Are you the type of person that finds joy in helping others achieve the best version of themselves? Perhaps one of the best ideas you can consider is starting your own business and learning how to become a life coach. Over the past few years, this profession is gaining quite a following. If you scroll through social media sites, you've most probably encountered a post that's promoting life coach services.

But even if your previous profession only focuses on a singular theme, there will most definitely be a possibility that you will also touch on other aspects that make up your life. For example, even if you were an employee before, you can still talk about the value of good leadership in maintaining a happy employee. Thus, the topics you may discuss in a life coaching session are endless.

When you get a life coach certification, you are bound by specific rules and ethical guidelines. For example, once you become a certified life coach, you will need to have annual training to keep your practice up to date.

In life coach training, you will learn some of the most fundamental skills any life coach could possibly need. You will be taught how to listen actively and create an environment that will build trust between you and your clients. Plus, you will be taught how to set up your own life coach business, including the profession's ethical demands.

Becoming a life coach may not be as easy as it may seem. It will demand a lot of hard work and considerable investment. A life coach certification can cost you around $ 5000 or more.

Once you've decided on the type of your business as an entity, you need to prepare for the cost of your business. Costing can include setting up your business, life coach certification, renting the space you plan to use, insurance, and many other possible costs you may incur in your business venture.

After deciding and planning for your business, you need an effective marketing strategy. No matter how amazing you are in your specialization, it wouldn't matter if no one knows about your practice. Word of mouth can only go so far. One of the most effective marketing strategies is to allow customers to experience what you have to offer. You can provide a mini free session or even a discounted session. If someone is referred by another client, you can give them a discount as well. Above all that strategies, you can also consider building an online presence.

Aside from what has been mentioned, there are still other things you need to consider to establish an effective life coaching business. Although one thing is certain, once you've decided on your niche, you're already off to a great start.

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Tips to Succeed as a Life Coach - SWAAY

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High Infidelity

Season 6 Episode 9

Editors Rating 3 stars ***

Photo: Bravo

So far this season, we have been introduced to a gentle reboot of Candiaces reality TV persona. While her mouth and her confessionals are still as sharp as ever, her edges have been a bit softer: Shes a stepmom, a grad student, and budding girlboss entertainer in the making. Sisters are doin it for themselves, as the song goes, one four-count and pilot episode at a time. Alas, just like DCs The Suicide Squad, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Namely, Candiace is still the cantankerous, quick-to-the-draw, impulsive loudmouth we were introduced to, and no one triggers her less desirable qualities more than her husband and Ashley.

Candiace cannot seem to figure out what role she wants her husband to play in her life. Is he her partner, her manager, or her errand boy? Shes triggered by Gizelle mentioning the obvious that it can seem like Chris is riding her coattails but to be fair, its a logical conclusion to make of a husband who spends half his time on the links and the other half doing Instagram cooking classes. In a lot of ways, it does seem like she has transferred her dynamic with her mother into the one she has with Chris: She expects him to show up on her terms, as she is the one controlling the purse strings in the relationship. This power structure does not bode well for their managerial relationship, which she apparently seems to believe entails being onsite at every single moment that she has an activity or obligation (as someone who has had to coordinate with talent management for various projects, I can assure you that that is not the case). Personally, I think they should cut their losses while they still can; Candiace can help him with the down payment on a food truck that he can have in DuPont Circle in D.C., where professionals and Bravo fans delusional enough to think Candiace might make the occasional appearance will eagerly pay 15 dollars for a grilled-cheese sandwich. A double-income household and happy marriage seems like a worthwhile investment to avoid them cursing each other out in the parking lot of a wing spot.

Ashley inexplicably agitates something deep in Candiace that at times is warranted, but frequently ends up being an overreaction to her behavior. My working suspicion is that they have more in common than not, and it unsettles her: They both came out of the pageant circuit, both met their white partners while working together, both have a tendency to run their mouth and regret it later, and while were at it they both have generous foreheads. So for the life of me, I dont grasp why Candiace thinks that she has enough country to throw that jab. I mean, hers may not be quite as expansive as the real estate possessed by me or my fellow East African princess Askale, but if someone wanted to rent ad space, theyd have plenty of room. She has made the executive decision that Ashley was gleefully carrying that bone for Gizelle, and regardless of whether or not you agree with her (I personally dont), her reasoning for it was illogical: She didnt like the tone with which Ashley said thats not how that was supposed to go? Why is this irritation not extended to Gizelle, who additionally inserted herself into her marriage? That question is rhetorical because the answer is obviously that she doesnt want to threaten her position within the delicately constructed hierarchy of the Potomac crew, lest she be banished to the hinterlands with Karen Huger. Instead, we get a flurry of over-the-line insults targeted at Ashley during Robyns birthday party, commenting on her wide body and breast milk, as if Ashleys postpartum figure is still not more petite than 80 percent of the adult world. I appreciate a witty barb, but to call a nursing woman a filthy milkmaid just because you dislike her is unacceptable. There are some lines that are just not worth crossing; Im sure she wouldnt appreciate it if people called her a sentient Bratz doll, for example.

Notably absent from Robyns party are Wendy and Karen, who, to their credit, arent surprised or hurt to be excluded from the event. Wendy and Eddie debriefed on camera on their feelings about the events that took place in Williamsburg, and as I mentioned last week, they had already revealed last season their trials and tribulations with Eddies family to the group, which makes Gizelles choice to discuss the rumors about her fellow soror on camera all the more hurtful to the couple. It should also be noted that Gizelle has recently revealed that she had also discussed this with Wendy before filming, which means that both Robyn and Gizelle had private conversations to address the gossip as friends, and then chose to bring it up on camera for the sake of a plotline. Aside from this drama, we have Gizelle bringing her daughter back and forth to her learners permit test and Robyn living in a Judd Apatow film, so they needed to deliver something else. As Eddie astutely pointed out, you have to be hurt to project hurt onto someone. I appreciate how confident they are in their union, but I also hope it doesnt come back to bite Wendy in the ass. While Gizelle may continuously place everyones worth in the quality of a man they can attract, I dont think Wendy should, nor do I think that she should set herself up so that it would be a failure if Eddie did indeed end up straying; and while I understand some people finding her reaction a bit excessive, this is the same reality-TV universe where someone once pulled off their leg and put it on a restaurant table to make a point, so I think we can all agree that histrionics are par for the course here.

Speaking of hurt people hurting people, Gizelle and Robyn take the opportunity to advertise their podcast, which they have been recording in Gizelles lauded West Wing,malfunctioning sliding door and all. The episode, of course, is about infidelity, and the women chat about their experiences with monogamy and the lack thereof in their respective partnerships. Let me just say this upfront: Not everyone needs to have a podcast. Personally, I like my podcasts to be highly produced and edited, and if theyre going to be that barbershop style that the green-eyed duo is going for, you need a particular level of dynamism which translates into audio that I dont think they possess. Regardless, Robyn talks about what she will and wont accept in relationships now, which I find hard to believe since she has pretty much been with Juan in different states of coupling and uncoupling since high school. Gizelle reads off the statistic that 22 percent of men have cheated on their significant other and that if someone has cheated before, there is a 350 percent chance that they will cheat again. Now, as someone who majored in economics and studied/suffered through statistics, I feel obligated to lend my skillset to the ongoing study of the Reality TV Arts & Sciences and point out that these numbers dont make sense. I put my loans to use and did some digging, and it seems to have come from this nondescript blog which points to a Psychology Today article that seems to report that first-time cheaters cheat the second time around 3.5 times more frequently than those who didnt in their first relationships, which is a bit different than a 350 percent chance. Regardless, Gizelle quips that she wishes she could have known this two years ago, and that is the closest that she has come to admitting that Monique was telling that truth on the reunion stage, which we already knew since she hasnt lost any sort of defamation suit yet.

