my unsolicited advice

My friends and I at the Washington Monument before things went south. Last week, I found myself stranded in Washington, D.C., with two friends, no phones and zero sense of direction in the middle of the night. I like to believe everything happens for a reason. In this particular case, the universe decided the “reason” was to test my survival skills and teach me the importance of always having a portable charger on hand. Let me set the scene: I was in Washington, D.C., for a s

From earlier this year — me with the volleyball team I coached. I’ve talked about my Division I athlete past life on this blog before, but today I want to discuss the aftermath of that experience. When I was a collegiate volleyball player, there was a term we used to describe nonathletes: narp. I honestly couldn’t tell you where that word came from, but I know that as athletes, we definitely used it in a condescending way. So, naturally, when I made the decision to quit volle

My media day picture from 2023. Have you ever been in a position where you felt inadequate? Same — I’ve been there. I’m going to take a good guess and say that you have, too. How about this: Have you ever wanted something so badly, but when you got there you felt like you didn’t belong? That’s exactly how I felt when I played Division I volleyball. Every day I had to remind myself that I worked hard to get there, and that I deserved my spot just as much as the girl next to me