Colleen Cook, Thrive Correspondent

Last Saturday, I completed an enormous project at work: a large scale event that required a full team effort and six months of coordination and planning. Everything went off without a hitch and I left incredibly proud of our team and of what we were able to accomplish.  Sunday morning, however, I awoke like a […]

Being a working mom means existing in the tension between feeling like you’re killing it and feeling utterly inadequate. My hours and days are often splintered among my work life, my marriage, my children, and time for myself. It’s amazing and it’s tough, because I can only give my full self to something for a […]

My first couple of years as an elementary student were a breeze. I entered kindergarten already comfortably reading, quickly finding favor with my teachers. My memories of first grade include easily winning games of “Around the World,” and sitting in the hallway working on an accelerated curriculum while my classmates learned to read. 

This week felt stressful, from start to finish. When I ended my workday on Monday, I felt tense and tightly wound. Each day, my stress seemed to compound until I ended the day on Friday in tears, feeling completely overwhelmed. There’s a lot going on in life, but there was nothing really significant that was […]

I managed to reach adulthood without ever playing a sport. In fact, I also found a way out of at least half of the gym classes I was required to attend (huge apologies to my gym teachers: you tried). To say I was “not athletic” is a gentle way of putting it. I have terrible […]

Like most 7th graders, I was a wreck at 12. I struggled to remember everything in the mornings as I left the house, and thereby was constantly calling home begging that my mom bring my forgotten items to school. I was totally unsure of where I fit in. And, tragically, I was brushing my curly […]

I loved being in choir in high school. I graduated from a school with a particularly strong and large choral department. Being a member of the elite groups was in many ways a status symbol at our school. I often found myself in the choir room whenever I had a free period, eager to just […]

I have never really been the type to diet. I love rich, hearty food, I love to cook, and I love to share a meal with friends. When there’s a feast, I’m inclined to try some of everything on my first pass, and come back for seconds for the yummiest choices. In my mind, holidays […]

When I walked into the room at my first marketing conference, my inner monologue was, “OK. Maybe now I can figure out all the things that everyone else knows that I don’t.”  My path to marketing was nontraditional, to say the least. I went to school for music education, and after several twists and turns, […]