“Whatever you’re feeling, it will eventually pass. You won’t feel sad forever. At some point, you will feel happy again. You won’t feel anxious forever. In time, you will feel calm again. You don’t have to fight your feelings or feel guilty for having them. You just have to accept them […]

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ~Maya Angelou There’s a strange season in life when the old ambitions no longer fit, but the new ones haven’t fully formed yet. A year ago, I asked myself a simple question. […]

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.” ~Anonymous My sister called four times before I picked up. Not four times in one day—four times over three weeks. Each time, I watched her name light up my phone, felt something tighten in my chest, and set my phone […]

“What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” ~Helen Keller Growing up, I thought my father was a pack rat. He never seemed to throw anything away. Bent nails. Odd screws. Washers without matching bolts. Short pieces of lumber that looked […]

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” ~John Muir I used to think life was like an obstacle course, a series of hurdles you either cleared or stumbled over. For a long time, I stumbled a lot. What I didn’t realize then was how easily repeated setbacks can turn into a […]

“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” ~Alexander Den Heijer  He was intelligent, well-read, and kind. A good father, careful about protecting his kids from meeting partners too soon. A man with a life philosophy, who kept his word, who […]

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” ~Viktor Frankl A few weeks ago, I moved to a new city for a new job, leaving behind a quiet hill town where I had built five years of friendships, routines, and a version of myself I understood […]

“The fuel of life is feeling. If we’re not filled up in childhood, we must fill ourselves as adults.” ~Jonice Webb, author of Running on Empty I was nine years old the first time I taught myself how to disconnect completely from my emotions. It started with a secret I wasn’t supposed to […]

“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.” ~Marie Curie I almost didn’t go to my cousin’s wedding. Not because I didn’t want to celebrate her. I did. But the thought of walking into a room full of people who knew the version of me from two years ago […]

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~Maya Angelou The weekend started like any other family visit. Our family was in town, and it began with real excitement. Kids running everywhere, chocolate chip muffins in the oven, homemade ice cream for our guests, the […]