Next week, we see Karen fulfilling her Ambassador duties, Candiaces marital tension starts to escalate, and Gizelle begins to open up on the face crack heard around the world during last seasons reunion. See you then!

It is very cute that much ado is being made of Karen Hugers vow renewal although for all our sakes, please dont make Ray walk down those stairs before he ends up on the wrong side of a Life Alert commercial but the exterior looks like Williamsburg in 1997: abandoned warehouses as far as the eye can see. I hope they figure out how to give that faade some sort of a face lift or the girls that are forced to come and film for the show will be clowning the Grand Dame the entire ceremony.

I found it interesting that Candiace called her marriage an Ebony & Ivory love story when she had previously and notoriously called Ashley a bed wench. No additional comment there, just an observation.

Askale made a perfunctory cameo as Robyns friend at her birthday dinner. I want so much more for her, since the Ethiopian community in D.C. is quite large with a rich culture. Give us a coffee trip, something!

Michael, a troll who abandoned his appointed post at the bridge, has decided to mansplain the entire postpartum process during a visit to a holistic nurse. As if that wasnt unbearable enough, his doting husband compliment of the week was that Ashley didnt look overweight and that he was still attracted to her. Is this what awaits me in marriage? Because if so, I think Im just going to go ahead and get a cat.

Mia has been an erratic presence on the show thus far, but her exploring her journey with her mom was genuinely touching. As someone who has also experienced a lot of childhood trauma, I know personally how hard it can be to work through that with your parents, regardless of whether a camera is there. It also helps me understand her a bit more. I think a lot of her chaos is an intentional persona she creates, not just for TV, but to keep people at a distance because too many of the people closest to her have caused her the most harm. That said, I hope she finds the right balance, both for her emotional health but also to ensure that her presence on the show doesnt become too much of a strain.

Robyn starts to seek the counsel of a life coach. Normally I am against life coaches, but this one seems quite sensible, explaining to her that coaching is for people who are emotionally and psychologically healthy and want to make changes to move forward in their lives. The problem is that Robyn seems to think that applies to her. I guess if she was self-aware, she wouldnt be seeking out a life coach in the first place.

Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows!

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The Real Housewives of Potomac Recap: The Milkmaids Tale - Vulture

In the middle of training to become a therapist and with a bachelors degree in psychology under her belt already, Salinas-raised Diana Beltran began a train of thought that eventually evolved into a business. I knew I wanted to help as many people as possible, she says. And then one sleepless night, she got up and wrote her business idea down. So began a new direction with the creation of a life coaching business.

Her Inner Chats program is done in a group setting and is pitched as an emotional support wellness group, in which Beltran leads conversations and other therapeutic exercises. The goal is to help participants to become more self-aware. That could mean more self-aware of their communication skills, their feelings, needs or personal goals.

Inner Chats is available for all ages and group settings, including schools. Beltran has a few contracts in process, and has already brought the program to Monterey County Juvenile Hall. You can see the difference. Maybe day one, someone isnt talking. Maybe even on day two. But they eventually begin to learn to express themselves, she says.

Beltran walked theWeeklythrough the finer points of talking about feelings, while everyone else is watching.

Weekly:When you think about traditional therapy, what do you think of?

Beltran: A lot of it is one-to-one and its very important. A therapist is there to help with mental health issues. Many people need one. And its great when people know they need to talk to one. But it is difficult to bring that one-to-one everywhere.

I struggled a lot with depression and therapy. I didnt know about one-to-one counseling, I just thought, Im crazy. People can be in such a dark place, with no support. Even me, I didnt know where to look.

Why is therapy so hard to access?

A lot of people think they can see mental health. But, like with me, you couldnt tell I had depression or anxiety. I didnt even know I was depressed or anxious. People are just waiting for you to look sad. That doesnt work.

It can be very difficult to find help or ask for it. I was scared to reach out. I wasnt sure what it looked like, or sometimes help can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. My family didnt know either theyd look at me and think I just needed to get rest or sleep.

What are the benefits of talking about your feelings in a group setting? It can look pretty intimidating.

Being in a group setting encourages people to talk and be themselves with some boundaries. Using your voice to talk about yourself to others is a benefit thats not often practiced. Talking doesnt always have to be structured. Like, Tell me how you feel if you want and if you can. I dont want to make people feel that they are pressured to have to say anything. If you compare the first day [of Inner Chats] to the third day, you see people have the comfort they may not have in their own lives.

Dont get me wrong, I think therapy is great and all the resources out there are helpful. But what about those things people cant change? Like what if youre in a job that doesnt pay you enough to support yourself? Therapy cant make your boss pay you more.

Is there a limit to self-help, self-care and therapy?

You are what you limit yourself to. You can reach out for help, but at some point you have to say,enough. Therapy, self-help theyre tools to make you better. The goal is to improve the person that you are.

What do you do to take your mind off of your work?

I love audiobooks. I was never much of a reader until I got into audiobooks. And exploring the outdoors is my escape. Hiking, biking, and Im trying boogie boarding right now.

What audiobook are you listening to right now?

I am listening to two books:Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarterby Curtis Jackson, known as 50 Cent. Its very real, very raw. I believe everyone can create something in some way.

AndThe Happiness Advantageby Shawn Achor it focuses on what isaboveaverage and the book asks, why are we so focused on average, what does it take to be above average?

Are you at an above-average level of happiness?

I am working on being there, and I think maybe Im there but I was not always.

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A life coach talks about her journey as an entrepreneur, and the benefits of talking it out. - Monterey County Weekly

Approach, perspective topics of workshop

Writers looking to change their approach to writing will find the upcoming Writers Night right up their alley.

Making the Familiar Strange: Uncovering New Perspectives Through Writing is the title for Carrie Schaeffers presentation at the Writers Night at 6 p.m. Tuesday at The Art Center, 1803 N. Seventh St.

Schaeffer is a freelance writer, owns Apostrophe Life Coaching and co-owns Hoptocopter Films.

Poets from across U.S. set to compete in Slamming Bricks

The third annual Slamming Bricks: A Poetry Riot will go from 6:308:30 p.m. Saturday at Charlie Dwellingtons, 103 N. First St.

There will be eight poets from across the United States competing at Slamming Bricks.

The competition will be centered on the themes of liberation and resistance in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots that launched the Gay Liberation movement, according to a news release from the Western Colorado Writers Forum, which hosts the slam.

Admission is free. This event is for individuals age 21 and older.

Continue reading here:
Book Notes: Sept. 511 | | gjsentinel.com - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

There are thousands of professionals all across the world who call themselves "leaders."

In reality, the vast majority are leaders in title alone. While they have direct reports and authority over others because of seniority or prior performance, they aren't actually leading; they're managing.

