They say with age comes wisdom. Which is why we so often like to brag about the advice we’d give our younger selves. But lately, I’ve been wishing I could have lunch with my 22-year-old self not to lecture her, but to connect over shared concerns and longings. I think my 22-year-old self (let’s call...
I have a friend who is one of those rare people who can speak her mind without causing offense. Who can walk into a room full of friends as her authentic self, true to whatever mood she’s in, and be accepted. Whose hugs feel sincere, and whose wisdom you seek. She can call me on...
I was chatting with some friends the other day, and someone said something about how people get wiser as they get older. “Not necessarily.” I said. “You have to choose to get wiser.” They asked me to elaborate, so here’s what I mean . . . Unlike knowledge, which can be accumulated deliberately and systematically,...
Recently, I had two dreams back-to-back that both featured me eating gummy bears. This struck me as odd. I like gummy bears, but they’re not something I usually seek out. Being more the organic dark chocolate type, they’re not a candy that typically crosses my mind. I’ve always meant to get better at interpreting and...
I recently came across an exercise where you write a letter to your younger self. I chose to write to myself at age 15 when I was full of teenage angst and bursting with ambition and struggling to contain other emotions that felt like they could tear me apart. As soon as I started the...
I looked up a quote I heard the other day attributed to Frederick Buechner and this is what I found: “Vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” His words struck a chord given that I’ve been spending an enormous amount of time in this upside-down world of 2020 trying...
I’ve been listening to a series of interviews with legendary authors who were asked to share their life wisdom. I expected to be shaken to my core by their words of insight. After all, these are writers who have left us gasping at the beauty of their written words. Instead, I was shocked by how...
The first time I went to Europe on my high school senior trip, we visited five countries in 17 days. As a teen who’d spent most of my childhood dreaming about traveling the world, I was the first one off the bus to see the Parthenon, the Colosseum, the Louvre, Big Ben: postcards come to...
When my daughter was in college, we took her and her childhood friend to lunch. At the end of the meal, we grabbed the check. Her friend offered to pay for his food, but we told him not to worry about it. We knew his funds were low. He said he didn’t feel right about...
It’s that time of year again. Time to set my New Year’s goals and resolutions. Time to settle on my 2018 business plan. Time to think about changes I need to make and things I need to do better. Time to get serious about some very serious goals. If I buckle down, I can: Finish...