A human in the world

Walking yesterday across the Capitol grounds I caught a speaker’s single sentence from a press conference to my left: “It’s hard to be a woman in the world.” 

I’d never argue with that. I’ll broaden the lens – being human is hard. Humaning is hard. If we are not struggling in some way – are we even alive?

Yesterday saw me pounding pavement at a buzzing Capitol Hill.  I held court in a Capitol office building cafeteria, meeting friends and connections old and new. I placed an op-ed for a client during a crowded news cycle. 

I topped off this lovely day with eggs and bacon at Pete’s Diner. Yum. Pete’s Diner is a hidden gem in Washington. Pete is a cat, and patrons shower him with cat outfit gifts this time of year. 

I gave Pete a scratch on the head but he was not feeling it and would not look at me. Fair enough Pete, fair enough. Pete had boundries.

Today, back at the household, I received test results. I’ve been feeling run down. Now I know why: I have both high cholesterol and nutrient deficiencies.

Maybe the bacon wasn’t the best idea.

High cholesterol runs in my family, so it wasn’t a total shock. 

I’m pretty embarrassed to admit it, but the order for the blood test I took and received back this week was nearly a year old. 

This got me thinking about how many of us neglect basics like this in favor of nonstop days and professional wins. Reflecting on my busy day, I'm fairly sure I had nothing but coffee through noon! Drinking water is fairly duh.

That’s why today I’m reminding both myself and all of you to check in with your physical and mental health, aspects of our wellbeing that are equally important. If you, like me, had a few check-ups and routine tests fall off the list, it’s a great time to pin them to the top for 2025. 

I spent time today coordinating portals of providers. How many portals can one person have? I’d love to take a portal to another dimension, one with fewer portals. I'm eyeing the butternut squash mocking me from my counter top. You're chilli, bru. Googling something so out it's in - the DASH diet, aka, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It places fairly realistic emphasis on eating much more of the health classics, fruits and veggies. My test results showed a normal read on A1C -- but it crept too close to elevated for me to not make some immediate and not-that-difficult shifts to the overly processed the way I eat.

May I raise a glass – to slowing down, taking care, and skipping the bacon now and again.

Thank you so much for reading.

Keeping Shop the newsletter is taking a break until the week of Jan. 7. 

I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season! I certainly plan to.

-Juliana