JUST KEEP WALKING

In case you haven't noticed, life can be hard, y'all. I'm always thankful to get some encouragement and a reminder that we are not alone in this journey. So I was super happy to get some really wonderful motivation at church the other day. 

The topic of the talk was "just keep walking." The speaker opened with a story about overhearing a snide comment made about a woman who was on the heavier side and was out walking for exercise. "Just keep walking, lady," the smug commenter said. The thing is though, she may have had a long way to go, but she kept on walking.

Walking is a theme that we see many times in the Bible. The Israelites walked in the wilderness for years to get to the Promised Land. It had to have been so incredibly hard and they lost faith so many times, but they had to just keep walking. 

The Nature of Handmade Consumerism

I was reading a post on a mommy blog the other day (because someone on FB had posted it, no kids here) about a woman who was trying to lavish her children with time and values instead of material possessions.  She listed off the "it" items that she would not be buying her children and one of them was "Etsy dress."  While her intentions are fantastic, it made me a little sad.  Despite the fact that Etsy has become saturated with mass produced crap lately, it's still a platform where lots of small businesses are hustling everyday, selling their handmade goods that they put their heart and soul into, and generally trying to make their dreams come true.  

Some Thoughts on Life Right Now

(Disclaimer: I don't often write super personal posts like this about my feelings, my dreams, and my insecurities.  Please be kind.)

In many, many ways, I am so lucky. I have a family who supports me in any crazy thing I do, an amazing guy who loves me and accepts me for all my wackiness, a faith that has gotten me through so much, a house that may be tiny but is safe and comfortable and cute and all mine, a car that works, and a job. I have more than most people on this planet can ever hope to have. I am fully aware of this and eternally grateful. Nevertheless, I constantly feel as if I'm wasting my life, wasting my younger years, wasting whatever talent I may have, wasting a degree that both my family and I sacrificed so much for me to able to get.

I have dreams and things I want to do and visions for how I want my life to be, but I feel like I haven't figured out how to make it happen yet.  I'm constantly plugging away: writing, working, creating, applying for opportunities, but the breaks seem few and far between.  A lot of times, I feel too old, like I missed the boat and there's no way to get on it.

A few months back, I commented on a post by Grease + Glamour about people who won't give up on their dreams.  She took the time to respond to my comment and in many ways, her response has been the fuel to my fire to keep going, to not give up, to keep trying to do this....