I picked up pickleball (pun intended) and I also picked up some new friends. Read how I grew my social circle with everyone’s latest craze- pickleball! As a super social game, pickleball helped me easily meet other people in my city.

It feels like just yesterday that I nervously stepped onto the court for my first tennis lesson at the local club. I knew I wanted to get into a sport as an adult and honestly- I liked the tennis outfits. I signed up for lessons and decided to just go for it. I wasn’t sure if it would stick but figured it couldn’t hurt to give it a try.

A few years ago, my husband and I found ourselves stuck in a weekly routine of work, kids, and not a lot of fun. We both loved board games when we were dating, but after having kids, who were too young for that kind of thing, our games were in a cabinet gathering dust. Our older son had had a few playdates with a buddy from daycare, and the parents seemed really nice but we didn’t know them that well. There was another family in our son’s class we wanted to get to know too.

When I was an up-and-coming writer, I worked at a multitude of outlets and did a large variety of work. Entering this industry was exciting, but also brought many challenges. Long work hours, plenty of overtime, and the necessity to constantly be available at any time to cover that next big piece of news put a strain on my mental health.