by Susan | Mar 4, 2026 | Awareness, Communications, Relationships
Communication Begins Within After we begin to let the pieces shift internally, something else becomes clear: The way we relate to ourselves shapes the way we relate to everyone else. For years, I thought communication was primarily about skill. The right words. The...
by Susan | Feb 25, 2026 | Awareness
What a Kaleidoscope Taught Me About Real Resilience What We Get Wrong About Resilience Resilience is a word we use easily. We admire it in others. We strive for it in ourselves. We celebrate it in stories of survival and strength. But real resilience rarely looks...
by Susan | Feb 18, 2026 | Awareness, Grief, Horses
Grief, Animals, and the Hard Mercy of Euthanasia Saying the Word We Don’t Want to Say Euthanasia—as people who love animals—it’s not something we want to consider. If you live long enough with animals, you will eventually have to practice the hardest kind of love. On...
by Susan | Feb 11, 2026 | Awareness, Medical
The Power of Grace When Time Runs Short When the Day Unravels Do you ever have days that seem to unravel despite your best intentions? Days when one thing leads to another and suddenly, you’re behind schedule? We all have them. In healthcare, those moments can ripple...
by Susan | Feb 4, 2026 | Awareness, Caregiving, Medical
Presence Matters—Creating Focus Together in the Exam Room Presence Begins at the Door Life is full. For all of us. By the time a doctor walks into an exam room, they may already be carrying the weight of earlier patients, difficult conversations, urgent calls, and...
by Susan | Jan 28, 2026 | Awareness, Caregiving, Communications, Medical
When Clear Language Builds Trust and Better Care Clear Words Help Us Be Better Patients One of the most helpful things a doctor can do for a patient or caregiver is translate medical language into words we can truly understand. You’ve spent years learning the language...
by Susan | Jan 21, 2026 | Awareness, Caregiving, Medical
When Patients Are Heard, Understanding Deepens and Healing Expands Our Bodies Speak—and We’re Willing to Help Translate Over the last few years, I’ve come to deeply appreciate how much information our bodies hold—and how powerful it can be when patients are invited...
by Susan | Jan 14, 2026 | Caregiving, Gestalt, Grief, Horses, Medical
I Used to Be…A Caregiver Podcast episode with Dean James Click on the button below for the podcast Used to Be's Do Count Podcast Let's Talk CS Bar — my grandfather Charles Socolofsky’s brand. Today, it’s mine too. A legacy carried forward, one story at...
by Susan | Jan 7, 2026 | Awareness, Caregiving, Medical, Relationships
We’re Human–Make a Connection with Us If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being both a patient and a caregiver, it’s this: when a doctor takes a moment to connect with you as a human being, everything changes. We listen differently. We ask better questions. And we...
by Susan | Dec 31, 2025 | Awareness
Listening to the Quiet Signals That Invite Real Change There’s always a moment—sometimes quiet, sometimes unmistakably loud—when you realize you can’t keep living the way you’ve been living. It might arrive as a whisper in the middle of the night, when your mind...
