In the past year and a half, I’ve been trying to get back to that younger version of myself by getting in touch with how moving my body makes me feel. To think of exercise as “play-time,” rather than a chore necessary to ensure that I look a certain way, I’ve developed this list that hopefully you find useful too.

It happened. Toxicity in your inbox. Clean up in aisle 7. Now what do you do?

You have the power to transform that uncomfortable moment into something much more needed in the world, I believe. Love. And compassion. Here’s how.

Learning the harp has become a unique spiritual discipline for me, teaching me lessons in becoming a beginner, creating for creativity's sake, and remembering that life is long.

Just as people disagree on what physical things are important to them, what it means to live a meaningful life is different for all of us as well. To find value, we must look closely at our choices. Do we really think about the things we surround ourselves with every day? The small, quiet things, the things screaming for our attention, the things we shower upon others? Sometimes we don’t think about our values at all. We simply follow the status quo. Traditions have endured because many people find value in them (they are great at fostering a sense of place amidst the never-ending passage of time), but even traditions evolve as the people who practice them grow physically, mentally, and emotionally. After all, at some time someone somewhere started something new that is now considered a tradition.

I don’t know who’s missing from the family picture that no one wants to actually take.

But I think I just wanted to be a voice in the conversation. I wanted you to know that I’m with you. That someone out there is also going to be crying in front of the Christmas tree out of sadness, exhaustion, loneliness, and grief.

If you were to step into my childhood bedroom, you’d find countless half-written plays about long-lost sisters and numerous diary entries detailing my family vacations. Writing always came naturally to me. It is how I deconstructed new concepts and ideas.

For me, it is easier to think in terms of small indulgences, where the stakes are low, but when I’m honest with myself, indulging daily is much grander than office supplies and pizza nights. It’s about being present and grateful and joyful in the moments when you can be, because sometimes you can’t. It’s about living in abundance, even if that abundance is something as simple as having a slice of hot blackberry pie for dinner.

Today, I see my white cane as a badge of honor.

I see my white cane as a reminder of how far I’ve come. Every time I use it, I see a girl who felt despair the day she was diagnosed with RP to someone who is learning to love herself enough by embracing all parts of who she is. Today, there is nothing self-conscious about the cane. It’s simply a little help for my vision.

I love my hobby and there is no doubt that it has brought immense value to my life. But sometimes I wonder if I’ve taken it too far. We may get so into our hobbies that they turn into projects to tackle instead of simply enjoy.

I don’t have all the answers. What I do know is that despite what society says, there is no requirement to abandon yourself to make others more comfortable. You don’t owe anyone a version of you that isn’t true to your soul.

We've internalized the message that doing something for our own enjoyment is not enough, not without the external validation of money, of praise. What if we created a society that didn't necessitate sacrificing free time to keep the roofs over our heads?

Eating outside offers up sounds, smells, and sensations we just can’t get in a sealed room. Sunshine, wind, dirt underfoot, bugs flying, flowers blooming, glittering snow… Getting outside our comfort zone bombards our senses and we notice things we otherwise wouldn’t.

I begin to pay attention consciously, to really notice what’s around me—not only in terms of what I can see, but also what I can hear, feel, or taste. And I find that beneath my initial assumption that ordinary equates to monotony, or even lack—this is all there is—there lies instead a teeming of tiny moments of beauty and joy.

I’ve learned a lot about what it looks like to be single in my own skin and as much as I want to fight against the terminology and the boxes, I feel as if since they are there I have to learn to work with them.

A fully healed heart isn’t something you can force by sharing platitudes or deciding to fake it ‘til you make it. Heart healing is rarely a one-time thing.

It is more important than ever that we focus on appreciating what we have and try to maintain a positive mindset.

Is there something in your life that is taking time, practice, and a little bit of patience on your end? Maybe you’re in a new job, or searching for one, maybe you’d like to get closer to God, or maybe there’s a relationship that needs attention. Whatever it is, trust that the slow, small acts are valuable.

It’s important to pursue some reading as pure self-indulgence. I’m not talking about reading the self-help genre as a means of self-care. I mean reading anything, anything, just for the sake that it interests you. All genres are welcome and none are trash. Forget the phrase “guilty pleasure” when it comes to reading — if you enjoy it, enjoy it guilt-free.

If you think of your own life, I bet food was at the heart of some of your happiest or most cherished moments. And I bet in your family history, there was a woman who worked tirelessly to prepare that food. It is time to give our history the appreciation it deserves and reclaim a passion for food!

The more I consider it, the more I believe the increasing tension I’ve felt, and noticed in many others, comes from years of using technology for something other than its intended purpose or trying to accomplish something in a less-than-optimal way.