From years of experimentation, I’ve created my current diary setup, which I call my “Dailies.” I start a fresh page each day and use simple symbols to block off sections for supportive goals, acknowledging successes, practicing gratitude, and task management.

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!

As of yesterday, 169 letters have come in, from around 24 states and 3 countries (New Zealand, Canada, Australia)!

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.

As of yesterday, 169 letters have come in, from around 24 states and 3 countries (New Zealand, Canada, Australia)!

You cannot grow in your comfort zone. While you may feel safe inside your little bubble, in order to be able to overcome obstacles, you need to leave your comfort zone.

When it comes to comfort, books, like foods, are not all created equal (virtuous indeed are those who reach for kale when calamity befalls). When times are tough, some books just won’t hit the spot. Moreover, our capacity for reading -- or doing much of anything other than surviving -- can vary wildly depending on exactly what we’re up against.

For the first week I did not receive a single letter, so I was getting a little worried. What if no one wrote? But then, this week, everything changed. 1 letter on Monday, another on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, 11 on Thursday and 22 on Friday!

In truth, by harnessing both The Habitualist and The Ritualist, you will experience happiness on a significantly deeper level and sustain it, so whatever you decide - just start now.

Whether I’ve sought the change or it has arrived on its own free will, I remind myself all of the things we’d have missed if we’d tried to hold on too tightly to the status quo. I think about the opportunities that have come from taking chances and letting go.

This kindness is unmatched. I wish I could hug all of you who wrote me!

Any time we engage in social media, there are bound to be flecks of our humanity wrapped up in it. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does require us to be mindful.

After working an exhausting year in a pandemic where I got extraordinarily little joy out of my job, and mostly just a lot of stress and anxiety, I needed to find something that brought me home to myself again.

Brokenness is not where this ends, though. When years of walls are shattered and strewn about, choices have to be made. Will we rebuild what was broken exactly the way it was before? OR Will we choose to restore what was broken into something stronger and more beautiful? This time, I chose the latter.

It was at least ten years ago when I first heard a sermon by Andy Stanley about the concept of “margin.” He talked about the importance of living a life with a lot of margin - a lot of room to make mistakes without suffering life-altering ramifications. He essentially meant installing guardrails in your life, surmising that we’d inevitably cross lines, but if you had your guardrail set so far back from the edge, those missteps were much more likely to be corrected without serious consequence. This concept could apply to many aspects of life - finances, time management, relationships, interactions with others, and even food.