A Championship: from the girlfriend of a Die-Hard Cleveland Fan

I'm the girlfriend of a Die-Hard Cleveland Fan. Since we started dating 4 years ago, all I've heard about is the Curse. The fact that with having 3 major league sports teams(Browns, Cavaliers, Indians): Cleveland hasn't won a championship in 52 years. Cleveland has a Die-Hard fan base. Each year they cheer and cheer only to be eternally disappointed.

That ended last night. The Cavaliers finally won a championship. As a sport psychology consultant there is so much I could say about the game and the followups: but all that matters to me today is that Cleveland won a championship. Tomorrow I can talk about everything else. Today: Cleveland has won a championship.

The last 5 minutes of that game were some of the tensest of our relationship. I sat on the couch with my head on my hands(with a severely strained wrist and an ice pack) watching the seconds tick down and the score go up and down. David was standing inches from me staring at the TV as if he stared at it harder the Cav's would suddenly play harder. It seems they heard him. The seconds ticked down slowly and then somehow it all sped up and the Cavaliers had won. David looked at me and I had tears in my eyes. For 4 years I've watched this man root for teams that couldn't hold up to his hope. I'd watched his father and friends be disappointed year after year. I am the girlfriend of a Die-Hard Cleveland fan and last night I cried for Cleveland. I cried for all the disappointments and heartbreak that led him and them to this moment. This moment of happy tears and celebration.

I don't know if I've ever been this happy for someone else's team or city. I can't call Cleveland my own as I only lived there for a few months with him before we moved. But as a girlfriend of a Die-Hard Cleveland fan: I now know the joy that finally having a championship for your city means. Congratulations Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Fans, and the City of Cleveland: you have your pro-championship.

To Cleveland and Cleveland Fans: Please don't forget about your semi-pro hockey team that just a week and a half ago brought Cleveland a championship as well. Without them: you may not have had the support you did this week. They broke the curse and brought your luck back.

Congrats babe: the Curse is broken.

<3 Bethany

Kratom: a natural pain killing alternative

I guess I'm one of those crazy people now: the people pissed at the government for trying to ban a plant from being used for medicinal purposes. Today we are talking about Kratom: it's made from a plant. It's being used as an alternative to pharmaceutical pain killers by people who don't want to be addicted to vicodin, percocet, and other heavy opiates. Yes, Kratom is an opiate.  Now we have states banning the use of this because it might be addicting.

Lets talk about things that are addicting that the FDA has cleared:
1. Cigarettes
2. Soda Pop
3. EVERY OPIATE MEDICATION

But if the FDA/ States banned those there would be an uproar and a huge lack of funding from pharmaceutical corporations,  tobacco makers, and big corporations in Washington.

I use Kratom. I was prescribed Vicodin at the age of 18 because my periods were so painful, I couldn't attend classes. I was on those from 18-25. I still have an active prescription but don't need it anymore. I started taking Kratom last year when I found out about it at a smoke shop in my hometown. I had a long talk with the salesperson and then came home and did my research. What did I find? Tons of studies saying how Kratom is an amazing alternative to pharmacueticals and how it can be used to help those with addiction to heavy opiates reduce their need and frequency of use.  I pay $10 for 30 vicodin, but I happily pay $1 a pill for Kratom. When I take it, there are no side effects. I don't get woozy or disoriented. I can drive, work, continue my day like normal.

Our government banned marijuana: knowing full well that it cured cancer and helped control a number of other conditions. Our government knows full well that cigarettes and soda cause cancer and obesity. They know full well that pharmaceutical medications are highly addictive on both a physical and psychological level, but will not put a ban on them.

Kratom comes from a plant people! But our government isn't the first to ban it. It was banned in Thailand because it cut into the government's take of opium sales. People were using Kratom instead to cut their addiction to opium.

WAKE UP AMERICA! Stop letting the government, politicians, and big corporations determine what is acceptable and not acceptable to put in our bodies(lets just be logical: some things don't need to go in your body). Plants were the original medicines of the world. Our biggest problems started when we stopped using plants and instead made synthetic versions of medicines to replace them.

Kratom has helped me, and so many others to live without crazy side effects from pharmaceutical medications.

Please let your congresspeople, senators, local politicians, and even your doctors know that Kratom is a wonderful alternative. Before we let them take away a plant: they need to do as much research on Kratom as they have on marijuana(which is now legal in most states medicinally), and do as many clinical trials as for any other drug on the marketplace. If we're going to be fair about it, do the damn clinical trials, make it go through FDA approval. People won't stop using it regardless, but at least the FDA will have to create proof to ban it. If they want to put it in the same category as MMJ that's fine: make people have an honest talk with a doctor about their need for it. But if you're going to do that: you should do it for tylenol, advil, and Aleve as well(they are proven addictive).

Before you jump on your high horse, do your research like I did.

