Posts tagged with “wisdom”
When Growth Comes with Grief Because People Still See the Old You
“In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.” ~Deepak Chopra
There’s a strange ache that comes with becoming healthy. Not the physical kind. The relational kind. The kind that surfaces when we’re no longer quite so wired to betray ourselves for belonging. When we stop curating ourselves to fit into spaces where we used to shrink, bend, or smile politely through the dissonance.
Years of hard work and effort, slowly unwrapping all those unhealthy ways of being in the world, cleaning off my lenses to see more clearly …
The Whisper That Saved My Life When I Was Drowning
TRIGGER WARNING: This post references rape and suicide attempts, which might be distressing for some readers.
“Our lives only improve when we are willing to take chances, and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” ~Walter Anderson
This was my third psychiatric hospitalization after my suicide attempts.
On this visit, something shifted. All I knew at that moment was, for the first time, I wasn’t in a hurry to leave.
There was no window or clock. Just blank, pale walls I’d been staring at for twenty-one days.
I lay there, shattered and …
A Case for Joy in a Monetized World
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” ~William Bruce Cameron
My gardener and I were talking the other day—his English broken, my Spanish worse—but we found a way to connect.
He told me about his eight-year-old son, a bright, joyful kid who loves baseball. The boy wants to play. His mother wants him in tutoring. And somewhere in that gap, a bigger question emerged: what matters more—discipline or joy?
I didn’t plan to give advice, but it came out anyway. “Let him play ball,” I said. “Let him be part of a
Healing Through Grief: How I Found Myself in the Metaphors of Loss and Love
“When the soul wishes to experience something, she throws an image of the experience out before her and enters into her own image.” ~Meister Eckhart
For most of my life, something in me felt off—misaligned, too much, not enough. I moved through the world trying to fix a thing I couldn’t name.
Then, a beautiful chapter emerged where I no longer questioned myself. I met my husband—and through his love, I experienced the life-changing magic of being seen. His presence felt like sunlight. I softened. I bloomed. For the first time, I felt safe.
Losing him to young-onset colorectal cancer …
How Getting Dressed Became a Love Letter to Myself
“Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.” ~Rachel Zoe
I didn’t set out to find myself.
I just looked in the mirror one day and thought, “Wait, when did I stop looking like me?”
It was after a breakup—the kind that leaves you foggy, emotionally threadbare, trying to make sense of where you lost yourself.
There I was, standing in my bedroom, wearing something functional, outdoorsy, and… completely not me.
Not that there’s anything wrong with cargo pants and fleece. If that’s your style, it’s beautiful.
But I’m a woman who grew up in …
When You Stop Forcing, Life Flows
“You don’t have to force the flow—sometimes your only job is to soften and let go.” ~Unknown
For most of my life, I was obsessed with getting everything right. Planning. Controlling. Anticipating every outcome so I wouldn’t be caught off guard. I saw life as a kind of puzzle: if I just made the right moves in the right order, I’d get what I wanted. Peace, success, love.
But life doesn’t work that way.
The more I tried to control it, the more I felt out of alignment. I would burn out trying to make things happen. When something went …
Magic in the Ordinary: Finding Glimmers and Hope in Everyday Life
“If today gets difficult, remember the smell of coffee, the way sunlight bounces off a window, the sound of your favorite person’s laugh, the feeling when a song you love comes on, the color of the sky at dusk, and that we are here to take care of each other.” ~Nanea Hoffman
The beach breeze brushed against my skin. I felt the warmth from the sun, and I could hear the crashing waves and wild shrieking laughter of my toddlers.
I looked down at my perfect ten-month-old with his adorable chubby cheeks, snoring softly in my arms. My chest ached …
When You Outgrow Where You Live but Can’t Yet Leave
“Living in the moment is learning how to live between the big moments. It is learning how to make the most of the in-betweens and having the audacity to make those moments just as exciting.” ~Morgan Harper Nichols
There’s a peculiar grief that doesn’t often get named. It lives in the moments when you’re neither here nor there. When you’re packing in your mind but still waking up to the same kitchen.
When your soul says go, but your bank account or relationship or circumstance says not yet.
It’s the grief of the in-between, an ache I’ve been swimming in …
Beyond the Yips: How to Reclaim Your Creative Confidence
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
There’s a quiet moment before the spotlight hits when everything in your body wants to run.
Your hands tremble. Your voice tightens. Your breath shortens, even though the room is still. You love what you do—you’ve trained, practiced, prepared—but suddenly, it’s like someone else is in your body. Your skills vanish. Your confidence implodes.
That’s the yips.
And if you’re an artist, musician, writer, teacher—anyone whose work lives in public view—you’ve probably met them too.
The First Collapse
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A Transracial Adoption Story of Love and Resilience
“Make it a great day that ends with a smile in your heart.”
Growing up, I always heard my father speak variations of these words. They’ve always sort of been ingrained in my head, but now more than ever are forever planted. He lived by them. He breathed them. And in doing so, he instilled them in me so naturally.
They weren’t just encouragement—they were a way of life, his life, and how he chose to show up each day. He was naturally positive, uplifting, and, without exaggeration, the best human I’ve ever known.
From a very early age, I …
How I Found Myself on the Other Side of Survival
“Until you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have.” ~Doris Mortman
For most of my life, I believed my worth was tied to how well I could perform.
If I looked successful, kept people happy, worked harder than anyone else, and stayed quiet about my pain, maybe—just maybe—I would be enough.
That belief didn’t come from nowhere. I grew up in a home where fear was a constant companion. Speaking up brought consequences. Being invisible felt safer. I learned early to smile through it all, to stay small, to never be a …
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