I Run These Towns

We’ve all seen the memes: “New Year. New Me.”  All the positivity and fresh-start energy poured into the magical “new” person we’re supposedly going to become when the calendar flips.  And listen — as we all know, I am relentlessly positive. But I’m also realistic. And the idea that we become a brand-new person every January 1 is…kind of BS. So how was your 2025?  Did you crush it?  Did you survive it?  Either way: congratulations!  You made it to 2026. That alone deserves a moment of recognition.  To me, entering a new year doesn’t mean making resolutions you won’t keep or reinventing yourself overnight. It means refocusing . Adjusting. Re-centering. Being the best version of you that you can be — and sometimes, th at simply means making it through. I had a great year in 2025. I took on big new challenges at work. I ran more than I had in several years. We traveled a ton — I was in 20 states and the UK in those 365 days. I got to spend incredible ...

I have one of those treadmill programs where I can follow a trainer in some exotic locale and pretend like I'm not in my creepy basement surrounded by cobwebs. It distracts me. Mostly. Recently I was running, and the trainer was talking about fear. She was paraphrasing someone else and said something like "Fear won't kill you, but it will keep you from living." (Apologies to whoever originally said this for not giving you credit.) Speaking of living - that phrase has taken up residence in my mind for the last few weeks. It's had me thinking a lot about things that scare me. But fear is a complicated emotion. Fear and anxiety and stress all take up similar places in your brain, and sometimes it's hard to figure out which is which. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder about 15 years ago. I'll be honest: I was kind of pissed about it. Of course I'm anxious. Everyone  is anxious. My doctor prescribed anti-anxiety medication that I took for a hot second...

On my birthday a few weeks ago I turned 47 years young, and I'd like to think I've amassed some wisdom in my nearly 5(!!) decades on this planet. One vital thing I've learned is this: there are people you're related to, and there is your family. Sometimes they're the same people, but sometimes they aren't. And you don't have to let people who are relatives run through your boundaries. Actually you should probably fortify them even more.  Perhaps this is a generational thing or the many years of therapy I've had, but I am always amazed when I hear someone talk about a relative treating them poorly: taking advantage, lying, being a total leech, and many more examples. And it's evidently permissible because they're "family".  Since the pandemic I've spent a lot of time focusing on relationships and the people who are the most important in my life. I've been evaluating the amount of time I have to spend with people and ensuring I...

As we steadily move into summer, my absolute favorite time of the year, I always want to take a minute and reflect on what I want from this season as a mom, a human and a professional. I love the slower pace of summer and intentionally carving out time to spend with my now 10-year-old son. I am acutely aware that the years I have to spend with him while he still adores me and wants to cuddle are dwinding. I want and need to make the most of every moment. It means my work load is always more flexible in the summer. I'll spend almost every day at the pool (even taking meetings there), and my family will be the center of my focus in an even more intentional way than it is during the busy of the school year. With my favorite little dude on opening day at the pool This season has me taking stock of the rest of my life too and thinking about the future of my professional life and things about which I am passionate. I'm preparing to take on a large new project in a few weeks, and I am...

Perfection is an impossible standard. As a perfectionist I am intimately aware of this fact. But here I am, sitting in Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport with a venti nonfat cappuccino, a couple of books to read on my flights and a huge smile on my face. Is this moment perfect? Probaby not, but it's pretty darn close. I've spent the last few days in Scottsdale, Arizona attending the Transforming Local Government Conference . I'll tell you my (not so secret) secret: I really don't enjoy conference sessions. There are people doing amazing work and changing the world, and I'm here for it. But I thrive in the in-between stuff: the networking breaks, the happy hours, the time when I get to meet and get to know other humans. That's my jam. So I'm in Arizona which is a warm and delightful break from the cold early spring in Michigan. I'm meeting and reconnecting with absolutely amazing and innovative local government professionals. These are my people. I love, lo...

I truly detest the phrase "it is what it is". I hear people say it regularly, and I cringe every single time. Because when I hear "it is what it is" I hear "I no longer care enough about whatever IT is to react in a different way". Saying "it is what it is" isn't accepting what one can't change. It's indifference to how you can react to the things you can't control.  Of course there are circumstances beyond our control where we cannot change or anticipate the outcome. Maybe it's an illness or an accident or someone else's decision that you cannot change. But to take whatever this circumstance is and say "well it is what it is" just feels like giving up. Sure, there are things I can't change. But what I CAN change is my reaction and how I manage the things that are out of my control.  I have a chronic illness. I could say "well it is what it is". I have Crohn's. I can't change it. So I'm ...