26 Was Rough

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This week I’m saying goodbye to 26. Birthdays always make me nostalgic, always make me think back on what the past year of life held. This year, I’m realizing I’m not too sad to see 26 go. I’m realizing I wasn’t the biggest fan.

26 was when life got overwhelming.  Life felt like it was heading one way and it suddenly, jarringly, changed directions. It felt like in so many areas of life I kept hitting this impenetrable wall. In so many areas I was spinning plates while treading water while trying to put out various fires.

26 was when I started to question a lot. My current life, my potential future. What I wanted, what I needed. If I should come up with a new life plan. If I even needed to have a life plan.

26 was when friendships got rough. Easy, life-giving relationships all of a sudden started taking lot of effort. They started taking work. They started taking energy, in a season where I seemed to have so little of it. Read More

2017: Life Will Conquer Death

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I’m not the biggest new year’s resolutions person (I find they typically involve weight loss and equally get forgotten about), but I do love dreaming up when the new year can hold. 

The latest craze, that I love, is choosing a word for the new year. One word. Focusing on it, digging deep into it, maybe reading a book or two on it or learning its origin. For the less nerdy, possibly just writing it on the front of their journal and calling it a day? One word. One. As much as I love this idea, I keep failing at it. I keep getting four.

Last year I tried so, so hard. I really did. I still got four. Maybe it’s my indecisiveness. Maybe it’s my love for words. I think it has more to do with a sneaky God who keeps reminding me it’s okay to live my life outside the lines I create for myself. Fine, Jesus, whatever – four it is. So this year, when they were spoken into my life, I didn’t even put up a fight. Yup. YUP. That’s it. That’s me. That’s 2017. Read More

Turning 25

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I lost a lot of weight this year.

Which feels funny to type, as it’s currently the holiday season and my clothes are fitting a biiiiiit tight. It’s also a week after my birthday (I have a whole 7 days of being 25 under my belt!) and a few days after my party. And I’ve been reflecting on how different I’m feeling than this time last year.

24 started out rough for me. It’s been a healing year, thankfully. But the healing came after the pain – old wounds, reopened, in order to heal properly this time around. Sometimes the surgeons have to go back in, to re-fix the same old problem. Sometimes wounds get infected, without proper care. Sometimes the sickness just keeps coming back, no matter how many remedies you’ve tried. But the good news? Healing is possible. Healing is worth fighting for. Read More

Sprained Backs & Sabbaticals

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I recently sprained my back.

“How?!” is the first thing that immediately pops out of people’s mouths when they hear that. And “…how old are you??” (Some people only think this in their heads; some people say it out loud.) I’m 24 going on 85, thank you very much. And I have no clue how I did it. No. Clue.

What started off as my back being a bit sore as I was at the grocery store quickly turned into me clutching my back in my kitchen, confusedly telling my roommates I had no idea what was going on. Fast forward a week and a half – including a morning text to my boss of “currently can’t move or get dressed, TBD if I can make it in today”, traveling around with my heated blanket that I was using as a makeshift heating pad, a fun 4 day road trip (OUCH), and more Tiger’s Balm than I knew was possible to put on one body – I was sitting in the doctor’s office hearing the strange diagnosis. “Well, you definitely sprained it.” Add that to my list of fun health problems. Read More

When the Root of the Problem is… Roots

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It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon. Cliche, really. I was sprawled out on my bed, finishing up Jen Hatmaker’s For the Love (soo good, you guys!), when I heard it – a weird, giant sucking noise, followed by a loud gurgle. Um, what?! That’s strange, I thought. Maybe if I pretend it didn’t happen, I won’t have to deal with it, I thought (Maturity 101). No other noises came. On with my book. I was a happy camper.

Until, of course, I walked into my bathroom maybe 10 minutes later and saw nasty, dirty water seeping up out of my shower drain. Caught between “This is so GROSS” and “Oh my gosh, what if it fills the entire shower and leaks over onto the bathroom floor?!”, I did what any other 24 year old does and called my dad, freaking out.

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Dressember 14: Construction Cones & Healing Zones

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For the month of December – in honor of Dressember – I’ll be blogging everyday! Thoughts on anything from fighting for justice to feminism, from dresses I’m wearing to books I’m reading, and everything in between. 

 

Construction typically means bad traffic, gross smells, and unwelcome loud noises. All of these were part of my morning, as they are repaving (I think?) the main road by my house. Everything was pushed over to one lane, there were confusing cones everywhere so I wasn’t sure where I could turn, and it was unpleasantly loud. I’m typically not a fan of construction, but today it held something it usually doesn’t: a life lesson. Read More