Stop Trying to Be Perfect

I have a dangerous obsession with self-improvement. My go-to reading material is self-help books and articles that teach me how to eat better, pray better, feel better, and live better. I'm on a constant quest to be my best self, and while that's important for personal growth and achievement, it has never allowed me to…

You’re Not Wasting Your Best Years

I have a lot of existential crises--like, way too many. My most recent emotionally-charged mental breakdown was triggered when I saw the new sequel to "Mamma Mia!" this past weekend. I'm not even kidding. Mamma Mia, guys. In between jamming out to my all-time favorite ABBA songs (best feel-good music in the history of ever),…

Am I Made for Greatness?

I’ve always harbored this feeling deep in my soul that I was made to do something great with this life of mine. I have no idea what this "great thing" might be--heck, I have no idea what I want to eat for breakfast--but I can't shake this insatiable craving to make an impact. Eager to…

Finding God in the Silence

I am a person who gets bored easily--with clothes, coffee flavors, people & places, stages of my life. I leave rooms too soon when nothing interesting is happening instead of waiting out the quiet for a shared moment to emerge. I flip channels like a cheetah and throw half-read books back on the shelf without…

10 Female Saints for Your Feminist Heart

When I started CCD in the first grade, my mom gave me an illustrated book of the main saints of the Catholic Church, and it immediately became my favorite leisure read for years. I would spend hours sitting on my bedroom floor flipping through the pages, completely sucked into the gorgeous painted portraits and courageous…

How to Be Radiant

We all know "that girl"--the one we stalk on Instagram because she's always smiling in a field of sunflowers; the one we're desperate to meet up with for a life chat over coffee when our lives are feeling dull or complicated because she is wise and true; the one who lights up any room with…

Defying the Culture of Worthlessness

We live in a culture of constant comparison and superficiality in which our worth is defined by how beautiful, rich, or successful we are. The media has conditioned us to subconsciously objectify people we see in movies, on TV, on social media, and even in our everyday lives by reducing them to images for our…