“Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever.” ~Neil Gaiman This past year was a paradigm-shifting year for me. For a lot of folks, I think. It brought so much buried shit to the surface in my life personally, it sort of feels like 2017 is going to be all about sifting …
We’re All Below Average Sometimes: On Compassion, Kindness, and Not Becoming a Narcissist
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” ~Desmond Tutu Last week, I had a drink with a friend — a wise, wise woman who also happens to be a very talented therapist — and she recounted for me a story about suggesting to a client that …
Your Art is Essential. (Or, On Being Creative In Times Like These.)
“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” ~Osho One of my favorite things on in the internet right …
You Are Powerful. Also: Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” ~Ernest Hemingway Well, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, you guys. I have been trying to focus on all the things for which I am grateful amidst the chaos and the absurdity and the unsettling political reality by which we are all surrounded right now. I admit: …
The Day After (Or, My Thoughts on the Election)
“We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire For the first time ever following a presidential election, I woke up this morning and wept. Because I am heartbroken about what happened last night. Devastated that so many people in our country allowed fear …
On Joy, Cat Poop, and Finding the Good in a World That’s Gone Mad
My sweetheart and I are proud parents to three furry felines. Yes. Three. If you had told me five years ago that I would be living in a house with a man I adore and that we would be outnumbered by our cats, I would have thought you were crazy. Because five years ago I was fully committed to my …
Both Can Be True. (Or, We’re All a Bunch of Contradictions Masquerading as People.)
“One is fruitful only at the cost of being rich in contradictions.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche Both can be true. I anchor into this idea often, especially during moments of high anxiety, when it feels like watching a tornado of uncontrollable emotion uproot the foundation I have worked so hard to build over the past several years of my life. Because in those …
Passion is Fickle, But Curiosity is Non-Negotiable
“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt If you’re around the same age as I am and have spent any time on the internet in the past five or six years, you are probably very familiar with the frequently …
Balance is a Dirty Word. And Other Truths About Being Human.
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” ~Alain de Botton I sometimes wonder if I’m too honest about just how imperfect I actually am. But, ultimately, if the moldy piece of fish in my refrigerator makes even one other person feel a little bit better about all the ways she might feel like …
On Moldy Fish, Adulting, and Being An Imperfect Mess
“Excuse the mess, but we live here.” ~Roseanne Barr Can we talk about the moldy piece of fish in my fridge? (Stay with me here. This is going somewhere. I promise.) Earlier this week I pulled a pyrex container out of the back of my refrigerator and discovered that it contained the most disgusting piece of old salmon ever. Complete …