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On Words, Sporadic Blogging, and Why it Matters

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This space feels equal parts foreign and familiar. You know how sometimes you leave something for so long that it feels silly to come back? I'm there every year with this corner of the internet. Attribute it to busyness, distraction, or (most likely) fundamental laziness—but whatever it is, I keep setting this down and picking it back up. Since it's a new year, I've spent some time thinking about why I still  come back to this thing. I’ve been asking myself a lot lately why I write at all—why it matters, what I want people to think or feel when they see these there-and-gone-on-the-timeline words. When I first started working for a marketing company, I had to read an excerpt from a book entitled Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t. (true story; ask my boss.) It was all about how our words don’t hold any weight at all unless they really matter to others—unless we can convince them that the words mean something, that they’re worth it. Otherwise, no one cares. Honestly, I
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January 2019: Recap

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I am [hopefully] committing to the thing.  ["the thing" is blogging. regularly.] [I have committed to this before. Once every February, in fact.] I want to say it's different this year, that the words matter more now than they did before, that I'm ready to be inspired & inspiring. But none of it is really  all that true. It's probably not different this year. I made it a "resolution" to blog monthly, but I'll miss some months here and there because it's who I am.  The words don't really matter any more now than they did a year ago—or four years ago, when I started this whole blog ordeal. They're heavier sometimes, more alive and real. But they don't magically hold more importance. And I'm not "inspired." I don't feel an urge to write and suddenly bleed beauty everywhere. I wish it were like that, though; it would be neat. I've always been the [very millennial] type to think the words can
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On Failure (And Other Things Typical of My Life)

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No surprise here: I lack self-discipline and commitment. I'd like to do better. [[Standard line]] For approximately the sixth time, I am picking the blog back up. I'm stepping into the Light again, since I've hidden away for about nine months. I do have a laundry list of excuses, and they mostly consist of things like: I worked all summer. It was busy. My last semester of college was packed, and I couldn't justify writing a blog when my capstone paper was staring me in the face. Working 8:00-5:00 is actually really hard; how do adults have time for anything besides work and sleep? _____________ [[Fill in any excuse here; I've probably used it to justify not writing.]] But there is one other reason I've been... avoiding the blog.  I failed Seven. I was doing okay until summer started, and then I kind of lost all the steam. [[If you missed my whole Seven escapade, check out my adventures pre-failure here , here , and here .]] Here's
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A High-Key Tribute to Nurses

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Mostly my nurses. But also all nurses. Because they all have a hard job. I can't even count the number of nurses I know. Seriously. This career is wildly high in demand. Which is probably why it's important to just take a minute - or a week. Nurses are important. They hold a very special place in my heart (which is a notable thing because honestly I really struggle with making room in my heart for people). Four of my very best friends are nurses. I've watched them through classes, through NCLEX tests (don't ask me what that stands for), through careers. They are superwomen. I'm not kidding. Can I tell you some stories? This is Hailey. She's a labor and delivery nurse, and in July she's going to have her own little human to take care of. [[She's told me stories that make me think maybe I wont ever be having kids.]] I've listened to her talk about how she's going to manage being a mom and a nurse at the same time, and I'm not kidding
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Seven: The May Edition

May is Clothes Month. I am wearing seven articles of clothing this month. As a college student, I am no stranger to postponing laundry. In fact, I'm actually a pro. If it doesn't smell and I don't actively remember spilling food on it or sweating in it, I consider it clean. Nine days into May, though, and it might be time to do laundry. Especially since I spilled ice cream on one of my shirts a couple days ago. (Typical me) My wardrobe this month: 3 nice-ish/not lazy shirts 1 t-shirt 1 pair of jeans 1 pair of jean shorts 1 dress Shoes: nude sandals and black sandals, interchanged based on the day's wardrobe **Disclaimers** 1) Because it is May, I assumed a jacket would not be necessary. Indiana laughed at me and brought about a lovely frost and a few 40-degree days. My jacket doesn't count as one of the Seven. It's not my fault Indiana is bipolar. The same goes for the close-toed shoes I've worn a couple times. I need to keep my digits; sand
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Seven: The April Edition

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I'm not even going to talk about how late this blog post is. Nope. We're just moving on. April was "Food Month" for Seven, which was ridiculously hard and consisted mostly of me complaining to my roommate before justifying a cheating episode. [[Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it was close.]] My roommate, Deborah, deserves an actual Nobel Prize for dealing with me and doing this crazy challenge with me. Only eating seven different foods meant we had to carefully plan our grocery list and pray for the best. It also meant that Deborah had to do a lot of cooking because (1) I couldn't eat freezer meals anymore and (2) I am irreparably hopeless in the kitchen. So. Bless her sweet soul. Here is a photo of us together on the last day of March, celebrating ice cream and sweets since we were about to give them up.  I love her Now, the moment of truth. Because of health things and nutrition concerns, Deborah and I made a few exceptions/allowances with S
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Seven Update (and other things)

Me approximately every three months: I am going to turn my life around and blog weekly. Maybe even twice a week. Me three months later: Oops. I'm bad at the thing. I'm sorry. But, as always, if you're sticking with me through the struggle, you are so very, very appreciated and loved. So. First things first: The Seven Winner From January!  Thanks for your interest in the book after my previous post . I randomly picked a name from the comments, and the winner is... *drumroll* Kim Konuch [[Kim, email/message me your address, and I'll send Seven  to you in the mail within the next two weeks 🙂 ]] Friends, I can't stress enough how life-changing this book is. You can find it at your local library or on Amazon here . It is worth it. I promise. So, now that that's taken care of, let me tell you about the last couple months. And then hopefully I can actually start doing this blog thing right and give you updates about my [[slightly boring]] life a
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2017: Less Me, More Mercy

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In Costa Rica, I spent a lot of time discussing justice and mercy with my peers. One of the questions we kept coming back to was whether or not the two could coexist. I know that God does justice and mercy perfectly, in tandem, without flaws. But I wonder if humans can do the same. One of the things I realized is that I simply cannot hope to tackle both at the same time. So this year? I choose Mercy. I will champion it; I will advocate for it; I will strive for it. And God knows I'll fall short of it. But I am going to spend this year loving Mercy, just as Micah 6:8 calls me to. And maybe in 2018--if I spend this year pursuing Mercy relentlessly--I'll know a little bit more about how to seek Justice. Mercy (n.) compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. [[Thanks Google]] How do I find that? Friends, I wholeheartedly believe that if I cleanse my life of bells and whistles, I will enter into the pure mercy of Chris
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Update:: City Life

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I have been out of San José for a little over two weeks now, and my heart longs to go back. Don't worry, an update on what I've been doing for the final part of my adventure is still coming. But for now, I'm going to show you my city and my people here. Because I want you to fall in love with them as much as I have. Ready? Awesome. [[Side note: my laptop charger did this cute thing a couple nights ago where it decided to spark out and not work. So all updates hereafter will come from my cell phone. Apologies in advance for any technological glitches/uber-short posts. It's really hard to gauge from such a tiny lil screen.]] Okay. City Life. Kaldi is a coffee shop about a 15-minute walk from where I had classes for the first two and a half months of the adventure. I think I've posted about it before, but I spent so much time there I figured it deserved another appearance. It was perfect for doing homework, skyping, or just taking a break from the rest of the
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