self awareness

  • Expectations vs. Reality in Public Service and Leadership

    “Never trust a politician.” This was something I remember hearing growing up from nearly every elder in my family. With that firm belief tucked inside my brain, I never thought I would engage in politics as an adult. For better or worse, here I am, engaging with politics. Essential Qualities of Effective Leaders Begrudgingly,…

  • The Humbling Kind of Hard.

    “Choose your hard.” A phrase, I think, coined by Mel Robbins. While the obstacles we run into are typically not our choice, how we respond to those obstacles is within our control.  A while back, I mentioned that I felt I was breaking when I quit my job. Several months later, that is more…

  • Biggest Lesson of The Year.

    I’ve been seeing a lot of people post about the biggest lessons they’ve learned this year, and I have been mulling over mine for the past several weeks. This has been a very significant year of growth for me, and I’m not sure I can narrow it down to one big lesson. If I…

  • Self and Tolerance.

    The problem with becoming self-aware is that you begin to notice all the wrongs. What I mean is that your triggers seem to increase as you recognize how traits and behaviors of others impact you. Even more, you begin to realize that you have unknowingly accepted a level of treatment that you now know…

  • All the Things I Have Done.

    This morning, I sat in my office, sipped my coffee, and looked around, pondering the thoughts that have been in my head all week and which I wanted to dive into for this post. As I sat there, I thought less about the chaos that happened over the past week and became overwhelmingly grateful. …

  • All the Things I Could Have Done.

    I mentioned it before, but I’m going to mention it again. When I was young, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I just figured you grow up, get married, and have a family. I didn’t give much thought to what I wanted to pursue in school and a…