One of the ways a leader separates themselves from being a manager is by coaching their people. A coach, by definition, is one who trains and instructs. I define it inCoaching for Excellenceas,"Coaching is improving the current and future performance of others to achieve higher levels of excellence."

Leaders who coach others effectively have never been more critical than they are today because behind every excellent professional is an excellent leader who acted as a coach and refused to settle for anything other than their best.

Behind every excellent professional is an excellent leader who acted as a coach and refused to settle for anything less than their best.

As easy as this is to write, the application of it is complex. John Wooden said it well, "a coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment." Managers have countless opportunities, from performance reviews to one-on-one, to daily interactions, to give correction without causing resentment. However, this is precisely where most managers make a significant mistake.

Mistakes are a part of life, coaching others included. The key to any mistake is not making it habitually without correcting it in the future. Like virtually everything in life, there are always exceptions. Still, for the sake of this column, the worst mistake a leader can make when coaching others is:

Perhaps one could make worse mistakes, like not coaching at all or demeaning someone to make them feel inadequate intentionally. Clearly, don't do that. Most people can get behind not making these egregious mistakes when coaching. However, consistently telling the people you are coaching how to solve an issue or challenge is not only easy to do; it's hard not to do.

The reason so many managers give advice and answers so quickly is typically one of two reasons:

When you are in a hurry and or you know the answer to a question, it's far easier and more efficient to give the answer and move on. Micromanagers take this a step further. Not only do they tell their team members the answer, but they do it for them because no one can complete a task as well as they can.

Micromanagers not only answer every question, but no one can complete a task as well as they can.

Delivering the answer to a question is quick and effective. However, it rarely does anything to encourage a person's development.

Great leaders identify where team members are currently in their development and align their coaching appropriately. The goal is simple: help your people reach a stage of development that exceeds where they are today.

The goal of coaching is simple: help people reach a stage of development that exceeds where they are today.

While there are different tactics, tools, and strategies you should engage in at each team member's stage of development, there is one coaching tactic that is somewhat effective at all levels. It's centered around asking great questions. This allows you to pull the information out of your people instead of the other way around.

Michael Bungay Stanier, the author of The Coaching Habit, explained this well. He told me, "Leaders should stay curious a little bit longer and rush to advice-giving a little bit slower." By taking this approach, you force team members out of their comfort zone and encourage them to be more self-reflective.

Use open-ended questions, free of judgment. Here are some of my favorite examples to add to your arsenal:

Regardless if you are guilty of consistently telling others how to fix or solve the issues or challenges in front of them or not. It's never a bad time to be reminded to ensure you don't make the mistake in the future. As a mentor of mine taught me, "people need to be reminded more than they need to be taught."

How do you do to be an effective coach to others? Tell me in the comments.

Original post:
The Worst Mistake Leaders Make When Coaching Their People - BBN Times

Despite the immense disappointment that last season brought the LSU football program, one thing that remained is the talent on the defensive line.

The biggest focus for LSU football this off season was fixing the defense. At all levels the defense was an utter disaster in 2020 despite there being plenty of talent in the defensive unit. One group where that talent was most evident was the defensive line.

Going all the way back to start of the 21st century, LSU has always been known for its hard-nosed style of play and talent in the trenches, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Players like Marcus Spears, Glen Dorsey, Sam Montgomery and Arden Key, just to name a few, have shaped LSUs identity over the past 20 years. With the dominance on the defensive line having slightly declined over the past couple of years, this off season and fall camp has given every indication that the Tigers will be back to having a dominant defensive front.

After possibly the worst season from a linebacking core in program history, LSU football has

LSU returned all five starters from its defensive line in 2020, which created one of the most experienced defensive lines in the SEC. Andre Anthony and Glen Logan return as leaders of the unit both entering their sixth year with the program and are expected to make the biggest impact. Neil Farrell Jr. is another veteran returning the defensive line for his fifth season. He ended the 2020 season in great form, posting seven tackles and a sack in the final game of the year. Other talented returners include Ali Gaye and BJ Ojulari, who are arguably the two most talented linemen on the roster and each have high expectations going into their second seasons with the program.

Head Coach Ed Orgeron considers the defensive line to be the deepest position on the roster and is not afraid to rotate within the group.

On the defensive line were going to go ten deep, Orgeron said when discussing remaining position battles.

When people think of an LSU offense historically, they think of great running backs like Cha

This speaks volumes to just how deep this unit has become over the off season. Having ten players who can all step in at any given time gives you two separate units that can be on the field, allowing far more flexibility in the scheme and blitz packages.

Arguably the biggest change to this group during the off season was the arrival of new defensive line coach Andre Carter. Carter comes to LSU after having spent the last two years as defensive line coach for the New York Jets. Carter also brings 13 years of NFL playing experience after having a successful career with five different teams. Carters success as a player makes him a respectable figure as a coach and his arrival has taken some of the pressure off Orgeron, who specializes in coaching the defensive line.

I'll tell you what, Andre Carter is one great defensive line coach, I've turned over the defensive line to him, Orgeron said. I'm still looking at all the film with the defense, but I'm able to also be the head coach because of the coaching of Andre.

Bringing in a coach like Carter will also help the Tigers on the recruiting trail when it comes to bringing in more talented linemen. LSU already brought in a very talented freshman class of defensive linemen; having a coach with the reputation of Carter will only benefit LSU on that front. Maason Smith and Savion Jones are the two most talked about of LSUs freshmen linemen, with Smith signing as a five-star recruit as the No. 1 overall player in Louisiana. Both Jones and Smith are expected to make an immediate impact and will only add more strength for the Tigers up front.

After a season of massive disappointment on the defensive side of the ball, Tiger fans can expect some the classic dominance from the defensive front in 2021. A deep defensive line unit along with plenty of experience is a recipe for success, which will create one of LSU's most talented position groups this upcoming season.

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Why LSU's defensive line will bring new life to the defense in 2021 - The Reveille, LSU's student newspaper

FOR TWO WEEKS last summer, Justin Foster puttered around his Clemson apartment, working out as best he could, waiting for the 14 days of his COVID-19 quarantine to pass. He was one of more than 40 Clemson football players to test positive, and, like most of them, his symptoms were barely noticeable.

The 14 days passed, and he headed back to the field, officially recovered.

Something wasn't right. From the first workout, he struggled for breath while he ran, and after practices he collapsed in bed. No amount of sleep was enough.

"Even when you feel your best day, you're still so tired," he says. "You can't really keep up. You can't do anything."

As it became harder to function, doubt seeped in. Maybe something was happening to him, or maybe it was something else. Despite a lifetime of evidence to the contrary, "it was almost to the point where I just felt lazy," he says.

What Foster did not know, and would not know for months, was that he was a part of the COVID-19 population that was only beginning to reveal itself. He was a long-hauler, someone whose symptoms persevere for more than four weeks after the initial infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2 Related

Beyond the fatigue, long-haulers have reported an odd collection of symptoms -- headaches, sore joints, shortness of breath, itchy skin, sore teeth, strange rashes, muscle spasms, mental fog -- but for many people, there is another side effect that's harder to deal with: You feel like you're losing your mind.

