JoJo on the Go

  To all my mommas… Becoming a mom has been the strangest, most amazing, hormonal, physically demanding thing I have ever been through. I struggled so much training for my 50k last year to feel good, to run a pace I used to recognize on my watch. I felt defeated almost daily. An injury was unexpectedly what my body needed. Slowing down I was able to appreciate the ability to move, give my body rest I didn’t know it needed and lose the rest of my baby weight taking an honest look at my dietary habits. It has taken almost 2 years to lose the weight with baby #2 even though I had a “bounce back” with Sebastian by 12 weeks. It has taken almost 2 years to feel like I am moving in my own body. It has taken almost 2 years to laugh and feel carefree again – to not wake up multiple days a week with a sudden lingering of postpartum depression. Even after 2 years, 3 years since having my first child, I am not the same person, I am not the same runner, I am not the same wife, friend, d...

 I recently had an interaction with patient who is similar age as me and a mom, career women and entrepreneur. As this person’s healthcare provider, I am well aware of her struggles with anxiety, depression - searching for feelings of value, purpose and place on this earth. From the outsider though, it may look like she has it all . As someone who has also struggled very much internally with my mental health it really made me wonder how many women feel this way. Today, it seems we live in a world where it’s one extreme or the other. There are those of us who prefer to keep our mental health struggles private or between our closest friends and those who post the obnoxious, yes, I said obnoxious, photos and videos on Instagram crying about how motherhood/life is so hard . Where is the happy medium…is there a happy medium? As someone who struggled with PTSD from war related trauma, and kept it silent and compartmentalized for many years , I am aware of the damages keeping things i...