Creating Balance

I studied the confident, serene, upright bodies gliding across the lake and it looked so easy. Now, on my hands and knees and looking anything but graceful, I pushed back onto the flats of my feet and made a wobbly attempt to stand. Splash! The cold water startled every pore on my skin and I Read More

Goodbye to the Season of my Discontent

Why do we always tend to look toward another time, season, life circumstance to find contentment? When I finish school and start my career… When I can quit my job and raise children… When my kids are older and more independent… When we are kid-free and have extra time… When we retire and have the Read More

Presence Over Perfection

I am walking on the beach, comforted by the steady constancy of the waves. Closing my eyes, I feel the warmth of the sun on my eyelids and my face. The wet sand gives way underneath the weight of my feet and collects between my toes. Opening my eyes, I scan the sand and find Read More

We Are Stories Still Going

We are wired for stories because we live them. We love hearing others’ stories because they help us make sense of our own. As human beings on this planet, we get to experience all the things: heavy and light, beautiful and difficult, hopeful and uncertain. Our stories are usually a balance of difficult versus easy, Read More

Finding My Voice

I’m not a hand raiser. In school, I often knew answers to questions but chose to recite them silently as someone else spoke them aloud. My teachers reprimanded me for doodling in class, even though I took in every word of their (let’s be honest, long-winded) lectures. Impending oral presentations justified lying awake in bed Read More

Pressing Your Luck

You don’t often recognize it as it’s happening, especially if your judgement is impaired. It’s more likely that you brush it off and move on, especially if it is a result of your own bad choices. A narrow escape. A fortunate outcome. Someone looking out for you… The capacity for denial is deep; the fear Read More

How Sobriety Helps Me Do Hard Things

A thousand miles away…. Seven thousand to be more exact. It’s hard when the one you do life with is so far away for so long a time. So far that when we look to the sky he sees the stars and I see the sun. So far that we can’t meet in our dreams Read More

Recovering Yourself

We’ve all been there before, some more often than others. For me, it was a constant cycle. Moving through the day in a fog, reacting instead of taking action. Willing time to pass so I could be finished with my daily obligations. Doing, saying, and expecting the bare minimum. And finally reaching the point where Read More

The Year I Barely Survived

It’s the time I still have trouble talking about, but feel the need to share. It’s a story of overcoming, and I hope it reaches the right person. I can write about it now, two and a half years later, because I can see the beauty that arose from the ashes. And I can bring Read More

Just One Life

When my life revolved around consuming wine, I spent much of it trying to untangle the knots I’d made the day before. An unraveling of sorts, with no forward progress. Stuck in a loop: Questioning what I had said or done, who I’d hurt or neglected, because drinking time was lost in the cloud. Apologizing Read More