You feel like you're supposed to will your way out of it, show some gumption or get-up-and-go, and your body just ... won't. And like Foster, you start to think you're just lazy, and you worry that people don't believe you. Because often you don't believe yourself.

I didn't. I caught COVID-19 in March 2020, and by June I couldn't understand why I couldn't get myself together. I haven't felt like myself for a single day since.

He's a 22-year-old athlete from North Carolina who had aspirations for the NFL. I'm a 52-year-old journalist who lives in New Jersey and likes to run.

From our first conversation, we connected about what it was like to suddenly no longer be yourself, and the constant self-doubt that came with it. If we can't do the things we used to do, then who are we?

You spend your life running into limits and defining yourself by how you react to them. Then long-haul COVID hits you with limits that you don't know how to deal with, or didn't expect to deal with for years. And no one can tell you whether it will be one more week of this or the rest of your life.

JUSTIN FOSTER IS a "yes, ma'am/yes, sir" sort of Southern kid who grew up in Shelby, North Carolina, a town of about 20,000 just west of Charlotte.

He was quiet, he says, like his parents. He's still pretty quiet. He wasn't a natural athlete, and he wasn't one of those kids driven to play sports.

"Most of the time I was forced to play, just because I was larger than everyone else. I was very clumsy, not coordinated at all," he says. "I was pretty good at football, just because they'd just tell me to tackle the person with the ball."

In high school he was a linebacker, gaining national attention as a junior when he had 67 tackles during Crest High School's perfect 2015 season. (He had 10 tackles in the state championship.) One day his coach, Mark Barnes, handed him a phone and said someone wanted to speak to him. It was Dabo Swinney, who offered him a scholarship.

Only one member of Foster's immediate family had gone to college, he says, and it hadn't occurred to him that football could make him the second. He had been thinking about trade school or the military, some arena where he could use his skill to take any machine, figure out what was wrong with it and then put it back together.

"Everyone else looked at me as a ballplayer, but for me personally it really hadn't set in that that was my identity and that's what I really wanted to do," he says.

Clemson moved him to defensive end, and for his first three seasons, Foster was mostly a role player on a stacked team, showing ability as a pass rusher. The possibility of the NFL was becoming real, though. In 2019 he was honorable mention All-ACC and made the All-ACC Academic Team. (In December 2020, he graduated with a degree in construction sciences with a 3.24 GPA.)

His teammates describe the two sides of Foster they've come to know. There's "Mater," named for the rusty tow truck in the animated movie "Cars." "Mater" Foster fixes their vehicles and changes flat tires and is, in their words, an easygoing country boy.

Then there's the Foster who takes his place on the edge of the defensive line.

"He's a straight power rusher," teammate Myles Murphy says. "Loves to go through the tackle, go through people. Very aggressive player. We like that on the edge."

Before the 2020 season, a number of scouting websites said Foster was a credible "Day 3" NFL draft pick, meaning somewhere between the fourth and seventh rounds. A solid season could push him up the list.

On June 25, 2020, Foster was at his home in Clemson when the text came from the team training staff saying he had tested positive for COVID-19. All he felt at the time was a runny nose that he assumed was allergies.

When he returned to practice two weeks later, the struggle began. He'd had asthma his whole life but felt like it was always under control -- he rarely used an inhaler. Now, he was short of breath all day long. And he felt like he had to do something that went against every part of his personality: ask for help.

"There's some guys that maybe have a little something that's wrong with them and they drag it out for a period of time," says Danny Poole, the team's director of sports medicine, and an athletic trainer for 40 years. "With Justin, he's one of those guys that if he comes and tells you there's something going on, you better believe it."

EVERY DISCUSSION OF long-haul COVID has to start with the caveat that no one fully understands it. Almost two years into the pandemic, experts still have multiple theories about what long-haul COVID is and how to define it.

When Foster and I realized more than a year ago we weren't recovering, there was no consensus that there even was such a thing as long-haul COVID. Some doctors thought their patients were still sick with the disease but that the virus was somehow avoiding detection; some doctors thought patients were suffering from PTSD.

Researchers from the University of Washington estimate that roughly 30% of people infected with COVID-19 develop long-haul syndrome. The severity and symptoms range wildly. Some people feel a little off, while others are unable to get out of bed for days at a time.

What experts have come to believe is that for some unknown reason, long-haulers' immune systems act as though they're still under attack from the virus. Physical or emotional stress, even good stress, disturbs the entire system like a hornet's nest. Doctors want their patients moving so they don't become completely sedentary. But if you have the driven personality of, say, a college football player, accustomed to ignoring pain and fatigue, that drive can make the symptoms worse.

How it all happens and how to treat it, however, are still the subject of widespread debate.

"We all would agree that something is wrong with the immune system," says Dr. Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease physician and researcher at Columbia University. "To this day I still don't think we've gotten to why the immune system hasn't reset itself."

When I was infected, I was never hospitalized, never had problems breathing or with my heart. I was sick for three weeks, the worst of it a four-day period when I slept about 18 hours a day. A couple of weeks after I had been sick, I assumed that as soon as I could get my running legs back, I'd feel like myself. On my first run, I felt out of shape, but no more than that. Then, about 36 hours later, my lungs began to ache as though I had been breathing smoke. I was exhausted. I spent the better part of the next couple of days in bed, wondering why I was so tired, wondering if I had grown too comfortable being in bed all day. I began a pattern of recovering, trying to run, then having the same delayed reaction that shut me down all over again. I tried going for walks, but the result was the same.

A friend who survived the virus after 35 days on a ventilator had returned to his pre-COVID strength, but I hadn't. It made no sense. I just need to get back into shape, I repeated. I need to push through it. And that's one of the first things that sets in with long-haul, the question of whether you're imagining everything, or if, mentally, you're too weak to cope.

CLEMSON PLAYERS WHO had COVID-19 followed a series of steps before they returned to full workouts. They started with light jogging, then sprinting, then practicing in a green jersey, which signified no contact, always checking in with the trainer at the end of the day.

The main concern, Poole says, was making sure players hadn't contracted myocarditis, a rare but potentially fatal heart inflammation that doctors at the time were concerned was linked to COVID-19. Usually, players were back to full speed a month after being infected. Of the players who were infected, all reported complete recoveries. Except for Foster.

Teammates noticed that Foster was raising his hand during drills, asking coaches to rotate him out so he could catch his breath. They hadn't seen that before.

"If he takes the time to step out, that means something serious," teammate K.J. Henry says. "He has a great grasp on the difference between pain and injury."

Foster says the harder he drove himself, the worse it got.

"I didn't want to be the one that wasn't working out or the one that's always having a problem and having to go to the training room and deal with it," he says. "It was just a lot mentally, pretty much just being down all the time. And I didn't know what was going to happen."

Foster and Swinney shared a shorthand to monitor how he felt. Swinney would wave his thumb in three positions -- up, sideways, down -- and Foster would respond with his own thumb to reflect where he was. Too often it was sideways or down.

After a couple of weeks, he wasn't able to practice at all. Day after day, when his teammates came into the training room to get taped up or treated, they saw Foster sitting in the corner with a nebulizer strapped to his face.

"I just remember him coming to me and he just was kind of was broken down. He said, 'Coach, I can't do it,'" Swinney says. "As an athlete and especially as a football player, we're kind of all wired to go and [be] like, 'Hey, snap out of it.' But this was something you couldn't see. It's not like you got a torn ACL, or you got a broken bone or something like that."

