Penelope Cottrell

What was one small thing you did really well today? I bet you have to stop and think about that for a moment. What if, instead, I asked you what was one mistake you made? That one, I’m guessing, was probably easier to answer right away. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash As humans, we are wired to focus on the negative—it’s part of our survival instinct. Many (most) of us have a running commentary in our minds that goes something like this: I forgot to take out the trash this morning. I can’t...

I remember getting a Facebook account in 2007. That’s nearly two decades ago, for those of us keeping track. What started as a way to connect with friends near and far morphed into a hyper-fixated curation of our lives. Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf on Unsplash These days, barring those rare unicorns who don’t use social media at all, it’s nearly impossible to not curate how we present ourselves to the world. But I don’t think social media is totally to blame. As humans (even those rare...

We grow up surrounded by rules. Parents, teachers, coaches, or superiors repeat them to us aloud. Others we absorb through society standards. We learn to not make a fuss, not take more than our share, not to take up too much space. Often, we are discouraged from trusting our guts in order to keep the peace. Don’t be too loud, too bold, to anything. Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash Some of these rules carve pathways of safety. Others become fences we never agreed to build. I’ve been thinking...