Tag: personal development

The Summitless Path

What an unexpected hike revealed about life’s in-between seasons Last weekend, my friends and I decided to go on what was supposed to be an easy, well-trodden mountain hike that ended with a beautiful panoramic viewpoint — perfect for people who weren’t avid hikers. But when we got there, the trail was closed due to ...

For those who can’t get unstuck (even if they want to)

The past five years of my life have felt like continuous upward momentum — an era of growth, healing, discovery and expansion (despite a few setbacks, of course). But a couple of months ago, that momentum suddenly came to a halt. It was as if my body had hit the emergency brakes before my mind ...

Woman tossing glitter from a martini glass

Top 4 Life Lessons from 2024

2024 was the Year of Plot Twists. Never would I have imagined that the second half of 2024 would look so drastically different from the first half of 2024—so much that I've opted not to make a recap video this year like I usually do on New Year's Eve, because it would be too, well, ...

Girl standing at a fork in the road

How to Overcome Indecision, Doubt, and Dissatisfaction with Your Life Choices

The more I've had to make life-altering decisions, the more I've come to realize that it's nearly impossible to make the perfect choice. That's because the "perfect choice" rarely exists. Every path requires sacrifice. Saying "yes" to one path means saying "no" to another, and walking through one door means leaving another one unopened. We ...

woman walking away

Finding Self-Respect: The Power of Walking Away

When I was younger, I used to pride myself on constantly making a martyr of myself for other people. While I do still pride myself on having the self-control to be kind to people who are not kind to me, to refuse to fight fire with fire, to stay classy when I could easily be ...

Lost Innocence

Although I love the person that I've become, I can't deny that there are certain aspects of myself that I wish I could revert back to, particularly in relation to my spiritual life. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the former version of myself for whom faith in God's goodness, let alone existence, ...

Top 6 Lessons from the Past Year

To be honest, I’m still scratching my head wondering why I’ve been unusually happier this past year. It’s not like I accomplished anything big. The resolutions I made last year are the exact same ones I have now. I’m still scrambling for a greater sense of meaning and purpose. I’m still trying to reacquaint myself ...

Top 4 Lessons I Learned from the Past Year

A part of me was somewhat reluctant to look back at the past year—not because it was particularly atrocious, but because it was tinted with a bittersweet note. Looking back at wonderful memories also reminds me of the people I shared them with who are no longer in my life in the same capacity they ...

bandage

Ripping the Bandaid Off: A Metaphor for Healing

I threw some bandages over some small cuts I had, because they stung like crazy whenever I showered or whenever they scraped against materials. What I didn't realize was that the bandages would end up irritating my skin even more; apparently I had some kind of allergic reaction to the adhesive. I eventually had no ...

The Space Where Healing Happens

A few weeks ago, something happened that triggered me. By "triggered", I don't mean being overly sensitive or easily offended (as the word seems to suggest these days). I mean that something happened, which was so reminiscent of a traumatic memory from my past, that I literally felt as if I had been transported back ...