Foster says he worried his teammates thought he was lazy. No, they say. Quite the opposite. The fact that it was Foster who was struggling unnerved them. "No one thought he was lazy at all. We knew that he does what he needs to do every day to prepare," Murphy says.

"The entire team had no idea what was happening: 'Am I going to be next? Why did he react like that to COVID? And if I get COVID, am I going to react the same way?'"

Foster got to the point at which walking up the stairs in the football facility was too much. "It was just a very dark place for a long time," Foster says.

One night during the summer of 2020, Foster went to lie down a little after 11 p.m., when he felt an asthma attack coming on. He did what he usually does during an episode and took a puff from his inhaler. It didn't work.

He didn't want to call 911 and go to an emergency room in the middle of a pandemic, so he called Poole, the trainer.

Poole says he was struck by the fear in Foster's voice and told him to get to the team facility. Poole and the team physician put Foster on a nebulizer and talked him through breathing drills until, finally, a few hours later, the attack subsided.

In the weeks that followed, the training staff took Foster to several local doctors, each of whom came to the same conclusion, that there was no medical problem they could identify.

"It's like, am I crazy?" Foster says. "Is something going on with me mentally that I just can't push through this?"

IT WASN'T JUST his body. Foster took summer classes, and when he sat at a computer or tried to read a book, his mind couldn't grasp what was in front of him. This from someone who was an All-ACC Academic Team selection.

"There was a time where I was probably three weeks behind in class. I'm never a person not to do my work," he says.

The mental fog can be more destabilizing for some people than the physical symptoms. You don't recognize yourself, but you look normal to everyone else. I had plenty of evenings with friends or family when I could rally for a few hours, but I knew I'd be wiped out for the next two days. In my lower moments, it became too difficult to read because simple words didn't make sense. When I wrote, I might forget what I was writing in the middle of a sentence.

Over and over, I went through the process of researching something for an article, writing that portion, polishing it and then discovering that I had already done all that hours earlier. I had no memory of writing the same material. I learned to use outlines and checklists to do what I'd relied on my mind to do for 30 years. I had to lean heavily on colleagues to make sure that my work was clean.

In conversation, I frequently lost thoughts in mid-sentence, and then worried people thought I was being melodramatic. There were times watching TV when my mind couldn't keep up with the dialogue and I had to hit pause. Twice I got lost driving near my home and had to use Waze to get back.

And many nights I hit that wall and had to leave the dinner table as my family watched knowingly, not saying anything because they knew I didn't want the attention. I'd be in bed the rest of the night.

Most of the time I felt like I was possessed by someone dumber and more irritable. The cuts to my sense of self were relentless, with the wild, vivid dreams I had every morning, my inability to smell or taste, the strange things I found myself saying, the words I couldn't come up with, the loss of desire for longtime passions, the difficulty of small talk. Experiencing the minutiae of the day and thinking, "This just isn't me," over and over for months.

When I shared that with Foster he nodded and said, "Exactly."

My low point might have come after a weekend in November visiting my daughter in Washington, D.C., the most active two days I'd had in months. When I got home that Monday night, I saw a story from my colleague Jeff Passan about Tony La Russa's DUI. Something was vaguely familiar about it, and it hit me that Jeff and I had spoken three days earlier. I called him and was blunt. "I need to know, did I f--- something up? Was there something you asked me to do?"

"Actually," he said, "there was."

It turned out to be inconsequential, and Jeff couldn't have been better about it, but I had no memory of the conversation. It was like being told about a drunken blackout. And then the thought hit me that I had no way of knowing how many times this had happened over the previous eight months.

I felt like a writer who couldn't write, a reader who couldn't read, a runner who couldn't go for a walk, a father and husband who disappeared into his own head every night. Lesser in every way I could measure. I kept repeating to myself, "Useless."

THE FIRST TIME Foster heard the term "long haul" was in August 2020, from head trainer Poole. Foster then went to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where, finally, a doctor said his issues were indeed probably related to his COVID-19 infection, and they were real. No one could explain why his asthma attacks had become so intense, and no one could say when or if he would get better. But just hearing about "long haul" was a massive relief.

"Someone telling me that I'm not crazy and that there's actually something going on, that was the first time that I realized that I could relax," he says. "I knew that there was actually something going on that was causing me to be like this."

For the first two months after I'd been sick, convinced I had fallen into some rut of laziness that I couldn't break out of, I wondered if I'd even had COVID at all. In those early pandemic days in North Jersey, you couldn't get a test unless you needed to be hospitalized. I might be imagining this whole thing, I thought.

Ultimately, I took my sons with me to get antibody tests, and even as the nurse drew blood from my arm, I felt like I was on a path to being exposed as a fraud. A few days later the call came and someone read me results. Michael Quinn ... negative. Liam Quinn ... negative. Thomas Quinn ...

As I waited to hear my result my heart was pounding so violently my shirt was moving. "Positive," she said.

The wave of relief that went through me felt like anesthesia. I teared up. I wasn't crazy. I had no idea what would happen, but for the moment it was enough to know it was all real. She sent me a copy of the test result, and I pinned it to the wall next to my desk.

AS THE 2020 football season began, knowing he was fighting an illness and not his own mind, Foster still had hopes of rallying. But week by week, nothing changed, and his nights became lessons in terror.

"There were multiple nights where I would lay down and I would be choking in my sleep. And I would wake up in the middle of the night and I could barely breathe," he says. "That's when I was at my lowest point because I just didn't know what was going to happen. ... If I was going to go to sleep one day and not wake up."

Midway through the season, Foster and Swinney agreed that he needed to focus on his health. There was always next year. Foster went to practices and home games but didn't dress, speaking up when the defensive line gathered, maybe sharing a certain move that would work against an offensive tackle.

"At practice, even in games, he'd be right there, pretty much just coaching us up," Murphy says.

And when the defense was on the field, Foster found a spot on the sideline where he was unlikely to encounter players tumbling out of bounds. "I knew if something did happen I couldn't run fast enough to get out of the way, and I didn't want to cause a scene," he says.

But he says it was killing him not to participate or know whether he might play again. The idea began to sink in that he had to walk away from football altogether, just to be able to move on mentally and emotionally to the next part of his life. To become whatever he was going to be after football. There was always going to be an end to his career; maybe this was it.

He says he made the decision in December but didn't make it official for two months. "I couldn't really bring myself to do it, just because of all the work I'd put in," he says.

On Feb. 24 this year, Foster went to the Clemson football facility and sat outside Swinney's office for 90 minutes until the coach was free. Foster told him he needed to step away from football. Swinney said he understood and told Foster he would have a place on the team if he wanted to come back.

Foster told the rest of the world that day on social media.

"Today is a difficult day for me, but it is also a day of reflection and gratitude," he wrote. "With sadness but no regret, I have decided it is in my best interest to call it a career and hang up football."

A week later, Foster told me about the frustration he felt.

"The question I would ask when I went to the doctor is, 'You guys say you don't see anything; you guys say that things are getting better. I don't feel better. So is this a new life for me? Is this my life now?' And if it is, just tell me that. And I will be fine what that, and I'll just have to deal with it.

