The Journey of a Friendly Giant

If you don’t already follow me on Instagram I suggest you change that: @Cassi_opia For those that do not know my husband, he is a plant expert. And I mean that quite literally inside of his mind is encyclopedia of everything nature. I find this fascinating and he has taught me so much but I did not know before about our planet. So last year every Thursday I started posting an educational post revolved around nature and gardening named: #JeudiJardinage These posts were made mainly on Instagram , search the hashtag on the app to see all of the posts you’ve missed, you might learn something cool and interesting . Today’s posting is as follows: Happy Jeudi Jardinage (Thursday gardening, but better because it’s in french) to celebrate the beginning of spring, our feature of the week is a big stinky one. Eastern Skunk Cabbage, or (symplocarpis foetidus) is one of the first to bloom in a the spring. This magnificently unique creature of a plant earns it’s name from its pungent putrid od...

“You don’t look like you’ve had a baby.” I get that line a lot. I know it’s meant as a complement, but I always feel a bit insulted. It makes me wonder what is thought about women that don’t lose the pregnancy weight? That are curvier than me, or don’t have time to workout because they are too busy taking care of their high-needs baby? It also sort of undermines all of the hard work that I’ve put in to achieve my own goals. I’m sure you will notice that based on many of my posts; but What I struggle with most is being openly over-criticized during the process of motherhood. Parenting is hard enough as it is without getting constantly judged by every Jane, Dick and Joe that crosses your path. I also wonder what that says to them about the quality of my parenting? Does it suggest that I am a good parent or a bad one? The way that I look should have nothing to do with that information, people should instead gauge how well I’m doing, and how well any mother is doing based on how happy,heal...

Have you ever met someone that has heard of you before meeting you? This is happening to me more and more as my motivational speaking gains momentum, and I’ll never get over this strange phenomena. I’m always extra careful when meeting those people for the first time because I know I’m human, but sometimes they don’t! I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying that says something about how meeting people you admire could often lead to disappointment. I always tread lightly in these situations, and if I feel like I’ve been put on an unattainable pedestal, I’m quick to correct that misconception. It’s easy to make assumptions about those you don’t see on a regular basis. From a distance, everything looks much simpler than it is in reality, especially the lives of The trouble is, we do this almost unintentionally, which makes it difficult to monitor. It takes “ unlearning ” behaviour, which is much more difficult than learning something brand new for the first time, especially for adults....