Health

I recently became very strangely envious of a good friend of mine. She's taken up pottery, and now appears with a stunning new bowl or vase every time I see her. Her face just glows when she takes her recent creation out of her bag, and we all coo over her accomplishment.

The hash tag kept drifting through my Tweet stream: #makejensday. What was Make Jen’s Day? And who was Jen? It turns out Jen was Jennifer Banks, an Edmonton-based mom who was staring down her 36th birthday.

There is no shortage of criticism of the Olympics, and a lot of it is financial. Some say Canadian health could be better promoted by spending those millions elsewhere, and others say it’s a waste of money all together.

Stress is awful but sadly something we all deal with. While we cook up personal remedies — no checking email after 7 p.m. or on weekends — it can be hard not to feel overwhelmed when you want to give enough attention to all of the things that matter to you. So what can you do when you need a break from the pressure?

For our August issue, we sussed out the secrets to success from 16 of Canada’s top Olympic contenders. They shared their best advice to help us mere mortals reach the top of our games — in sport and in life.