"I don't want to get my hopes up and keep hoping and hoping and hoping that I'm going to be back to normal."

We were experiencing something akin to sudden aging, leaping past what we saw as the coming vital years. You had to fight the urge to dwell on what had been lost or whether you could ever get it back. You had to learn that patience and acceptance weren't weaknesses, they were the only strengths you had left at times. This is what I can do today. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

THE SAME DAY Foster announced his retirement, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced a new federal initiative to study long-haul COVID, and dubbed the syndrome with an official name: Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2.

By that point, several prominent hospitals had established post-COVID clinics to both treat patients and gather data. Foster attended one at Duke, and I went to the one at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan -- an appointment I had to make five months in advance.

I met with a "functional medicine" doctor, who said the goal was to get my body's inflammation down so my autonomic nervous system would switch back to its normal state. I later learned not all experts believe the nervous system is even involved, but I was advised to adopt an anti-inflammatory diet, take a number of supplements to boost the immune system and decrease inflammation, wear compression clothing to help circulation, get a lot of rest when I needed it. I couldn't tell you if any of it has helped, but I do it.

Before COVID, I was in obnoxiously good health. But like many long-haulers, my blood pressure and cholesterol hit inexplicably high levels after I got sick.

Part of the Mt. Sinai program is visiting with a cardiologist, and the day I saw her in March my blood pressure was 155/110, a fairly alarming number. I hadn't had any cardiac symptoms, but as she listened to my chest she said, "I think I hear a murmur."

An echocardiogram showed that she was right. The aortic valve in my heart was slightly dilated, allowing some blood flow back into the chamber. The good news was the condition is mild and completely manageable. It's possible it had been there for years but eluded detection. But it's possible, she said, that the elevated blood pressure I'd had for a year at that point caused it to dilate. However it got that way, I needed to get my blood pressure under control and will have to control it for the rest of my life to prevent more serious problems.

When Foster went to Duke's clinic for the first time, most of the focus was on his lungs. His pulmonologist there, Dr. Loretta Que, said during one test he was using only 49% of his lung capacity. She and the team there put him on a regimen of new medications.

"Prior to COVID, he hardly ever had to use an inhaler, and now he's on a chronic medication," she says. "I can't predict whether or not he's going to be able to come off of those in the future, but that's something that we're going to need to evaluate for."

THERE WAS A ray of hope out there for both of us in early 2021. At first the results were anecdotal, but long-haulers around the country were reporting dramatic recoveries after getting vaccinated. As data began to roll in, Columbia's Griffin estimated that 40% of long-haulers were seeing improvement.

I got my first shot in March and didn't notice any difference. A couple of weeks later, Foster got his. When I was headed to get my second injection, I texted him to see how he was doing. He wrote back, "1.5 mile jog this morning."

I woke up the day after my second shot feeling the sickest I'd ever felt in my life. The worst of it passed after two days, and over the course of the next two weeks I realized I might be feeling worse overall than I had before the shot.

But something had changed for Foster. Maybe it was the vaccine and maybe it was the progress he had felt since changing medications. Maybe it was just the passage of time. But suddenly a comeback seemed possible.

He began to push himself. His runs got a little longer, and he started to lift weights again. In April, he went back to Duke and got more good news. That 49% lung output was now 102%. Dr. Que put him on a new inhaler and said he was ready to attempt a comeback.

"She was telling me, what do I have to lose? She's like, 'You go back, you try to play again, and if you can't play, you just can't play.' And I was like, 'It's not a bad option,'" he says.

As Foster walked out of the appointment, his phone rang. It was Swinney, just checking on him. That was the moment, Foster says, when he decided he was ready to try, although he didn't share that on the phone call. He wanted to take some time to be sure.

A few days later, he called Swinney. He was ready, he said. Swinney beamed and told Foster he could go at his own pace, and if he's able to play only 10 snaps a game, so be it. Foster had a place on the team.

More here:
'Is this my life now?': Clemson defensive end Justin Foster's -- and my -- struggle with long-haul COVID - ESPN

Being a new mom is a blessing, but it's also challenging in so many ways. Taking care of your new baby is all-consuming--so all-consuming, in fact, that you often forget to take care of mommy. Personal style takes a back seat, because, hey, baby doesn't care what you look like, right? But at one point, YOU did.

Jenny Greenstein of Your Soul Style thinks you should again. Now. Because your style is a vehicle of self-expression and empowerment. I'm a firm believer that we are at our best when we feel our best and that begins at our core," she says. Mind, body and soul must be aligned."

Easier said than done, right? Not if you've got this (pregnant!) sylist extraordinaire (and lucky for us, WRNY style contributor!) on your side. Below, she talks about how a little Style Coaching"--yes, you can actually hire her!--can make you look better...and feel way better.

Why is postpartum such a tough time for women when it comes to fashion?

During a pregnancy, women's bodies go through many changes from both a physical and emotional perspective. While most women don't expect to recover and bounce back to their 'old selves' immediately, they have to contend with embracing a new lifestyle, a new postpartum body and a new busy schedule that doesn't allow much time for self-care. Personal style is typically one of the behaviors that winds up suffering the most, as many don't feel it is a priority to worry about what to wear" when they have a newborn to tend to. Closets become neglected, and women rely on wearing the same old thing" daily to be both comfortable and easy.

How is this related to self-esteem?

Unfortunately this starts a downward spiral into compromised self-esteem. Many of my clients reach out to me when their baby is 6 months to 1-year-old, recognizing they have a closet full of either maternity clothes, items that don't fit, or a pre-pregnancy wardrobe that hasn't been updated in 2 years. Plus, many women are still not back to their 'old body.'

Women connect with me when they are finally ready to accept their new shape, and start paying attention to themselves again regardless. While some are still struggling to lose the 'baby weight' and others stuck with a stale wardrobe, I work with my postnatal clients, easing them through this transition to find empowerment again, using style as one of the vehicles to get there. My philosophy is based on the platform that mind and body must coexist in harmony and this includes how we present ourselves to the world. I help bring my clients back to life to become their best selves in order to be strong role models for their children.

How is this an issue that touches upon both the physical and the mental?

Women in our society pay lots of attention to keeping their bodies in check through diet and exercise, and once a pregnancy takes place (pre and postnatally) we wind up having to surrender since so much of the physical adjustment is out of our hands.

Even though the change is a physical shift, it affects every part of our being. Not feeling good in our bodies domino-effects into our moods, energy level and overall state of wellness. Getting dressed becomes another casualty. Personal style is a silent way of communicating who we are and what we are all about, and if things are not in balance on the inside, it will become evident in your appearance. Fortunately there are strategic ways of coping. I help my clients in getting back to the alignment of both, whether during a pregnancy and/or afterwards.

What is style therapy"?

Similar to talk therapy, where a person becomes mindful and aware of their own behavior patterns, Style Coaching is a form of therapy. While style is an extension of an inner self, feeling unstable can offset the alignment with the outer self. How we present ourselves to the world is contingent upon our emotional state. Together we break down any barriers and explore the deeper layers, by evaluating body image, self-esteem, style preferences, and style choices so I can provide techniques on how to compliment your shape, personality and taste. Whether you're going through a break-up, lost weight, gained weight, recently had a baby, are pregnant or just looking to discover your Style Personality," my goal is to help you find an authentic sensibility and provide guidance on how to use style as a vehicle of confident self-expression and empowerment.

