Like everyone our age and younger, technology has been a consistent presence in my life—first Nintendo 64 games, then computer games (Zoo Tycoon, anyone?), then flip phones and long texts slowly typed on 3 letters-per-numbers keypads, then smartphones and Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and emails always, always on and notifications always, always crying out for attention, and here I am at stoplights opening emails and in elevators scrolling through Instagram and in bed responding to texts before my feet ever feel the carpet beneath them in the morning.
Read MoreMy heart lives in Minnesota.
My soul lives in Nashville.
My mind lives in New York.
It's hard being split in three.
Read MoreI have not listened to "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers since graduating college.
My 2016 Boston College grads feel me on this. That song might be on every single playlist I made those four years. It was the party song. It's a great workout track. We'd bump it on car rides—out of state, to the local grocery store, it didn't matter. On my 22nd birthday, my best friends threw me a party, and I stood on a table while I and a roomful of humans shouted "I NEVERRRRRR" at top volume. I don't remember a time when I didn't know all the words (honestly, does anyone not know all the words?).
Read MoreAfter being laid off from my job two months ago, I packed my desk and drove to the beach. It was a perfect day for shorts and a sweater, walking along the bike paths and lifting my face toward the sun every few minutes. I wanted my skin to burn.
Read MoreDespite the fact that I am oddly aware of all of this, I love making plans. The idea of a full social calendar has always been appealing. I'm the quintessential "extroverted-introvert" who lives for the opportunity to be a party girl, yet craves serious alone time. By Monday, I have plans for a mid -week dinner and by then, Friday night plans are brewing. Meanwhile, all the while, I’m thinking, “Shit, I just want to do nothing in peace, yet have an ongoing conversation via text with my best friend.” All of this mental anguish is because I said “yes.”
Read MoreNow, at nearly 24 years of age, I go to bed every night with the latest version iPhone in front of my face and happily let it greet me every morning. This tiny computer is my companion; I couldn’t imagine life without it. It serves as an escape when I need it to, and a distraction when I don’t. It has the power to remove me from reality and cut down drastically on actual physical connection. I, more often than not, chose to be in that simulated world at my fingertips instead of in the present moment.
Read MoreMy run was a quick relief from the busy day I had been having that Sunday. I had a rough draft due for an editor. I had to work on data for my internship. And the next day I was starting my new full-time job. I was exhausted. So I went inside and took a selfie to describe this mess of my life on Instagram. The mess I like to call happiness.
Read MoreI was able to join the cast of two local theatre productions now as a post-grad. I eagerly slipped into my roles and savored my experience on the other side of the audience. Instead of hiding behind my mom as the characters signed autographs, I became the characters that the children lined up to meet. This magical transformation reminds me of how fortunate I am to have theatre at every stage in my life.
Along the way, theatre has taught me these 5 important life lessons.
Read MoreIsn’t this a picture of the creative process? Isn’t this a picture of the way I am always tempted to write? Sitting down at my desk often feels a lot like sitting down in group therapy. I am being asked to share my heart, to tell my truth, so I begin to. I start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) but then I make the mistake of looking around.
Read MoreLike many people my age, I have divorced parents.
They split up when I was in the sixth grade, and to be completely honest, when I was put on the spot the other day, I couldn’t really recall much of their relationship before that. The whole process was treacherous and heartbreaking and something I had chosen to forget.
Read MoreHave you ever done that thing, where you see someone cute from across a room and before you’ve so much as exchanged names, you’ve pictured all the ways they’ll make you fall in love with them before they eventually break your heart, and then all of a sudden they’ve picked up their coffee and left the building before you even said hi? I am a master of that game.
Read MoreMake one mistake and your words tremble. You instantly become self-conscious of your every motion and movement. You criticize the way you said something, the sound of your voice, the hand gestures you made. Your imperfections grow into monsters.
Read MoreI rub her back and take a deep breath in and out, motioning her to do the same--slow breath in, slow breath out. She sits, eyes closed, and I sit too, silent. We don’t share the same language, so what can I say to ease her anxiety? But I know her feelings of panic, the way you mind spins and everything seems out of control and it’s all you can do to just sit still and be. And all I can do, all I can offer her in this moment is to sit and just be there with her.
Read Morefor Lent this year i’ve decided to toughen up.
i’m giving up my delicacy to learn how to be strong,
like i was once sketched.
I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize my own face. It looked somber, angry, incapable of ever smiling again.
Since the time college had ended and my had life become a whirlwind of whatever luck would bring me, I had been a little depressed and angry at God. It seemed like every door I knocked on didn’t want to open, and I had been knocking for quite a while now with still no open doors for me.
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