Here is the CNN article that talks about Kratom.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/10/health/kratom-opioid-withdrawal-pain-relief-supplement/index.html

An assault on us all

This is an assault on us all. What happened to an unconscious young woman and was witnessed by two men on bicycles happened to all of us.  This happened to all of us. We were the woman behind the dumpster, we were the rapist, we were the bystanders. We were one or all of these people consecutively. 

Here's what you need to know. 

Unconscious is not consent. 

If you are too drunk to function, you can't give consent. 

The system failed this woman: meaning the system failed all of us. 

No media outlet mentioned her accomplishments, but they mentioned her rapist's accomplishments.

His sentence was 4-10 years more lenient than if she had been raped by a man who wasn't white. 

The two men who chased him down are heroes. Don't be a bystander to any kind of assault. 

Things that happened afterwards:

 We started talking about rape and consent and skin color being a deciding factor on someone's sentence.- Finally 

 USA Swimming came out and banned the rapist from ever competing again.  -Good job

This happened to all of us. 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted in their life span. The statistics for men are lower because they report less. The real statistics for women are much higher than that because of lack of reporting.  It should not matter if alcohol played a factor or a person's age, race, what they were wearing etc. There is no such thing as "asking for it". You either gave consent in a conscious and uninhibited state of mind or you didn't. Consent is consent. Rape is Rape. Keep the conversation going. Don't be a bystander to any kind of assault. The legal system failed us. The media failed us. It's time for us to stand up and do something about it. 

Ultramarathons and Edibles?

This morning I read an article I never expected to be written, let alone for me to have an interest reading it. As an SPC(sport psychology consultant), this article and others like it should be a part of curriculum in graduate school for a few reasons. 1. You as a practitioner need to know where you stand on the issue of marijuana as a performance enhancing drug 2. Ultra-marathons are becoming more popular and you will probably work with an endurance athlete at some point in your career. 3. You need to be exposed to things like this so when they are brought up during session you aren't completely taken off guard.

Let me give you some clarity. I live and work in Colorado, a medicinally and recreationally legal state for marijuana and I'm still thrown off by how many athletes use it for recovery. I also work part time in the hemp industry(marijuana's legal cousin).  I've never heard of it being used in training before. That being said: this guy probably isn't the only athlete using it for training purposes and that's something we all need to be aware of.

The other interesting thing here is that an athlete is being sponsored by prominent marijuana edibles companies and this guy(that we know of) hasn't been denied entry into competitions because of it. I think that although this could be a step in the right direction for companies and competitions: more stringent rules need to be applied to whether an athlete is using for medicinal purposes(recovery, anxiety etc) and get a red card like everyone else or using recreationally: and whether there needs to be more testing in ultra contests for performance enhancing drugs.

Check it out:
https://www.whaxy.com/learn/how-athletes-use-cannabis

Miss USA...thoughts

I watch Miss USA every year. Each year I hope to see strong, confidently beautiful women. Each year I'm both surprised and disappointed. Each year I hope that it will be less a beauty contest and more a contest about a woman's selflessness and mind. I think this may be the first year where I have seen this occur.

1. Thank you Miss USA officials for not putting any women in the top 10 that had fake breasts. I understand that it is a woman's right to choose to go under the knife: but what message does that send young women everywhere who are struggling with their small/ large breasts? One that the only way to be a perfect Miss USA is to go under the knife? So thank you for that.

2. Thank you for asking relevant questions that you tailored to each contestant: kind of. Miss Alabama got a sports question: but didn't know anything about Muhammed Ali: and that's ok. She tried to give a diplomatic answer and I applaud her for it. Maybe a question about the upcoming olympics would have been more appropriate? Economic inequality is an issue everywhere: not just in California: but the contestant struggled with an eating disorder: maybe her question should have been tailored towards how we address mental illness in our communities? She flubbed her question big time. Maybe it was nerves. Maybe it was that she hasn't really thought about it in a deep fashion. Either way: it made her and all the other contestants look bad. Lets move on to the question for Miss Hawaii: 1. She didn't answer who she would vote for. She is not a politician. Why did she get the question guaranteed to basically start a riot? And it's illegal to ask someone who they are voting for on a national platform if they are not a politician. That's discrimination. She may have lost Miss USA for that reason. Finally: the question for Miss District of Columbia could not have been more tailored to her. It was the perfect question for her to give the perfect response. And her response was perfect.

3. Thank you for crowning a Miss USA who embodies service and service to our nation. I think she will be a wonderful ambassador.

4. I ask that in the next few years: we have women from not only diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds: but women who show the beauty of different sizes. Having a "plus size" model backstage : shows that you don't think she would have been respected hosting because she is plus size. It may not have been your aim: but from most people's stand points: it looks bad. Lets try to diversify a little more from girls with perfect busts, tiny waists, and perfect butts: to women who are confidently strong and beautiful.

5. Please take into account the message you send to women everywhere. The only way to be Miss USA is to be perfect. It is a mindset of service, physical health and mental toughness. If you would also focus on mental health: as it seems quite a few of your contestants may struggle with mental health disorders.