coping

  • Faith

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what faith really means. Not the version wrapped in rules or ritual, but the kind that grows quietly inside you. The kind you don’t always have words for, but you feel it. It shows up in how you love. In how you choose kindness. In the way you…

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  • Life isn’t supposed to be a series of “gotcha” moments. You know the kind—those little traps people set in conversations, waiting for someone to slip up just so they can say, “Aha! I caught you.” In healthy relationships, that kind of behavior doesn’t belong. But in dysfunctional families, it can become the norm. I lived…

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  • I Hate Secrets

    I hate secrets. It’s true—I always have. All my life, I’ve struggled with secrets, especially keeping them. It’s just not how I live. Very early in adulthood, I realized how important it was not to live in secrecy. Some of you who know me might say, “But you were in a straight marriage.” That’s true—I…

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  • I was talking with my husband, Rick, the other day—just one of those quiet moments after we’d dropped our bags and taken a deep breath. We’ve been on the road for a month now, weaving our way from one city to the next, and I could tell he sensed something in my mood. Madrid had…

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  • Yesterday, in the heart of the Madrid train station, we stood shoulder to shoulder in a dense, unmoving crowd. We waited more than four hours to pass through security, just to reach our train platform. Our train was delayed by three hours, and the atmosphere was thick with heat, frustration, and fatigue. The crowd pulsed…

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  • When I was little, my mom told me she was going to redecorate my room. I remember the thrill of choosing paint swatches—so deep a royal blue it felt like diving into the night sky. As the first coats went on, the room took on a hushed glow, and we pressed glow‑in‑the‑dark stars into the…

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  • Have you ever noticed how some people seem to deeply feel the emotions of others, almost as if they’re experiencing those feelings themselves? It’s an intriguing distinction that I’ve been contemplating: the difference between being a true empath and just having a knack for reading body language. Take a moment to picture someone in tears.…

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  • Lately, I’ve caught myself thinking about the state of the world — all the noise, all the hate, all the division. It feels like everywhere you turn, people are shouting over each other, villainizing anyone who’s different from them. It’s exhausting. And honestly, it makes me wonder… when does it end? When do we finally…

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  • Research Truth

    There’s so much craziness online right now. I’m running everything I post through analytics to see if it’s true. You saw this with my post this morning. Tell people what’s going on and then back it up with fact. Here’s an example: There are a lot of reports of people dying in ICE detention centers.…

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  • In the early 1950s, the United States was gripped by a paranoid fervor that led to one of its most insidious campaigns against its own citizens. Known as the Lavender Scare, this period saw government agencies systematically purge LGBTQ+ individuals from federal employment. Labeled as security risks solely because of their sexual orientation, thousands lost…

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