Kristi Pahr

My version of self-care is a little less “best life” and a little more “no life”, but it works for me.

I feel like if I’d started earlier, had my first kid at 28 instead of 34, maybe I’d be a little less tired right now. Maybe I’d be a more fun mom if my knees didn’t sound like small arms fire every time I tried to run with my son. Maybe I’d be a better mom if I was younger. But I don’t think so. My kids? They’re awesome. And I’m the mom they have, so I must be doing something right, old or not.

It seems like everyone is an introvert these days.

I’m not a TV person. I used to be, but not so much anymore.

I found my first gray hair when I was 12 years old. Twelve. I had gray hair before I had a period.

Life looks a lot different at 40 than it did at 25, and I have a whole new list of things to worry about. It's a very long list, and it makes me anxious on the best day, plain terrified on the worst day, and on a run-of-the-mill day, it just keeps reminding me that I'm clueless about what to think and what to do and how to be grown.

Soundgarden was part of something bigger, something that changed everything.