QUESTIONS OF CALLING
unearthing beauty, mining meaning, and seeking truth
This is a place for anyone who wants more, who is not content to be comfortable, who seeks a life of truth and meaning, not just happiness.
Here, we ask hard questions, tell true stories, and turn life inside out to unearth the ragged beauty within.
I’m honored to have you to join me.
Emotional Burnout: Protecting Your Mental Health as an Introvert and Mother
I’m just gonna say it: Recently, I’ve wondered if having a third child was a mistake.
It has nothing to do with the actual child: our youngest is as sweet and easy as you could hope for, full of toothless grins, adorable squeals, and delighted giggles.
Rather, my doubt has to do with feeling completely overwhelmed and burnt out by the constant stream of needs and emotions that demand my attention. Constant. Even when I’m at work or they’ve all gone to bed, their hypothetical future needs and past emotions are at the forefront of my psyche, buzzing like static, fraying my attention and swamping my heart. . .
8 Damaging Myths for Moms and Liberating Truths to Dispel Them (Part II)
(Myths 5-8)
Gretchen Rubin has shared Niels Bohr’s famous quote, “The opposite of a great truth is also true.” I think we can apply this in a slightly different way to say that the opposite of a great myth is also a myth. You cannot spend every waking moment caring for your children and also take care of yourself. You cannot simultaneously be the mom who gives up her career to stay home with her kids full-time and be the mom who follows her dreams while making a six-figure (or even five-figure) income.
If we allow ourselves to be caught between the opposing expectations of the Good Mom, we’ll always feel like we’re failing, no matter how great we’re actually doing. So it’s essential that we call these ideas what they are and shrug off their impossible burden, for only then can we be free to step into our own version of motherhood, to be the unique, imperfect, but deeply good mother that we were designed to be.
Cassie Hubert: Kindness, Grace, and Personal Space with a Family of Five + Baby under Lockdown
How do you connect to your own soul, when there is nowhere quiet and peaceful to go?
This is the question that Cassie is faced with when she finds herself stuck in a small apartment under lockdown with a new baby and three other children, two of them high-needs. The postpartum stage is hard enough under normal circumstances, but the Covid-19 pandemic has added another layer to the isolation and challenge of having a new baby. In this piece, Cassie reflects on what she learned about finding space for herself and keeping her sanity in those trying times.