Dr. Stephen Covey wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in 1989, and I recently picked it up for the first time in my life. One of the greatest takeaways for me is the recognition that in everything we do and everything we feel, we are making a choice. That means, yes, writer’s block is a choice.

I live in Massachusetts, and after spending the holidays with family who live in Virginia, I realized the disparate efforts to deal with cellphones and student distraction that are going on across the country. I also realized that parents–and I include myself in this because both my 11 and 13 year old have cell phones–have created this problem. In doing so, we passed the buck onto the schools leaving teachers and administrators to deal with the consequences.

Tis the season for thinking about resolutions, but my family of four has a long-standing promise that delivers fun all year long. It’s obvious that I’ll never be as interesting as YouTube, so I had to eliminate that competition with a ‘no devices at the table’ rule. Thanks to Cauldron Quest, Mantis, and other board games, my family creates our own fun.

I was in the middle of cooking dinner when I felt a sneeze coming on. Despite my best effort to still my body, engage my core, and tighten my pelvic floor as I’d learned to do in physical therapy, the ahhh-choo came and with it, a little burst of pee.