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Why me? Why should you care to read about a complete stranger? In all honesty, I am just another ordinary girl with a passion to tell stories and create memories.
A key difference is my passion for people, storytelling, transparency, and a realness that extends past your ordinary author. I desire a rawness that helps people relate to similar struggles and situations. Because of that, my storytelling formula has many real-life undertones, in terms of my fiction. Non-fiction is always 100% real and un-edited. Trust is hard to come by nowadays so if I can instill a level of accountability and trust with my readers that is something I strive to do with each piece.
Welcome to the secrets of my life.
Mental Health Hits Very Close to Home
Since my young teen years, I have dealt with anxiety, depression, and OCD. Even though that has been a part of my story, I refuse to be defined by those labels. Unfortunately, it has been a generational curse in my family and I am already rebuking it against my daughter. It stops with me. This journey has been rough, messy, and downright hard. I wouldn’t wish this kind of fear, sadness, or rumination on my worst enemy. But over the years, I have been able to see how far God has brought me. There is a good chance I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have Jesus. Between prayer, counseling, support and encouragement from friends and family, and the belief that storms don’t last forever, I have been able to overcome so much more than I ever thought possible. Don’t stop fighting. Don’t give in to the lie that things will never get better. I know it seems easy for me to say that, but there was a time when I doubted that would ever happen too. But God is good and there is always hope.
I received a scholarship to play soccer in college
Not many people know this, but I actually received a scholarship to play soccer. Soccer has been a love of mine since I was 8 years old. I played year ‘round for years and am an avid watcher of the game. There were many contributing factors as to why I turned it down. From being in a toxic relationship where my dreams and desires were downplayed, to the financial piece of just not being able to afford it. It was not a full-ride and it was to a private, Christian school. As much as I loved the sport, I couldn’t justify spending the rest of my life paying off student loans. But a part of me does wonder, where I would be if I would have said yes.
I delivered my daughter at home
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a mom. After suffering a miscarriage, that dream seemed further and further away. But God. He always has the best plans for us. He hears our hearts and knows our dreams and desires even more intimately than we do. When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to do things as naturally as possible. *disclaimer – anyway you deliver your baby is hard work. You are a superstar no matter how you choose to bring your baby into the world. This is just what I wanted personally.
Anyways, thankfully my pregnancy progressed normally and I was able to move forward with my home-birth dream. We had a fantastic midwife who’s calmness radiated to everyone in the room. Which was much needed as my birth didn’t exactly go as planned. However, baby girl was healthy and that’s all that mattered.
I have no aunts/uncles or cousins
My family is really tiny. Both my parents are only children, so growing up, we had no cousins to play with, or aunts/uncles houses to go to. It was normal for us. But now having my own child and my sister having her little boy, born just three months later, it made me realize what a precious gift it will be to have our kids grow up together. Even though I know mine will be the one getting her little boy cousin into trouble.
Family has always been very important to me. My parents created an environment of vulnerability and trust. Because we only had each other, the closeness we have today, is so much higher than what it could have been. Not saying that if we had a bigger family, than that wouldn’t have been our reality, but for us, the ability to have more one on one time with each other was super beneficial. Each day is not guaranteed, so make the most of every day with the people you love.
I wrote a ten day devotional
This was a major passion project of mine. I wanted to create a devotional that hit home the fact that we have freedom in Jesus. That we have hope. Dealing with mental health struggles can feel very isolating and this devotional is meant to bring light to the situation and help you realize that you are not alone. Each day reiterates a positive truth about a hard topic. Working on this brought so much joy as I hoped it would be a resource to those needing a little light in the darkness. A light that only comes from Jesus. Take a look and let me know what you think.
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