life advice

  • Security and Adventure: Why It’s Not an Either/Or Question

    I’ve found that there are two types of people who take risks. The first is the person who has nothing left to lose. They have no money and no way to earn it. They have no real support and nowhere and nothing to call their own. They aren’t seeking fulfillment or experiences, but survival. But,

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  • 4 Things that Bipolar Disorder Taught Me About Accountability

    I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 in the spring of 2023. After over a decade of managing symptoms on my own, this diagnosis came as a relief. For years I lived with the fear of losing control of my mind and body, and saying and doing things I would regret. For years I had to

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  • Winter Reflections: Seeing Myself in the Season

    If I were a season I’d be winter. Not just because I was born in December, and not because physical appearance can only be described as “snowy”. It’s not anything so obvious and concrete. The connection is more of a feeling beyond reason. I don’t know if I can say that winter is my favorite

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  • 15 Minutes with myself: what I would tell my teenage self

    There’s a Book Series I really Enjoy called “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” This modern urban fantasy is about a tiny cafe in Japan with the unique ability to send a drinker back to the past for a short period of time- the length of time it takes for a cup of coffee to get

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  • Less is More: learning to want less

    I find myself wanting less as I get older. It seems to be a common symptom of growing maturity, learning the true value of things. The more you see and experience, the more context you have to assess your life and circumstances. If you are lucky, that perspective will help carry you through seasons of

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  • Sometimes Life Sucks; it’s okay to say so.

    Sometimes life sucks, and it’s okay to say so. Those insipid, “inspirational” quotes that tell you that “Life is what you make it”, and “There’s no such thing as bad luck, just a bad attitude” are both insulting and untrue. Of course we shouldn’t always look for the downside of a situation, and we shouldn’t

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  • I am the writer who doesn’t write. In college I told myself I didn’t have the time, and the excuse seemed valid at the time. Between full time employment, full-time classes, homework, and commutes- I barely had time to breathe. My writing suffered, but I scribbled when I could and dreamed of graduation. I told

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  • Too Much Time: What to do with the extra hours

    I graduated from Utah Valley University exactly 2 months ago. For the last few years of my life I struggled to jam a full-time job, classes, homework, house keeping, hobbies, family, friends, and sleep into my weekly schedule. Like most college students struggling to make it to graduation I dreamed of a day when I

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  • The Peak: Hiking, Living, and Learning

    Spring in Utah is unpredictable. The morning may dawn bright and clear, the afternoon can be warm and inviting, and by nightfall you have an inch of snow. It’s not uncommon to have temperature changes ranging 50 degrees in a 24 hour period, but that’s all to be expected in the mountains. The locals here

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  • I Graduated. Now What?

    First of all, sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve had a lot to do to finish my final semester of college: projects, papers, and portfolios have ruled my life. Now it’s over- forever unless I do to grad school. I’m thrilled, but I’m also overwhelmed. Like many millennial, I have been going to

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