The holidays are meant to bring joy and connection—but for many couples, they quietly turn into a season of stress, resentment, and emotional burnout.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking:

“Why am I the only one who’s planning gifts, organizing dinners, and booking the photographer?”

You’re not alone. And you’re not unreasonable.

As a couples therapist working with married parents in Sacramento, I see this every year: one partner takes on the mental and emotional weight of the holidays wh…

The holidays can bring a mix of joy, pressure, and exhaustion—especially for parents.

You want to create meaningful memories, show up for extended family, and make it magical for your kids.

But what happens when your child melts down at the family dinner table… again? Or when you and your partner end up in a quiet argument in the car on the way home from another “festive” event?

If any of that feels familiar, take a deep breath. You're not alone—and you're not doing it wrong.

Why Your Child …

Parenting doesn’t come with a pause button. The to-do list is constant, the needs feel nonstop, and somewhere in between feedings, dishes, bedtime routines, and work—you’re still a person who needs care, rest, and support.

And when you’re exhausted or overwhelmed, communicating your needs to your partner can sometimes feel impossible.

Recently, I sat down with Emily from The Mothergood Podcast to talk openly about exactly that—how couples can stay connected in the chaos, communicate more clear…

I am tired of self-care being shoved at women as one more thing to find the time and manage to do for themselves.  

I want to reframe self-care as a compassionate kindness and necessity.

Self-care, as it is sold to us, is not sustainable. When something is not sustainable an inevitable struggle to maintain consistency occurs. 

I struggle with making the time, space and room for self-care. I understand when people say that they don’t have any time because I put myself on the end of the list, t…

If you haven’t noticed, I am on a big self-care kick.

I am not talking about mani/pedis, massages or deep dive in your tub with the newest CBD bath balm. Those things are great! And, truthfully, they are only treating the symptom of something much larger. 

In last week’s blog, I filled you in, a tiny bit, about the science behind small shifts for big changes, the limbic part of your beautiful brain and integrating limbic calming techniques to create new pathways for calm. 

There are quite a n…

I’ll be honest.

I used to hold my breath and wait for the perfect present.

You know the one – the one that you can’t even fully articulate, but if your partner bought it for you, it would make your life complete.

That happened one Valentine’s Day, our first.

My husband (my then boyfriend) nailed it and I was beyond pleasantly surprised.

And then there I was, speechless and expectant every subsequent year, waiting for him to do the one thing I hadn’t asked for.

And then, being disappointed …

Politics.

Nothing could have been more boring to me when I was younger.

I find it fascinating to watch my children grow and find things they are interested in, for example, politics. What I once found boring and had no interest in when I was younger, they are very engaged in.

They are excited about the debates, different perspectives and current events. They ask questions about things they hear from friends at school (or on Zoom), on the radio or from conversations between Rick and me.

This …

Well, love it or hate it friends, but Valentine’s Day is upon us. For some of us, this is an easy holiday to scoff at or ignore. For others, this day matters quite a lot. Me? I think I fall somewhere in the middle.

On the one hand, I think the expectations and stress of “doing it right” can really set us up to feel hurt, disappointed, or feel as though we’ve failed. I really dislike that piece of the holiday the most.

Not to mention, many say that Valentine’s Day is a commercial holiday. And…

Well, it’s that time of year again...  (And no, I don’t mean it’s time for more holiday advice.  Not today!)

It’s time to review the best blog posts of 2018!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJdAKR-7pk0&w=854&h=480

You know, I work really hard along with my team to put out the content that I think you most want to read, but sometimes you never know what’s going to resonate the most. So some of these really didn’t surprise me, but there are a few that really did.

This year, readers wer…

Do you ever come back from staying with family for the holidays and think, “Well, the kids had a great time, but that was really hard for us to just sit back and enjoy it all”?

Does it feel like you barely even saw your partner, and when you did, you both were just getting annoyed with each other?

Maybe you're already in the thick of it now. Or, prepping for upcoming travel to get the holidays started.

With the increase of travel, extended family dynamics, and close-quarters accommodations, t…