I Want Simplicity
5 Lessons About Change I Learned from Moving to a New City
“You may not be able to control every situation and its outcome, but you can control how you deal with it.” ~Unknown
I recently moved to Florida, a decision thirty years in the making.
Growing up in Haiti, I always longed to return to a warm climate. I remember being on our layover in Miami when we first moved to the States and thinking, “Why don’t we just stay here?” Moving to Boston at ten, the cold rain was a shock, and I’ve been dreaming of Florida ever since.
Here’s the thing about dreams—they take time, and life sometimes gets …
How to Turn Shame into Self-Love and Emotional Resilience
“The less we talk about shame, the more control it has over our lives.” ~Brené Brown
The pain and suffering I experienced as a child, which I kept hidden for over a decade, was the very seed that gave me the strength, resilience, empathy, authenticity, and courage that I possess today—but only because I surrendered the old story to embrace a new one. I alchemized my pain into my fuel, my traumas as contributions to my triumphs, and my curses into my greatest blessings.
But all of this came with a very hefty price.
Growing up with a single mother …
Creating Massive Change: How to Get Out of Our Own Way
Has it ever occurred to you that maybe your life isn’t changing because you’re holding yourself back but don’t know it?
Like maybe there’s something in your conditioning or a subconscious belief that’s preventing you from doing something that could bring you the change you seek?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I took Nadia Colburn’s five-day mindful writing challenge because one of the prompts elicited a profound insight about why I’ve struggled to create the change I want most in life.
Part of the prompt was “Don’t go off somewhere else,” and after a brief meditation at …
How to Honor Our Grief While Rebuilding Our Lives
“Grief is not something that ever goes away. You just learn to accommodate it so you can move forward in your life and over time it gets less intense, at least most of the time.” ~David Baxter
Grief is a natural response to loss. Loss can mean the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, the loss of a job or home, or a response to trauma, abuse, or betrayal. Grief shows itself differently in different people. But the common denominator is that grief goes deep, and grieving is painful.
Around six years ago, my life …
Easily Annoyed by Your Partner? A Relationship-Saving Approach
“You are not your feelings. You just experience them. Anger, sadness, hate, depression, fear. This is the rain you walk in. But you don’t become the rain. You know the rain will pass. You walk on. And you remember the soft glow of the sun that will come again.” ~Matt Haig
Being a relationship-oriented person all my life, I’ve found it fascinating and frustrating how easy it is to feel annoyed with one’s spouse—the person we are supposed to feel most happy to be around.
I used to feel quite annoyed with my husband on a nearly daily basis. But …
How I Turned My Pain and Anxiety into Personal Growth
“The only way out is through.” ~Robert Frost
When I reflect on the past fifteen years of my life, I sometimes joke about my struggles to lighten the weight of what I’ve endured. “What struggle don’t I have?” I’d say, laughing, but beneath that humor is a real story of pain, burnout, and learning to rebuild myself, piece by piece.
I faced chronic pain, anxiety, emotional abuse, two burnouts, long COVID, and emotional eating—all before I hit my thirties. It’s been a long journey, and while I still have days where I’m not as happy as I want to …
Your Deepest Knowing
Find the answers and insights that are waiting for you in stillness and silence. Take the free 5-day meditation and writing challenge here.
Free 5-Day Meditation and Writing Challenge
Hi friends! Today, I’m thrilled to share with you an empowering five-day meditation and writing challenge from Tiny Buddha contributor (and this month’s site sponsor) Nadia Colburn.
Founder of the online creative writing school Align Your Story, Nadia is a poet, memoirist, and yogi who has a talent for helping people access their creative voice on a deeper level. And that’s exactly what she’s done with this challenge.
Each day’s fifteen-minute recording will guide you through a short meditation, share an evocative poem, and lead you through a quick writing exercise inspired by that day’s piece.
When she first told …
How I Created a Beautiful Life on the Other Side of Burnout
“If you don’t give your mind and body a break, you’ll break. Stop pushing yourself through pain and exhaustion and take care of your needs.” ~Lori Deschene
For forty-five minutes, I lay on my yoga mat in child’s pose, unable to move.
The exhaustion in my body felt like a thousand kilos, and the ache of failure pricked my eyes with tears.
Despite all my early morning runs, after-work bootcamps, and restricted meals, my body did not look like the bikini models I saw on Instagram.
Despite all my energy, efforts, and attention, my romantic relationship had
The Consequences of Perfectionism and How to Embrace Life’s Messiness
“Perfectionism doesn’t make you feel perfect. It makes you feel inadequate.” ~Maria Shriver
My name is Steffi, and I am a recovering perfectionist. This might come as a surprise to those who know me because I don´t fit the stereotype. The inside of my bag is as messy as my hair, and I always give off the impression that I left the house five minutes too late (which is usually true). My wardrobe is not color-coordinated, and I haven’t organized a flawless birthday party yet.
It also goes against how I have always seen myself. My greatest life skill is …
5 Pillars of Mindful Awareness That Transformed My Life
“When things change inside of you, things change around you.” ~Unknown
When I was twenty-three, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. It was not until two years later, when I stopped taking medication, that I discovered I had a mental health disorder linked to my menstrual cycles.
Meditating daily has been foundational for my well-being. It helps me manage the physical expressions of anxiety and bad moods. It allows me to be more accepting of myself and grateful for the many positives in my life.
But it is the awareness journey that mindfulness has paved over these last …
Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine.