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What a Joyous Christmas Day Whispered to Me After a Hard Year
A joyous Christmas morning didn’t arrive with fireworks. It came quietly, the way light slips under a door. I woke up before everyone else because my body still thought it had something to prove. The house was dim and still. The tree lights blinked like they were breathing. Coffee smelled warm and steady, and for…
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Sense of Purpose and Self-Care: More Than Bubble Baths
Sense of purpose makes us feel that we’re doing right abide ourselves. Somewhere along the way, self-care got turned into a shopping list. A bubble bath. A face mask. A scented candle that costs more than your groceries. And listen, I like cozy things too. But when life is heavy, a bath is not a…
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Negative Self-Talk Can Hurt You With Damaging Harm
Negative self-talk does more irreparable harm than someone else doing it. If you’ve ever had a rough day and then heard your own mind pile on, you already know what I mean by negative self-talk. It’s that inner voice that doesn’t just point out a mistake, it turns the mistake into a verdict. It sounds…
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The Seduction of Cynicism: Why It Feels Safer Than Hope
I’ve felt cynicism most of my life. I never had hope that there was a good life outside of the depression. I literally gave up on myself. It took a suicide attempt to realize I wanted to live, I wanted that hope that life is better on the other side of that dark wall. I…
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Compassionate Patience: The Moment You Stop Fighting the Pace
Compassionate patience can be a double-edge sword. Most of us were taught that patience and kindness are good, but many of us also learned something else underneath that message: if you are too patient, people will walk all over you. If you are too kind, you will end up last. I believed that for a…
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The Brave Truth About Grief That Stays For Years
The brave truth is, if your grief has lasted for years, this is for you. Maybe the house looks “normal” again. Maybe other people stopped asking how you are. And yet your chest still tightens when you pass their favorite coffee shop. Or you still cry in the car, years after the funeral. Long grief…
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Healing the Little Kid Who Used Pleasing to Numb Abandonment
For me, abandonment trauma started in the first grade. My teacher bullied me in front of the class. So, at an early age, I became a people-pleaser. Maybe, if I gave them what they wanted, they would like me. Recently, I started to respect myself more than earning the respect of others. If you grew…
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Why Ghosting Feels Like Grief
Ghosting sounds like a casual word. In real life, it can feel like your chest is cracking open. One day there are messages, plans, little shared jokes. Then, suddenly, silence. No goodbye, no explanation, no fight to replay. Just… nothing. Your brain keeps waiting for a ping that never comes, and your body stays tense,…
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Remorse and Other Ghosts
Remorse and Other Ghosts can play tricks with you. Have you ever sat in a quiet room and felt an old memory slide in beside you? I have remorse for attempting to take my own life. Thank God I survived, but I hurt so many people in the process. It took me a long while…
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7 Tiny Habits That Help To Kill Your Insecurity
Insecurity is being too scared to do an act for fear of redicule. You know that weird moment when you’re about to post a photo, you stare at it for way too long, then just delete it instead? Or when you know the answer in class or at work, but your heart races, and you…