I couldn’t tell you what it is about the way my world tends to turn at this time of year – but Lenten Season has an ironic pattern of being a challenging one for me. This isn’t the first time the long winter nears a close, and my heart is heavy with grief or unexpected…

I ended October throwing my hands up. I reluctantly admitted I’d run myself into the ground from fighting my slipping physical and mental health with pride and impatience. While life has dealt me some tricky cards in the past few months – the way I’ve handled it has not displayed the grace and resilience I…

It’s my first “real” Autumn in four years, and my soul feels a grounded sense of being exactly where I’m supposed to be. Quiet fall mornings like these – crisp sunrise air and Seattle streets flushed crimson and gold – explain my craving to trade my California girl sunshine to return home to Pacific Northwest…

I’ve always held a ridiculous amount of resistance against returning home post college-graduation. The pride that smudges my lenses tricks me into seeing coming back to Gig Harbor as if I haven’t grown out of it or found something bigger and better. But because of the world’s current circumstances – life has invited me to…

“These are the terms, now what is the invitation?” When the uncertainty and unmet expectations of these times crowd my mind – I remind myself to channel my inner Elizabeth Gilbert – who has taught me while that in circumstances I can’t control, what I do get to choose is how I react. It’s been…

I gathered 2019’s most significant guests, Love, Pain, Faith, Change, and I – to look back on our journey together, and celebrate the ways we have grown.   First, I looked to love. “It’s been quite a year for us, hasn’t it? But you are still my favorite teacher.” “I’ve learned your presence is most…

I am learning everyday to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be inspire and not terrify me.  Fall quarter taught me about the light in changing direction when my comfort zones no longer served me peace. I learned to stop fighting change – and day by day cultivate hope…

There’s a lots of moving parts, but here’s my best shot at an attempt at summing up four heavy but growth-filled months of what I can look back in hindsight and call the deconstruction of my childlike faith. — Every summer since coming to Cal Poly, I’ve tried everything to escape spending my summer at…

It’s been months since I’ve felt at home in my own skin. I crawled my way to the end of the quarter, gave up an internship that I dreamed about all year, and continue to wrestle day after day to find the faith I used to ground myself in. The whole back story is full…

To the girl I hope to be one year from now: Today you sat on the airplane, ready to embrace the way spring quarter has a way of making things new – the vibrant energy of a fresh start. The girl next to you is staring anxiously out the window, crying on the phone with…