Why You Should Wake Up with the Sun
There is a lot of evidence that shows people are generally more productive in the morning and since science and faith are intertwined, I believe there’s a reason God wired us this way. Maybe it is no coincidence that “Early in the morning” appears so often in the Bible. It seems that “early in the […]
Are Word Names Stupid?
Baby name trends are constantly changing and “word names” or “thing names” such as Bear, Willow, East or River (my own baby’s name), are very trendy right now. I find the term “word names” interesting since, technically, all names are “word names”. I mean John is a word, is it not? The earliest names recorded […]
Quinn’s Hot Springs
For my birthday this year, Jake took me to Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort in Paradise, Montana. It is incredibly hard to get a reservation there, but Jake had been calling for a few weeks trying to catch a cancellation and just happened to score a room the weekend of my birthday! When he told me, […]
How An Anxious Attachment Style Impacts My Marriage
“Are you ok?” I asked my husband for the third time in an hour. Baffled that I was asking yet again, he replied, “Yes! I already told you, I’m fine.” This is a common conversation in our home which stems from my anxious attachment style. I first learned about attachment styles in premarital counseling. There […]
Modeling a Relationship with Technology for Your Kids
The other day, River was babbling sweetly and playing with me. I wanted to document the moment, so I set up my phone across the room to take a video. As soon as I did, she stopped babbling, turned her head, and stared intensely at my phone. I tried to get her to look at […]
The Truth About Breastfeeding
Before I begin this post, I’d like to acknowledge that every woman’s experience when it comes to feeding her child is unique. Not every woman is able to breastfeed and those who do sometimes experience hardship in that journey. Some encounter obstacles that push them to use formula and others may choose formula just because […]
Saying Goodbye to My Childhood Home
This year, my parents decided, with great pain and sadness, to sell their house. This house has been with our family for 43 years. My grandparents raised my dad and his brothers in this home and later, my sisters and I grew up here. It seems impossible to put a price on a home so […]
EMDR Helped Me Process My Fear of Childbirth
When I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified. I know most women would be overjoyed to know they are growing life inside of them, but I didn’t feel that way. Since high school, I’d been scared of pregnancy and childbirth. It was hard to admit that I didn’t want to be pregnant. When […]
What Jimmy Chin’s Photoshoot With Jared Leto Says About Our Culture
If Jimmy Chin has every right to make money with his talents, and Jared Leto is not a poser, and the products are presumably sustainable, why did I feel so icky looking at these pictures?
The Freeing Power of Forgiveness
What happens when you forgive someone? And I mean really forgive? Last week, emotions overcame me. With everything going on in the world, I realized how short our time on Earth is. I realized that I did not want to leave this planet without forgiving those who had hurt me. I started praying, initially thinking […]
A Teacher’s Far-Reaching Impact
My high school experience could have been better. The faculty was the biggest reason why my school failed me. I clearly remember the many sins of my high school teachers. For example, my science teacher would actually flirt with the senior and junior male students. She would tickle and tease them in a way that […]
The Less You Wear, The More You Have
“I have nothing to wear!” I complained a few weeks ago, a statement commonly made by women in the western world. I had recently re-downloaded Instagram and immediately felt the need to be trendy. It’s funny, the reason I deleted it in the first place was so that I wouldn’t compare myself with women in […]
The Dangers of Anxiety
I live in a body that translates anxiety physically. It is hell. But I didn’t know how dangerous it was until this year. Ever since I was little, I had OCD-like habits. For example, I absolutely hated wearing certain clothes, and not for what they looked like. Rather, I hated the way some of them […]
Beer and Art
The Ruhstaller Brewery and Taproom is hidden in a small Nor-Cal town known as Dixon. Something that makes Ruhstaller special is its devotion to sustainability and using local products to brew their beer. Another thing that makes it special is the artistic mind behind the experimental beers Ruhstaller puts out. Somewhere in the back of […]
I Fell in Love in Paris
I woke up to rain pounding on the skylight above me. While there was no elevator in the ten-story building, being on the top floor had one deliverance and that was the skylight. I could have reached up to open it while still laying on the bed. Allowing the water to permeate that glass barrier […]
A Culture of Self-Deprecation
Jokes about depression, suicide, and general discontentment with today’s society have been infiltrating my social media feed and thus my thoughts and even further, my character. Maybe a year ago, I followed this page on Facebook: “Sad memes”. The page concerns ideas that joke about hating life and how much it sucks, and for a […]
Surfing Saved 2018
2018 was one of the hardest years of my life. I was robbed on the first week of my backpacking trip, I had my heart broken, my little red truck was totaled, close friends decided I was disposable, my anxiety was through the roof, and being a fourth year, the impending need to figure out […]
Le Désamour
L’idée de tomber amoureux n’existe pas de la même manière que le <<désamour>> n’existe pas, et moi, je ne sais rien sur l’amour mais j’entends souvent <<Ah, nous avons cessé de nous aimer… >> comme si on s’est réveillé tout à coup en détestant son amant… TOUT À COUP, vraiment, on doit savoir que le […]
S’inspirait d’une histoire vraie
L’homme se réveille à 6h30 chaque jour pour aller à un travail traditionnel. Il se trouve cramponnant au mur toutes les matins; on peut deviner que c’est pour une raison d’insécurité. Il doit travailler à sept heure donc il se laisse le strict minimum de temps pour changer de vêtements et manger. Mais manger est […]
10 Reasons I’m Thankful For My Abuser
Remember when we used to write thank you letters to those who gave us gifts at birthday parties? A few days later, your mom would make you map out who gave what and you’d send a personalized letter to each and every attendee. This is a little like that. Except I’m not thanking the person […]
The Doorbell Stigma
Remember when we were little and would just waltz right up to our neighbor’s door without any prior notification? I can distinctly recall running errands with my mother, and when we’d finished, she would ask, “Why don’t we drop in on ‘so and so.’” This is still a Colombian custom, and it is beautiful. Leidy […]
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SUMMER ZALESKY 