My Work

Developing the themes for this “Rejoice” issue, and perhaps especially this issue’s “Celebrate Your Success” feature reminded me that it’s time for my annual “stuff I learned this year” letter.

Once, a long time ago, someone gave me a sensible piece of outdoors advice: If you’re out on a hike and aren’t sure whether your trail loops back on itself, turn around whenever your water is half gone.

“Lighten up” is one of those funky little phrase that can mean many different things.

Zowie! Ever since the last issue lit a fire under me (Jan./Feb., Action Plan 2004), I’ve been on kind of an action rampage.

“Is this supposed to press down on my nose so much,” I asked Ryan, the trainer administering my metabolic and VO2 max test. “Yeah, it needs to be snug enough so air doesn’t get in through the sides,” he explained, adjusting the straps and checking the seal of the mask.

This marks the end of my second full year editing Experience Life. Two years of reading and writing about wellness, fitness and quality of life.

Hey, did we get an abridged-version of summer this year? I swear it was July before I even got my garden in, and then it seemed like the next time I looked, all my plants were already going to seed.

Wake up and smell the statistics. America’s eating has gone bonkers, and it’s up to us to stop the madness.

Maybe it’s my imagination, but I’ve begun to notice this weird phenomenon in my editing work. If I start working on an interesting story, or I get into researching a new topic, I’ll often have some sort of direct personal experience with the subject matter. Some of these serendipitous encounters are quite pleasant. Others, not so much.

The first and last moments of your day can steady or destabilize everything that comes in between. Are your mornings and nights propping you up, or tipping you over?