ordinarily extraordinary

“Life goes on, it gets so heavy; the wheel breaks the butterfly, every tear a waterfall. In the night, the stormy night, she'll close her eyes. In the night, the stormy night, away she'd fly and dream of paradise…” -Paradise, Coldplay I had one of the best summers of my life this year. Now, I’m in college, so you might think that I had some awesome internship in DC. Or that I did a mission trip in Central America. Or went backpacking across Europe. Or went to Disney World. But no. I did none of these things. I did things for the good of my own mental health. I did things that I wanted to do. I did things that made me happy. This summer, I lived. Just lived. Less than two weeks after my classes ended, my two best friends, Lorene and Katherine, and I went to Virginia Beach for the weekend; something we had been talking about doing since we were sophomores in high school. We left bright and early Friday morning, and lounged around on the sand for 2 days straight. We

"When you find yourself in some far off place, and it causes you to rethink some things, you start to sense that slowly you’re becoming someone else. That’s when you find yourself.” –Brad Paisley, Find Yourself  The craziest things I have ever done were piercing my cartilage and dyeing my hair pink. Within the same month. I remember coming home from my friends house and showing my mom the pink in my hair. It was almost midnight, but she looked as if she were going to call my hairdresser and have her chop it all off. The next day, my friends and family were saying how this just didn’t seem like something I would do, that it didn’t fit my “personality”. And to that I wondered: which personality are they referring to? Girls have multiple personalities. We have personalities that depend on what we’re wearing. We have personalities that depend on our emotions. We have personalities that depend on our dreams. We have personalities that depend on who we want to be. One secon

“Go on and try to tear me down, I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper.” –Demi Lovato, Skyscraper You know what’s scary? Monsters. When we were kids, we were afraid of them jumping out at us from our closets or under our beds. There was even a movie made about it! As we got older, we discovered that there were no such things as monsters that would come after us and eat us in our sleep. Instead, we discovered monsters that live inside our heads. There’s the Busy Monster, the one who keeps you up at night, going through lists of things you have to get done. There’s the Loneliness Monster, the one who convinces you that you’re alone in life and can’t depend on anyone. There’s the Not Good Enough Monster, the one who tells you that no matter how much you do, no matter how hard you work, no matter how good your heart is, you will never be good enough. He’s my least favorite monster. He has a name, too. It’s ED. Now, ED and I now each other pretty well. I heard about him

“I forgive you, I forgive me. Now when do I start to feel again?” –Kelly Clarkson, I Forgive You  Heartbreak is the worst form of pain. You can experience heartbreak from a lover, a friend, a family member, even a stranger. I have seen actors show this kind of pain (the best I’ve seen is Nina Dobrev in The Vampire Diaries when her character finally accepts that her brother is dead); it was hard to watch without tearing up. It’s even harder when I watch my friends cry over lost love or families that are falling apart. I have the gift of being able to connect with people in their times of sorrow and helping them cope, but the one thing I cannot do for them is forgive. It takes a strong person to forgive someone. To forgive their transgressions. To forgive the pain they inflicted. To forgive their fall from grace. To forgive over and over again. Matthew 18:21-22 says that we must forgive our Brothers and Sisters In Christ not seven times, but seventy times seven times. That’s 4

"They know just where I stand. It’s all a part of me, and that’s who I am…”  -Jessica Andrews, Who I Am My parents like to joke that it doesn't take much to amuse me. For once, I don’t disagree with them. I’m one of those people who finds humor in anything, whether it’s a joke my brother makes or a cat video. I’m one of those people who finds a reason to dance, whether it’s at a Zumba class or washing the dishes. I’m one of those people who see beauty in anything. I see beauty in nature because it is proof of God’s touch. I see beauty in the starry sky, in the shapes of the clouds, in the way water droplets rest on a rose, in the light that streams through the leaves. I see beauty in the women I surround myself with. I see beauty in the determination of my mom, in the calming presence of my favorite red-head, in the fun-sized energy of my future roommate, in the child-like joy of my oldest friend. I see beauty in the eyes of people when they talk about somethi