I am so excited for this episode and the next few in this series.  I have a dear friend, colleague, educator, and all around amazing funny science lover, Rachel Yepez on with me.  We talk about some of the things that I hadn't thought about in terms of our students and our educators throughout COVID.  
Highlights: 

• Science Enrichment Education and how it was changed with COVID
• Different ways students were impacted
• Introverts may have benefited from an education and professional standpoint in the virtual arenas
• Safety measures in schools and how to use disinfectants
• Work Life Balance of Remote learning-what did our students lose throughout this?!

Please join me with this insightful and fun conversation, and yes, if you were wondering, this was what we considered "girls night" chat material.  Had we not been recording, the conversation would not have been different, this just would not have been able to be shared hahaha. 

Love you Rachel Thank you!

This episode is a call to action to create the village that all families so desperately deserve in order to protect them from trauma.  How can you be a protective factor to a child in your life? I would love to know your thoughts on the topic or ways that you are already stepping up to this challenge.  Send me a tweet @LbtNPodcast or an email to LbtNPodcast@gmail.com.

Thank you to all of my protective factors growing up, especially my Aunt Dona, George Farago, Paul Puglise, Marie Werner, John O'Connor, and so many others.  I hope to pass along the love that you gave to me throughout my life and share the legacy of your wonderful mentorship and guidance with the next generation. 

In this episode we dive into what anticipatory grief is and how it is an important part of our ability to process the difficult things that happen in life.  From the perspective of gratitude and how it can help us to see the value in the less than perfect moments that we all experience.  The challenge from here is to use grattitude to help you to see the best parts of yourself and others and to use it to be and feel better every day.  

Don't forget to send me your thoughts on twitter @LbtNPodcast or email me at LbTNpodcast@gmail.com. 

Love to all,
E

A bit late for May and Mental Health Awareness month, but still timely for the get-back-to-normal vibe in the US, we discuss processing trauma and what that looks and feels like.  No one will work through their trauma at the same pace or experience it in the same way, but there are things that we can do to help ourselves and each other. 

I am not a mental health professional, just a fellow traveler, so please do research, speak to a professional and do not take this as an all encompassing list of things to think about.  This is a mere starting point. 

If you need to speak to someone right now because you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 in the US.  Please do not suffer in silence. 

If you are struggling with addiction in the US, please call the SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).  

In this episode we focus on the numbers in terms of the kids who are too young to be vaccinated and think about what that means for society.  I know we all want to celebrate "the end" of the pandemic, and there is cause for celebration in the US as cases continue to go down.  But how do we handle the competing interests of protecting the younger parts of our population with getting back to work? Wherever you are and however you are handling this all, you are doing exactly the right thing for your family, but I hope we can empathize with the different experiences that we all may have as we get to the other side of this all. 

My heart aches for India, and with each day comes a new terrifying update of things escalating in the region.  If you are in India, or love someone who is going there struggling right now, this may not be the right time to listen to this episode, but please know that I am praying for you all to make it to the other side of this safely.  

In this episode we discuss living in a different country than the ones that you love throughout the last year and how it has increased the level of worry that you have experienced.  I also discuss mini-migrations that have occurred due to the pandemic and how they will potentially create long term changes to the way that we live, and even are governed, especially here in the US. 

Finally, I hope that you if you have a story, which you do if you have gotten to today, that you would like to share and have me highlight on the show in an upcoming series, please send me a tweet @lbtnpodcast or an email lbtnpodcast@gmail.com.  I look forward to sharing some of the incredible things that humanity has overcome throughout the past year.  This will include all of the highs, lows, and mundane in between types of tales.  They all create our shared history.  

In this episode I open myself up to the fear that has been locked away in the back of my mind as we all have traveled through the past year...what will come of the stress for working parents as everything "normalizes".  I think we all feel like "normal" is never going to look the same, but I wonder how much will come back and how we will be able to do our jobs reasonably well with the health restrictions that will inevitably stay in place longer than most jobs will be considered fully remote.  

This is a call to action, if you are in control of decision making in your company and can do something to better support families, do it! 

If you are a working parent, please share with me the things I didn't think about, good, bad, or indifferent, I want to hear from you @lbtnpodcast or lbtnpodcast@gmail.com.

If you don't have children, yet, or don't plan on having them, there are odes to you in this one too.  Especially if you were direct, essential, and in person in order to help pivot other work to "work from home" for parents that needed to be home with their families.

Teachers, there is a special hats off to you in this one as well.  I cannot imagine how difficult this year has been for you all, and I am curious if my discussion resonates with you. Make sure to tell me if I even scratched the surface. 

Empathy for others is the only recipe for success for getting through the next phase of things in any level of health.  Please consider listening just to have more empathy for your colleagues, family, friends, and people you don't know yet. 

I keep coming back to the idea that we have seen some of these things before, and it is because we have.  If you enjoy history or are looking for a way to empathize more with those you do not agree with, this episode is for you.  I dive through some of the similarities that you may not have thought of between COVID and the bubonic plague.  There is so much more that I could have discussed, so if you didn't hear something that you think is important, be sure to send me a tweet @lbtnpodcast or an email to lbtnpodcast@gmail.com.  Our collective story is being written as we speak, and not only has some of it already been done, but we humans have a tendency to not realize what history we are repeating.  Also, important thoughts on PTSD introduced here will be discussed further in future episodes.  We need to support each other as we get back to "normal" after COVID and I want to start that discussion now.