byJody Lee Cates
Adult Children, Family
Too much closeness can get in the way of a healthy mother-daughter relationship. Here’s how to create the space you both need to grow stronger and happier together. My daughter Emily says I have an eerie ability to know when she’s having a bad day simply by hearing her voice when she answers the phone:…
If there is one steady plot line in every family story, it’s this: just when you think you’ve got things figured out, everything changes. In fact, once we become parents, it seems like the changes just don’t stop. Babies become toddlers. Toddlers become teenagers. Teenagers become young adults who get married and start families of…
No matter how agreeable we are, people-pleasing only leads to pitfalls and roadblocks in relationships. Here’s how to avoid the hazards of people-pleasing and find the true love you’re looking for.
Brainstorming the life you want means looking into the future. And thinking about the future can cause us to feel two things: 1) excitement about the good things we know are coming and 2) anxiety about the things we can’t be sure of. I used to believe that I was in control of my future….
Like most of us, I care about how I look when I go out in public. While I’m perfectly comfortable with no makeup and sweatpants for walking my dogs or running to the grocery store, when heading out to face the world I usually try a little harder. So when I learned that I had…
Discovering and nurturing the things that make our hearts beat faster isn’t just good for us personally. Pursuing our passions is a way of life that’s also good for our relationships. I know what it’s like to ditch your passions for a season. I loved being a full-time mom, and I poured all of my…