Have you ever broken a bone?

I haven’t had many broken bones, but I’ve had a few broken bones, or rather hairline fractures. I have always had horses my entire life, and sometimes they stupidly step on your foot, so I broke a couple of toes here and there from horses stomping on me. I also once was in a riding accident where my horse and I miscommunicated about the jump, we were jumping and he fell on me. I cracked my ribs and one of my hips. But that is basically it. Knock on wood. Lol. Oh, and I remember I once broke my toe because I accidentally hit my foot on the edge of the bed and broke my pinky toe. I think that probably hurt more than anything 

List your top 5 favorite fruits.

This is easy to answer because I love fruit. My number one favorite fruit would have to be a banana because you can do so many things with it like put it in a smoothie. And it’s nice just to eat it by itself or even make a banana and peanut butter sandwich.

My second favorite fruit is blueberries because they taste so good. And they’re a nice snack to have with nuts. Also good to put in smoothies and they are nice snack to have instead of candy.

My third favorite fruit would have to be raspberries because they taste really good with chocolate. Or they’re really good to eat by themselves.

My fourth favorite fruit would be grapes. It’s really nice to eat a handful of grapes on a hot summer night. Or they are great snack to eat with cheese and nuts.

And finally, my fifth favorite fruit would have to be watermelon. It’s so refreshing to eat on a hot day, and it tastes really good when you find the right watermelon. 

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

I don’t think that most people care if someone asks them what they do for a living. In fact, I think that most people probably like to talk about their job. However, in my case, when someone finds out what I do for a living, it can backfire. Thankfully no one really asks me what I do for a living very often.

There was one time where someone asked me what I do for a living and I have to admit I was amused by the response. I was at a barbecue that was being thrown by some friends. The party was a celebration for all of our kids who did karate together, so all of the karate parents and kids were there. Most of the parents I knew pretty well, but a few I did not know that well. One of the moms always did interesting things, and I had a few run-ins with her because she was one of those moms that thought her kids were the best at everything and she wanted to take control of the karate studio. She and other parents had some interesting interactions. Let’s just say she would fit right with any of the Real Housewives or Dance Moms. So, all of the parents were talking and somehow the conversation turned to what I do for a living. When the intense mom found out that I’m a psychotherapist her eye got big, and she said: “Oh wow, I do not know how to act now. I feel like you’re judging me”. And then she says: “I’ve done some really embarrassing things in front of you, have you been analyzing me??!!” And I laughed and before I could answer her, she said that she was going to get something to eat, and she ran away from me and avoided me the rest of the evening. LOL!!

Sometimes I get weird reactions like that, and sometimes no one cares, and other times people follow me around and ask me questions and ask my opinion about things. One of the top questions I get asked is: Are you always analyzing everyone? I always reply: “I can’t just go around analyzing people all of the time because that is exhausting. I just want to do things like everyone else. Plus, in order to analyze someone they need to tell me all about their life over time, and I don’t want to deal with that in my personal life. Unless you dance naked on the table with a lampshade on your head, I really don’t care what you do. But if you decide to dance naked on the table, I will definitely laugh at you”. And they always just kind of look at me and laugh nervously or laugh with me.

Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

I hadn’t ever really thought about comparing myself to an animal, but I suppose if I were to compare myself to an animal, I would compare myself to a horse. And for those of you who know that I have horses and love them, you’re just laughing right now and nodding your head because of course what else would I compare myself to.

So, if I compare myself to an horse I suppose the similarities would be my determination matches a horse’ determination, and the need and want to be active and work hard. And on the other hand both a horse and I can be lazy and just want to lay around and eat. I have nice hair like a horse’s mane. LOL!!

But I would have to say that I am also like a Jack Russell Terrier too in that I can go all day like the Energizer Bunny, and I can have lots of enthusiasm about life, and I don’t really get tired, but at the end of the day I am done and crash, just like my two dogs.

My two JRT’s are pictured and I would have to say that my energy does often match theirs. Haha

Where would you go on a shopping spree?

I have horses and I am always needing something for them, so my store of choice for a shopping spree would be what we call a tack store. The equipment such as saddle, bridle and other gear is called tack, originating from the word tackle which refers to equipment used for a specific activity, hence the name tack store or tack shop.

A tack store is where you will find just about everything you need for your horse, and usually there are clothes for the rider too. So, when I go to a tack store I might buy new riding boots, riding jeans, shirts etc or I might buy things specifically for my horse. Some tack stores sell jewelry with a horse theme, earrings etc. Many times I go to a tack shop and find cute shirts to wear, and I have bought some really nice earrings.

If I were to go on a shopping spree, can tell you that currently I need new halters for my horses, I could use some new jeans and t-shirts, and I always look at the saddle pads because you can never have enough saddle pads, and I am kind of a saddle pad junkie. LOL. Maybe I would pick up a new bridle which I definitely do not need, but I would buy one because why not. And I have horse shows coming up so I probably would buy some new shirts to use at the shows, and I actually need a new Stetson, so I would buy a new hat.

Pictured is my younger horse Max.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

Someone might ask me how can failure help me? I can tell you how failure helped me, and that was to show me the mistakes that I need to correct, and how I could do things better in the future.

Failure showed me how to get better at managing my time.

Failure showed me to how start small and work my way up to bigger things.

Failure showed me what I definitely do not want to do again, and what I would like to do for sure in the future.

And failure means that I tried something, learned from it when it did not work, and it means that I attempted something so I didn’t have questions about should I or shouldn’t I do it…… I did it, failed and now there are no more questions.

And now I can move on.

What was your favorite subject in school?

My favorite subject in school was English or any class that had to do with writing. I had a psychology class my senior year in high school so much that I wanted to become a therapist, and I did just that.

Everyone should know how to communicate effectively and how to listen. And I don’t mean listen to respond; I mean listen to hear and then see if a response is necessary.

I also believe that people need to learn how to be kind because so many people are no longer kind, and in fact, they are downright mean. People are no longer courteous and just go about their business without thinking about how their actions affect others.

What are you most proud of in your life?

When I was around 12 years old I made the decision that I would either be an equine veterinarian or a psychiatrist. When I graduated from high school I enrolled in college as a pre-vet student, but about mid way through my third year I realized that being a veterinarian was just not what I wanted to be so I changed my major to psychiatry with the intention of being a psychiatrist.

I soon found out that being a psychiatrist was really more about prescribing medication to people and not necessarily about talking to people and helping them work through their issues, so again I changed my major and did indeed become a licensed marriage and family therapist.

But being a therapist is not what I am most proud of…….what I am most proud of is that I opened my own practice after being at a group practice for years, and I opened this practice right when everything shut down because of Covid, and my practice was very successful, most in part because everyone was stuck at home and needed therapy. However, my practice is still thriving just about 5 years later, so what started out as something scary, turned out to be rewarding and successful. And I did not allow anyone to stop me or talk me out of doing what I wanted to do.

I firmly believe that the thoughts and energy you put out into the universe is what you will get back.

What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

I think it’s the smaller things in my life that I need to pay attention to. For some reason I have been so busy that I have not even had the chance to write anything for my blog, and that was something I said I would do at least a few times a week.

I haven’t really taken much time out for me and done things like just watch one of my favorite tv shows. I feel like I am always doing things for everyone else. Although, this past weekend I did ride my horse in a horse show and we did really well, so that is something I did for myself.

I need to start making time again for things like reading for pleasure and listening to the podcasts that I like. I cannot even figure out why things have gotten so out of control lately…….I think it must be that I am working a lot more, and that is my fault because I work for myself. I think I need to take a look at my schedule and create a better balance.