You don’t have to know everything. You don’t have to keep track of everyone or make sure 100% of everything gets done. You are responsible for yourself. Don’t place unrealistic expectations on your performance in life. No one is keeping score.

Divorce is a difficult process. The last thing you want to think about it updating your estate plan. Lack of information is a common reason for inaction. See my checklist below on being prepared for every situation.

In life, there are opportunities to punt or go for the first down. Early in my practice of estate planning, I often saw individuals who started the will drafting process but would continually punt and not finalize the will. Ad hoc questions would be sent in 3-4 separate e-mails or the person would not commit to a signing date once the will was final. In Iowa, a will that is not signed is as useful as no will at all.

We have reached the middle of the calendar year. The first half of 2020 is in the review mirror. This has been a banner year to set the stage for your brain and body to feel every emotion; the good, the bad and the ugly. I have had surges of joy and have been fraught with despair.

We just rounded the corner on a decade of this millennia. Time is going too fast for me. The older I get, the harder it is to keep up. After reflecting on a few things from the past decade, it isn’t a surprise that it is hard to hold on during the roller coaster of life. Things that existed in 2010 are now obsolete or replaced with something newer, faster and shinier.

The school year is here! How in the world did that happen? Every summer seems to go faster than the one before it.

You make thousands of micro-decisions every day. The time you get out of bed. The amount of cream in your coffee. The length of your shower. Along with micro-decisions are macro-decisions. Do you get your child a tutor? Do you tell your boss you are behind on a deadline? Do you hire an expert to do your taxes?

One battle I wage everyday is to suppress my desire to assume the worst. As an attorney, I am trained to look for every possible scenario which includes worse case scenarios. On a personal level, my thought pattern of choice is "catastrophizing". I shared this with a friend and she asked "is that even a word?" I explained what it was and she couldn't believe I thought that way most of the time. I couldn't believe that everyone doesn't think this way most of the time. I think pessimism comes from experience. Life experience.