The IGNITE Peak Performance Blog
If you’re here, you’re probably looking to make meaningful and lasting change in your life. As a professional coach who specializes in working with women and mothers, I can help you.
The best way for us to get to know each other is for you to contact me! You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter below. In the meantime, keep an eye on this page for monthly blogs containing research-based tips, reading recommendations, and other resources that can help you IGNITE to reach your goals!
Supporting Your College Student’s Mental Health
“In my experience, moms who focus only on the good stuff often leave their kids unprepared when the bad stuff happens. If you would like more information about the challenges college students face and how you can be prepared, you can go to my website to learn about my specialized coaching and on-demand webinar: “COLLEGE UNCOVERED: 10 Things Moms Need to Know about College Life.” You can also learn about services that I offer for your big kid!”
Calling All Moms of Gifted Kids!
“Helping moms of gifted kids is one of my areas of speciality. I’m passionate about this topic because, in addition to working with moms of gifted kids, I went through it myself (twice), and there were days I felt I was failing no matter what I did. Being a mom is incredibly hard, and we need all the support we can get! If we have a gifted kid it can be particularly exhausting. Because I use science to ignite change, I figured an academic article was as good a place as any to start a conversation about moms of gifted kids.”
Do You Hate Exercise?
“For people like myself, it’s really hard to exercise. All the emphasis on its importance doesn’t make it any easier. It actually makes me feel worse. When thinking about wellness and exercise, there are many ways a person can stay active. You don’t need to be a Peloton superstar or marathon runner to be in good shape.”
Open Letter to Moms of College Students
“Within the first few weeks of my first being away, I found myself dealing with that dreaded phone call in the middle of the night. My big kid and their brand new friends witnessed a very disturbing and serious incident. They took all the right steps. They tried to get help. While I was very upset and worried, I was confident that the school would respond well. I knew the road would be rough, but I also knew the school would both protect and care for the students. I was completely confident that my child and their friends would get the support and help needed. In fact, over speakerphone at 1:00am, I assured them they would. I literally promised them. It turns out that I could not have been more wrong.”
Does Coaching Work?
“When I started to think about becoming a coach, I first asked myself: “Does coaching work?” I’d been a doctorate-level psychologist for many years—I was not about to engage with something that didn’t have any evidence to back it up. I’d heard stories of uncredentialed, unstandardized life coaching, so I was skeptical. After all, anyone can call themselves a coach. Very quickly, I decided, ‘No, coaching doesn’t work, and I do not want any part of it.'”
The ‘Incapable’ Empty Nester
“I am now 57 and a half. I have been around the block a time or two as an empty nester, as a mom, and as a professional with over thirty years of experience working with moms. From what I have seen, Jamie is not the typical mom coping with her child leaving — not at all. When I was researching for this blog, I found this powerful piece. It challenges the idea that when we face the empty nest we will be left asking our kids ‘If I’m not your mother, do I even exist?'”
The Science of Gratitude
“Overall, there is strong evidence that practicing gratitude can boost our sense of well-being while also motivating us to reach our goals. If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty details of the science of gratitude, I can’t recommend The Gratitude Project enough. It also touches on the ways that gender, culture, and individual experiences such as our careers, relationships, and life effects affect our use of gratitude. There’s so much to explore!”
Confessions of a First-Generation College Student
“As a first-generation Latina, I made the tough choice to go to college miles away from home. I miss my mom all the time, but I always say to myself, ‘My degree is her degree.’ That’s what keeps me going. Even though my mom and I don’t talk about academia, sharing snippets of my day has paved the way for great conversations. As a bonus, I have a lot of first-generation friends, and we’ve talked about some of our shared struggles.”
No “Right Way” to be a Woman
“As I have written before, gendered messages are like the air we breathe– invisible and yet we are taking them in all the time. It is inevitable that we lose our way as we (often unconsciously) strive to be “good” women. Yet there is no right path for all of us. We need to blaze our own trails and live our lives congruent with our own values.”
Identifying Toxic Positivity
“Social media is saturated with saccharine sweet posts telling you to “look on the bright side”. Of course, it’s helpful to be reminded to appreciate the little things in life. It’s healthy to be reminded that there are also good things amongst the bad or to take a deep breath to help you shift your perspective. And there are also true, scientifically-demonstrated benefits to a regular gratitude practice. The line between effective, healthy gratitude and toxic positivity is often blurry at best. So, what’s the difference?”