Tell us about the style coaching services you're providing for new moms.

Style Coaching: This 1-1.5-hour session helps to create a strong foundation by assessing individual style goals/needs. I evaluate how your appearance interrelates with the emotional states you experience on a daily basis. Through a series of questions and exercises, we identify your Style Personality." Some of my clients find themselves lost after a pregnancy and birth, and need help finding a way back to their core before they can understand how to present themselves through fashion choices.

Closet Cleanse: Here, we move through your closet together and detox, get organized and set-up a closet to feel good about. We go through your entire (seasonal) wardrobe and answer things like: When is the last time you wore this? How do you feel when you wear this? Does this item really fit anymore or are you saving it for when you lose/gain weight?" After a pregnancy, women wind up with clothes that either don't fit, or with styles they don't love anymore since most don't invest heavily into new clothing when pregnant. Through this exercise, I provide tips and techniques on how to efficiently style what remains in your closet after removing what's 'toxic.'

Shopping: We go shopping (or I shop for you) to find those essential new pieces.

(Note: These can work a la carte, or as an all-inclusive service.)

What's the biggest frustration that your new mom clients have when they come to you?

Contending with a new body, and how to dress it. While waiting to lose those last 5-10 lbs. (or more) postpartum, women neglect purchasing anything new, putting things on hold until they reach a goal weight. This leaves my clients with an uninspired closet with clothes that don't really fit. I work very closely with my clients to teach them styling techniques that complement their new shape using their existing detoxed wardrobe, and offer shopping strategies on how to buy items that will work for now and later to ensure longevity in investments. There is no excuse for not having a wardrobe that you love and feel good in. No matter what size or shape you are. I work with all budgets, big or small.

What does it mean to detox" your wardrobe?

Women typically hold onto clothing for emotional reasons, whether they are waiting to get back to an 'old body,' they envision themselves in styles they see on others to replicate a specific image, or they feel guilty getting rid of pieces they spent money on and have rarely worn. Unfortunately, this lands us in predicaments where we have too much merchandise that doesn't work. Either things don't fit right, they can't make the style they were inspired by work into their own 'Style Personality,' or they just don't like the item anymore.

I help women let go in order to become their full selves. This means getting rid of things that just don't work. They could be beautiful pieces, they could be expensive, and it may have looked amazing on that famous actress you bought it because of. The bottom line is that if you don't feel good in it, its gotta go! Together we discover what works on an individual basis, and this is where women start to become empowered by their own choices and feel confident in them.

Photography by Your Soul Style.

Visit link:
Postpartum Style Coaching - Motherly Inc.

5 Sep 2021

Uganda drew with Kenya in their opening match in round two

The Cranes host Mali in their second game

Coach Milutin Sredojevic discusses his teams qualifying chances

Uganda had been absent from the CAF Africa Cup of Nations for 39 years when Milutin Sredojevic steered them back to the competition in 2017. That was in the Serbian coachs first coming as the Cranes coach, a post he has now returned to with the aim of guiding them through the qualifying competition for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

This is actually the third time that Ive coached in Uganda, he told FIFA.com. The first was with Villa Sport Club. We did really well, with some players earning moves abroad. Then I came back to coach the national team in 2013. We developed the side and reaped our rewards in 2017, when we reached the Africa Cup of Nations. It was a historic achievement for the country.

My recent appointment to the job is the biggest challenge of my whole career, especially with the national team going through a transitional phase and the captain, Denis Onyango, having announced his retirement. The team needs time in these World Cup qualifiers to gain experience. Hopefully, we can get some positive results and rebuild.

Uganda have been drawn with Mali, Kenya and Ethiopia in Group E of the preliminaries for Qatar 2022.

You have to go into every qualifiers or competition with big objectives, said Sredojevic. Were in a tough group. We might be in a transitional phase, but weve got to play with a lot of ambition and show the full potential of our players to achieve positive results. We have to show that were a competitive team. We want to be in the fight to win the group. We know its going to be tough and that the little details will make all the difference. We have to acquit ourselves well and pick up points to get to where we want to go.

Uganda kicked off their campaign with a goalless draw in Kenya, a game in which the odds were against them, as Sredojevic explained: The players gave their all despite being up against a team thats just finished their season. Most of our players have been resting, so its a positive result for us.

It was hard to get the players fit for such an important game. Kenya kept hitting long balls for [Michael] Olunga, but we managed to keep them out.

Uganda can expect a tough test in their second outing in the group, at home to Mali, one of the strongest sides in Africa right now. Win this game and Uganda will give their chances of topping the group a massive boost.

After Kenya away, weve got Mali at home, said the Serbian coach. Its going to be hard, especially as our players have had a lack of game time. Thats why weve had to work hard to reach the right level in terms of competitiveness, mental attitude, fitness, and tactics. Our performance against Mali will show if weve got our preparations right.

I believe in the work weve done and the players weve got to reach the level we need and get the results our fans expect.

Few coaches have as much experience of African football as Sredojevic, who has also worked in Ethiopia, Egypt, South Africa, Sudan, Rwanda, Zambia, and Tanzania. During the course of his club and national team coaching career, he has spent time in 24 countries on the continent, accumulating a vast amount of expertise in the process.

So how does he plan to put it to use for Uganda? Ive got a lot of experience of coaching in Africa and I can anticipate what might happen on the pitch. I think I can help these young players to mature and push them to perform at their very best in aid of the team. Ill do everything I can to help Uganda do well.

The rest is here:
Sredojevic: Uganda have to be ambitious - FIFA.com

Jordan Cain was a teenager when he began drinking.

It started innocuous enough for the Longmont native, as is the case with many young people experimenting with alcohol in their high school years. But things didnt stay that way.

He developed an alcohol use disorder, and soon he was drinking just to stop himself from going into withdrawal. At some point, he began using cocaine to stay awake. For 12 years, people in his life tried to talk to him about his addiction, but he would brush off their remarks.

I was drinking very heavily. And I think for my generation, or at least the people I was hanging out with, it was just a normal amount, Cain said. I did drop out of college. I was in a lot of trouble off and on the entire time with the law. I found myself in some pretty messed up relationships, where not only were alcohol and drugs being abused, but I myself was being abused.

Cain said he didnt think much of his first DUI. It never occurred to him that alcohol was really an issue, much less a debilitating disorder. Sure, there were problems, but he was still holding down a steady job.

It wasnt until his second DUI about six months later when he took it as a sign from the universe, or the courts, that maybe it was time to take a deeper look at himself.

I think that was kind of the point where I knew I was going to be facing jail time, he said. And I knew this might be the best chance I have at drying up being away from toxic people, toxic environments and really using jail to my benefit as a first step in starting to be sober.

Cain moved to Summit County after his release from jail. Today, he is more than 2 1/2 years sober.

Cains addiction isnt unique. Hes just one of millions of Americans with a substance use disorder. What is special about his story, and others like him, is he found a way out.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention generally defines alcohol misuse as more than one drink per day on average for a woman and more than two per day for a man. The center further defines binge drinking as four or more drinks for a woman on a single occasion and five for a man.

