Choice is great for human rights, but sometimes it doesn't feel like a choice. For a lot of women the pursuit of having it all includes extreme bouts of anxiety, self-doubt, insecurity, and depression. What woman -- or any person of any gender -- would choose that? It's because having it all in American culture isn't a choice -- it's a gendered expectation.

What if you were as kind to yourself as you are to your best friends? Using a self-compassionate approach to your areas of growth can simplify the process. Being kind to yourself means there are no extra layers of judgement, isolation, or over-thinking that can stand between you and your goals.

It takes a village to raise a child. To teach them life lessons, to give them love, and to structure an environment in which that child belongs. Adults need a village, too. We all need a village. We all need a network of people who care about us to help guide us through life’s big milestones.

When things get hard, you have two options: you can avoid it or you can accept it. Avoidance is our way of cutting out negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so all that’s left is a glowing record of all the good things happening in your life. So, yeah, you love your body. Curves and all! But true acceptance means some days you probably don’t love your curves. True acceptance means some days it’s harder to love your crooked nose than others. Or it could even mean that some days you don’t love your nose at all.

The approaching new year creates a universal hope that the trials and tribulations of this year don’t plague us in the next. The hope that things will be different in the new year, and you’ll finally be happy or successful or fulfilled, and that you know just what you have to do to get there. But, sometimes we can take these goals a bit too far and this layer of urgency can make our new years resolutions unhealthy.