Our world is obsessed with “living your best life.” We gawk at outlandish influencers, celebrities, and models on Instagram. We obsess over capturing the perfect vacation snapshot. We strive to have more, do more, and make more. But is that what living your best life is all about? If we are not careful, we can…

Have you ever just pleaded with God, “Why?”  It’s hard to understand why things happen in life, especially when they feel completely out of our control. Why is my family facing illness? Why did my summer go so badly? Why did my entire future plan just fall apart in moments?  When bad stuff happens, we…

Elephants are scary strong. They can weigh in at 25,000 pounds and tower to fifteen feet tall. In the wild, they have been known to completely uproot trees using their tusks. They’re creatures with Thor-like strength that can break out of almost anything. So how do people keep them contained when they’re domesticated? Easy. A…

Have you ever had someone put you down? When I was in the 7th grade, my math teacher went on a rampage about how the entire class was going to end up homeless and helpless. What made her come to this conclusion? We had all failed a pop quiz on hyperbolas. Now, this is a…

Whenever I visit home, I always have same routine. I make the dull drive down Interstate 81, hug my mom, and then head straight to one of my favorite places on Earth. I drive across my small country town and pull into a crowded parking lot illuminated by a bright red sign. I walk in…

When I was a toddler, I used to slip on my dad’s work boots and shuffle around the house pretending to be him. I would try to talk and act like him while stumbling all over the place in boots the size of my entire leg. Most young kids want to be like their parents.…

One Tuesday morning, the alarm screamed on my nightstand. I smashed snooze three times before begrudgingly getting out of bed. I woke up after a solid eight hours of rest just to experience something awful. I was more tired than if I had just skipped sleep altogether. My head was pounding like a hammer. My…

“For me, I’m a creative genius. There’s no other way to word it.” This is a real quote from rapper-turned-expensive-shoe-designer Kanye West. Calling yourself a genius is certainly a stretch, but Kanye goes so much further than that. He tweets about sleeping on fur pillows. He has compared himself to Shakespeare. He bragged that his…

LET’S TALK ABOUT BOB ROSS. I love Bob Ross. You know the guy, right? He’s the celebrity painter that wears a denim shirt tucked into denim pants, rocks an afro, and talks with a voice as calm as a mountain stream. Whether you paint or not, you are likely one of the tens-of-millions of people…

There was a blockbuster move in the ‘90s called Twister. No, it’s not about the awkward board game. It was a feature-length movie about tornadoes! My family watched gleefully as cows got sucked up into the sky and cars got thrown around like frisbees. This birthed a weird passion in me— I was obsessed with…