But in some circumstances, that misuse can be difficult to spot.

Steve Howes is a Michigan native whos lived in Summit County for the past 15 years, and hes currently eight months sober. He said growing up in a family with heavy drinkers played a major role in his addiction. Later in life, it was societal and professional norms.

I just grew up around drinking, Howes said. Most of my aunts and uncles are all alcoholics. Thats something I took up with them. They were allowing me to drink as a young teenager, and I drank heavily with them on the weekends and stuff. I guess at the time I thought it was normal.

And since I work in the trades, every day after work you get home, you go out with the boys and you start to drink with them. Thats what youre supposed to do.

Tucker Limbruner grew up in Breckenridge and was exposed to heavy drinkers at a young age at his fathers restaurant. He started drinking in high school, picked up marijuana in college and later added cocaine to the mix, but hes been sober for more than two years.

When I was a kid, I thought it was kind of the norm for most people, Limbruner said. Living in Breckenridge, you are exposed to a vacation lifestyle at all times. I kind of realized as I got older that its not really a vacation all the time.

Unhealthy perceptions of alcohol and other substances, among numerous other factors, contribute to the more than 20 million Americans with a substance use disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. More than 70% of that total have an alcohol use disorder.

Some mountain towns have a higher percentage of heavy drinkers, according to a June 2020 Katz Amsterdam Foundation and FSG survey of eight communities, including Summit and Eagle counties. About 45% of adult respondents reported binge or heavy drinking in the 30 days prior to taking the survey, compared with a national benchmark of 18%.

That likely has something to do with a culture of heavy drinking and drug use that has pervaded the community. Its no surprise that visitors coming to Summit County or other resort areas would include substances in their routine. Theyre on vacation, so why not check out a local brewery or stop into a dispensary to see what all the fuss is about?

But experts say that blas attitude often carries over to locals.

I think any place that is a resort area where the economy is based on visitors and on tourists, were going to have that kind of culture, said Jeanette Kintz, clinical director of Summit Womens Recovery, a womens outpatient addiction treatment center based in Dillon. People come here on vacation, and they come here to have a good time. Alcohol is often a good part of that, and with the legalization of marijuana, its made Colorado more of a hot spot.

Then what happens is and I hear this story all the time people who move here for a season to work at the resort, and then theyve been here 20 years and their substance use continued along the process. Some folks slow down, but its that work-hard, play-hard mentality.

What work residents are doing may also play a part. Those working in accommodations and food services (16.9%) as well as the arts, entertainment and recreation (12.9%) industries are among the most likely to have a substance use disorder, according to a 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Tourism and outdoor recreation is far and away Summit Countys biggest industry, making up as much as 65% of the economy, according to a September 2020 community profile prepared by the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments Economic Development District.

Casey Donohoe, a mental health navigator with the Family & Intercultural Resource Center and part-time bartender at a locals watering hole in Breckenridge, said she frequently sees individuals with substance use disorders. She said people often come into the bar in search of human interaction, which she attributes to difficulties making friends in a transient community.

There are countless activities and events one can go to in Summit County to meet people, but youll find booze at most of them.

According to the Katz Amsterdam Foundation and FSG survey, 83% of Summit County residents agreed that alcohol is important to social life.

In the beginning, its tough, Howes said about trying to get sober. Youre constantly around it. You walk down Main Street, and at every restaurant people are sitting outside drinking. Anytime you go rafting, youre in a raft with a cooler full of beer. You go skiing and everybody goes drinking afterward. Every festival here everyone is drunk. Its in your face. You cant get away from it.

A National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism surveillance report published earlier this year revealed that alcohol sales increased nationally between March and December 2020 compared with the prior three-year average. Likewise, marijuana sales in Colorado increased by more than $443 million in 2020 and crossed the $2 billion plateau for the first time.

Over the years, one of the things I hear often about the reasons people drink are boredom and structure, addiction counselor Susanne Neal said. COVID took away everybodys structure going to work, the time placement of everything during the day. Routines were pretty much uprooted where people didnt have to do anything, and isolation, feeling depressed, some of those mental health issues really reared their head.

But the impact of the pandemic on substance use disorders will likely take some time to unravel.

Data provided by the Summit County Coroners Office shows there hasnt been a major increase in substance-related deaths, with 10 last year compared with an average of 9.8 over the past decade. Also last year, there was a 1% decrease in the number of clients enrolling in the Family & Intercultural Resource Centers Mental Health Navigation program who listed a substance use disorder as their primary reason.

I had a few clients who admitted because they were out of work, didnt have anything to do and were getting paid unemployment, its kind of the idle hands thing where they increased their alcohol and drug use, Donohoe said. The uptick, for me at least, wasnt as big as I thought it was going to be.

But as things begin to return to normal, some experts believe there could be a surge of community members seeking help.

We dont know yet what its going to look like going into winter, Kintz said. My guess is well start to see more people seeking treatment.

Its never easy to tell when someone will recognize they have a problem and seek help.

Thats the confusing part to people, Neal said. If theyre going to work, still holding a job, still married, havent lost their kids, havent got a DUI its very hard to wrap your head around having a problem.

Substance use disorders can manifest in myriad impacts on a users life, and often it takes some sort of inciting incident for someone to seek treatment.

For Cain, it was his second DUI, 75 days in jail and severing ties with old friends that helped him get clean. Howes was driving home drunk from a friends birthday party, ran from the police and woke up on a strangers lawn to the sound of police sirens approaching. Limbruners family staged an intervention, and he shipped off to in-patient rehab that night.

All three are on the road to recovery, and if theres one commonality, its the fact that, sooner or later, they decided to ask for help.

Its OK to not be OK, as they say, Limbruner said. I know some people are really scared to reach out. They dont want to feel weak; they dont want to feel vulnerable, especially with people they dont know. But to reach out is probably the strongest thing anybody can do. I didnt get help until I asked.

Treatment certainly wont look the same for everyone, but there are plenty of resources in the community to help out. There are numerous therapists, support options at the Summit Community Care Clinic, active Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups, and other resources that mental health navigators at Building Hope Summit County and the Family & Intercultural Resource Center can guide residents toward.

For those facing financial barriers to treatment, Building Hope offers mental health scholarships, which allow community members up to 12 free therapy sessions.

Any type of professional treatment can help, but those in recovery said having a network of sober friends can be incredibly helpful, as well. Cain, Howes and Limbruner all take part in Fit to Recover, a weekly class at CrossFit Low Oxygen in Frisco meant to help connect people in recovery with others who know what theyre going through.

Building Hope also offers substance-free events, which feature fun and free activities where community members can meet new people and speak openly about mental health issues.

Those in recovery say taking that first step is whats important.

If a person is thinking that alcohol is an issue for them, theyre 90% of the way there toward taking that first step, Cain said. Thats what it was for me. Id been told by so many people during that decade-plus, Stop, stop doing this. Even so much as getting in trouble all the time because of my addiction and the way I was behaving. That wasnt enough. What it took was for me to say, This is enough.

For anybody thinking that they have a problem with it, or maybe questioning it, theyre so close. Theyre almost there. And they can do it, and its possible. Its so possible.

Read more from the original source:
Party town: How an alcohol-centered culture is impacting the community's mental health - Summit Daily News