“When we show up for our kids in moments when no one showed up for us, we’re not just healing them. We’re healing ourselves.” ~Dr. Becky Kenedy I wasn’t taught to pause and breathe when I was overwhelmed. I was taught to push through. To be a “good girl.” To smile when something inside me … Read more

“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 … Read more

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. … Read more

“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 … Read more

“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 … Read more

“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 … Read more

“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 … Read more

“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 … Read more

“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 … Read more

“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 … Read more