What Do We Do When Thanksgiving and Grief Collide?

Beth VogtBeth K. Vogt, brokenness, challenges, choices, COVID-19, crisis, family, grace, grief, holidays, hope, Life, mental health, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, Reality, suffering 14 Comments

@bethvogt   Our Thanksgiving holiday is complicated this year. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. It is 2020, after all. A world-wide pandemic doesn’t take a day off so we can observe our annual holiday traditions. Some of us have already decked our halls with fa-la-la-la-la because we just need a little Christmas right now – not later. Then in …

Choosing to Believe Love Conquers COVID-19

Beth VogtBeth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, COVID-19, Faith, family, grief, hope, Life, Love, perspective, Quotes, Reality, Relationships 22 Comments

My 102-year-old mother-in-law was diagnosed with COVID-19 in October. Our family kept the news off social media, told some close friends, and prayed a lot. We also predicted that, in her typical determined fashion, she’d beat the virus. I’ve always said that if my mother-in-law was run over by a Mack truck, she’d stand up, brush herself off, and proclaim, …

Forget New Year’s Resolutions and Choose One Word to Focus on in 2021

Beth VogtBeth K. Vogt, change, choices, Faith, family, Friendship, goals, grace, hope, Life, New Year, One Word, perspective, Quotes, Relationships, Scripture 12 Comments

I abandoned the tradition of New Year’s resolutions 15 years ago. Instead, I select One Word to focus on. I always look forward to sharing my annual One Word with family and friends, as well as finding out what One Words others select for the coming year. For only the second time in all these years, I’m repeating a One …

Choosing to Reset Our Thoughts When We’re Anxious

Beth Vogtanxiety, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, courage, COVID-19, crisis, emotions, hope, Life, mental health, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, stress 10 Comments

@bethvogt I’m keeping today’s post straightforward. As I write these words, tallies are coming in for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. I have no idea what news tomorrow will bring — about the election or anything else I’m concerned about, for that matter. And I do have other things I’m worried about. I know a lot of people are anxious …

Choosing to Make Less Stress a Priority

Beth Vogtanxiety, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, change, choices, COVID-19, emotions, family, hope, Life, mental health, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, stress 14 Comments

@bethvogt I snapped a photo of a Good Housekeeping magazine article’s title – “15 No-Fail Stress Busters to Deal with This Year’s Chaos” – and texted it to my 3 daughters and one daughter-in-love. “I think I need every one on this list.” Ha Ha. They each responded with laughing emojis, but I’m certain they all felt the same way …

Choosing Not to be Afraid of the Dark

Beth Vogtanxiety, Beth K. Vogt, bravery, challenges, change, childhood, choices, courage, emotions, Faith, freedom, hope, Life, mental health, perseverance, perspective, Quotes 11 Comments

I was afraid of the dark when I was a child. Truth is, I was afraid of the dark when I was a 21-year-old newlywed. That was a bit of surprise to my husband. I had both real and imaginary reasons to be afraid of the dark.  Make believe monsters are scary enough. The real-life ones? Those are harder to …

Choosing to Return to the Beginnings of Your Dream

Beth VogtBeth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, creativity, dreams, goals, hope, Life, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, time, Writing 10 Comments

@bethvogt My goal was simple: Sort through a stack of papers that needed to be filed. I never expected to return to the beginnings of a dream. A white restaurant napkin scribbled on both sides with words written in black ink and protected by a plastic page protector was slipped among the workshop notes and conference brochures and book contracts …

Choosing Kindness Over Being Right When It Comes to Politics

Beth VogtBeth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, hope, kindness, Life, perspective, Quotes, Relationships, stress 8 Comments

@bethvogt People are talking about both of the who’s and all of the what ifs of the upcoming presidential election. I’m not going to be one of those people. Not here on this blog. Not on any social media platform. And very rarely with family and friends. There’s the oft-repeated saying, “Never talk about politics or religion in polite company.” …

Keeping the Conversation Going about Suicide

Beth Vogtanxiety, Beth K. Vogt, brokenness, challenges, choices, crisis, family, grief, Life, mental health, perspective, Quotes, Relationships, stress, suicide 11 Comments

@bethvogt This isn’t the blog post I’d originally written for today. Seven weeks have passed since my friend’s death by suicide. My sadness is sometimes a dull ache; at other times my heart breaks all over again. Last night I realized September is National Suicide Awareness Month, also known as Suicide Prevention Month. I couldn’t ignore the God-prompt to set …

Choosing to Ignore Others’ Negativity About You

Beth VogtBeth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, confidence, emotions, family, Friendship, Identity, Life, mental health, perspective, Quotes, Relationships 8 Comments

Have you ever been treated like someone’s personal fly paper? Not sure what I’m talking about? I can explain. Last week, my daughter, Christa, who is back at college, texted and said one of her friends wanted to “chat.” Anybody else see an instant red flag when a friend says, “Can we chat?” but gives no hint as to what …