Bryan Health’s online community for Nebraska parents.

In high school, we had to take a survey that asked, “When will you be living your best life?” Childhood, high school, college, adult or retirement? But why is life broken down by stages? Wouldn’t it be better to live in the moment?

Self-talk is the internal dialogue that narrates our daily experience. I often think of it as a digital voice recorder in our brain that is constantly recording and playing our thoughts. Self-talk influences our feelings and behaviors. It can also create patterns in our thinking that we call filters.

One of my summer jobs is to keep the weeds in check. I do my best to patrol the yard, our raised garden and an area between a couple of houses that I call the “no person’s land”. I’ve discovered that if I patrol at least twice a week, I can keep on top of the task—heaven forbid we go on a two-week vacation.

For as long as I can remember, I always look forward to summer. Summers were (and still are) filled with softball games, fireworks, grilling and going on adventures.

Making new friends is difficult at any age. Though, arguably, the older I get, the harder it becomes. No longer can I rely on a lucky class schedule or a gaggle of neighborhood kids when it comes to making connections. At a certain age, now, I actually kind of have to, you know, work for it (ugh).