ways I find to “stay busy.” At the same time, my coaching practice is rife with…

I reached my current height when I was in fifth grade and all of 11 years old.  I still carry a vivid memory of going out trick or treating with my friends the year before, towering over them, and some dad saying to me, “You should be ashamed of yourself, begging for candy with the little kids at your age!”  I was ashamed after that, feeling wrong in my 5’7” self. Unfortunately “feeling wrong” in your skin is an all too common feeling among young women, even after decades of women’s advancement in education and their subsequent rise in the working world.  There is a pervasive cultural message that a woman’s value is closely linked to her appearance.   Young women today…