@bethvogt I was the little girl who loved to get lost in books. I loved fairy tales. The magic of them. No matter the dark forests to be traversed or dragons to be battled or evil queens to be outwitted, each story had a fantastical happy ending. The authors of those stories, with their imaginary characters and magical overcoming of …
Choosing not to Fix Our Struggles with Nice Thoughts
@bethvogt When I was a child and had trouble falling asleep because I’d had a bad dream, my mom would sit beside my bed and comfort me by telling me to think nice thoughts. I’d remember swimming in the lake in Vermont during a family vacation. Or winning the class spelling bee. Or playing outside in the rain with the …
How Do We Find Hope When Our Life Doesn’t Go According to Our Plan?
Has your life ever not gone according to your plans? Some of you are thinking, “Really, Beth? You’re asking me that?” Life rarely goes according to our plans. We all experienced the upheaval of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and we’re still affected by it just over a year later. The life we plan for ourselves gets derailed by all …
Choosing to Believe I’m not an Imposter
@bethvogt This was my friend Jenny’s text to me yesterday morning at 6:12 a.m.: In life, and perhaps you overcame this, who did you believe you had to be accepted and/or approved by? By the way, good morning. My reply: Oh my word! Do you want an alphabetical list? Jenny and I have conversations like this. All the time. Sometimes …
Choosing to Offer Ourselves Grace
@bethvogt Some days are going to be harder than others. Just typing that simple sentence made me feel a whole lot better. I’ve been slogging uphill against my expectations and emotions this past week. Looking back, I see reasons why the past seven days have been challenging – everything from anxiety before, during, and after some dental work, …
7 Quotes to Challenge Your Perspective on Life, Love, and Relationships (and a Giveaway)
@bethvogt As I considered possible topics for today’s blog post, I decided to indulge my love of quotes and create graphics for you to enjoy. You’ll find quotes from some of my favorite authors, including two of my writing mentors — waving at you, Rachel Hauck and Susan May Warren. What are some of your favorite quotes about life, …
Choosing to Wait for Hope When Grief Wrecks Our Hearts
For all our hopes this new year would be better than the previous 12 months, the first 27 days of 2021 are disappointing. Such an understatement, right? I texted with a good friend several days ago. Normal “how’s it going” stuff. And then a little while later these words appeared on my phone screen: got some really bad news. A …
Sometimes We Need to Take a Bye Week
I decided to take a bye week instead of posting a blog today. For those of you who aren’t sports fans, a bye week is a term used where each team — for example, a national football team — is scheduled to have one week near the middle of the season where they do not play a game. Today is …
Choosing to Keep the Lights Turned On
@bethvogt My family always packs away our Christmas decorations right after the new year. Only this year, we didn’t. My husband Rob suggested we keep our outside lights up until we no longer have to wear masks because of COVID-19. His recommendation includes the white lights on the evergreen tree in our front yard. It’s grown taller than we ever …
What Do We Do When Thanksgiving and Grief Collide?
@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 …