Marriage unites two lives bringing together two people who create daily habits together, they marry into one another’s families, they share time with friends, and possibly even children (together or blended). You identify as a spouse, you share private information and develop hobbies and past times together. It’s beautiful, until [...]
No parents are perfect, but sometimes parents are painfully imperfect. Sometimes parents directly instill fear, neglect, lovelessness, worthlessness, rejection, self-hate, abandonment, and anger that children live with. When these hurting children grow up to be adults they struggle. The challenges we face in childhood become the struggles of our adulthood. [...]
I have learned over the years of counseling that the holidays are packed full of emotions. For most it is a mix of pleasant and unpleasant emotional experiences adding to the frustration and complexity of the holiday season. STRESS DEPRESSION ANXIETY LONELINESS GRIEF FAMILY DYSFUNCTION EXHAUSTION OVERWHELM GUILT SHAME [...]
For many the holidays bring a lot of stress. Let’s keep it real: the holidays are awesome when you’re a kid, but as an adult, the holidays turn you into a not-so-joyful person. There is a lot that goes into the holidays from preparation to execution. I’m not here to [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAkQRdF227E I want to open this blog with an exercise: Before you read any further, what is your definition of peace? Write it down and think about it. Make sure you are satisfied with how you have defined, experienced, and expect peace to look and feel in your life. How [...]
Introversion is not something that is widely celebrated or even understood. When was the last time you read a job description that said something like “do you like to isolate, live inside your own head, and feel overwhelmed by other people? Well, this is the job for you!” I don’t [...]
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 This is a scripture that has been pulling at my heart lately. Time and time again we are attacked that “there is no way [...]
Wow! How many times have you asked God “WHY?!” Why me…why the good people… why not the bad people… why is a powerful word when it is packed full of emotions. When life has left you hurting it seems to almost be natural instinct to go to God in anger [...]
Okay, here is a quick 1, 2, punch! Stop comparing your life to everyone else’s around you, you are not them… YOU ARE UNIQUELY YOU! If I could challenge you with anything it would be to replace the word normal with the word healthy. “Is my relationship normal?” but listen [...]
The challenge of all challenges is SELF-CARE. This concept is believed to be out-of-reach or "not for me" because of the pictures we see blasted on social media of the all-white cottage by the lake surrounded by nature, relaxing in a hammock as the breeze blows and the sun radiates [...]