I'll be honest--I am prone to emotional (and writing) slumps. I absolutely thrive on connection and community, which has been a huge prayer in my life for quite a long time. Yet, there haven't been huge external changes in that area, and that often leads me to a dry schedule and an unfulfilled spirit.
Naturally, having a general idea of "the next thing" keeps dry spells at bay. College, events, concerts, career opportunities, relationships, parties, and trips are some of the beautiful things that make young adult life very sweet and very textured. So, without those things, it is horribly easy to fall into the kind of state that makes everything feel dull.
However, being prone to slumps due to circumstances does not have to mean being sentenced to them. So, in an effort to pull myself out of the last dull phase of my life, I began to do something I've done before, but in a new, better way.
1. I threw a million things at a wall and saw what stuck.
Sure, health is a limiting factor for me right now, so I may not get to do all the things I want to do every day. However, I'm working to broaden my horizons and find new things I like instead of searching to fulfill old pleasures I can no longer do.
Coaching at a tiny scale is something that fell into my lap. When I realized how much joy it brought me, I threw myself at it, and now I'm coaching in some capacity at least four days a week. It is tiring, but it is one of the most rewarding things I have done in such a long time. I'm spending more time with people, trying to encourage and impact younger women positively, and socializing a lot more.
Next, I've been spending more time with my parents. I am realizing now that I have the blessing of time with them that many people my age will not have again. While there is a natural drive for independence in my 20-year-old brain that can make me feel "allergic" to my parents at times (to borrow the excellent description I heard from a mother once), it is still a beautiful thing to be under their umbrella for a bit of extra time, should I choose to view it that way. Instead of wishing I had more time with peers, I've found great joy in accepting my circumstances and going out to run errands with my mom. Choosing an appropriate form of friendship with my parents has been lovely.
Finally, I've been trying to reach out to more people. I often forget that community does not need to look like a group of girls my age with similar interests. Instead, I'm grabbing lunch with one of my dad's clients soon--a lovely woman with horses and a flip phone. I'm writing to a girl a few years older than me going through similar health struggles. I'm watching someone's teeny tiny kitten while they're at work. I'm trying to ask better questions to the people around me. Essentially, I'm not waiting for community to find me anymore, understanding that I may not find it exactly, but that, this way, people may feel seen and loved through my endeavors.
Aforementioned teeny tiny kitten.
2. I'm sitting in gratitude (and keeping a 2nd brain so I remember it).
I had never heard the term before: a second brain. Podcasts and video essays are some of my favorite forms of entertainment, and in a recent watch of mine, a psychologist explained the importance of keeping a second brain, or a form of detailed note-taking. Lyme Disease has, in many ways, been hard on my memory and recall abilities, so I had already been a big fan of writing things down before I heard this, but afterward, it became more intentional.
Instead of just writing my grocery lists in an old black notebook, I began writing- not journaling- about lots of things with my favorite pen. Here are a few titles of ongoing pages and lists:
- Things I Would Like to Bake
- Coffee "Recipes" To Try
- Ideas for a Future Farm Stand (a dream of mine: no one bash this)
- Practice Plan (8/28/26)
- Traits of a Biblical Woman
- Supplements to Research
Additionally, I began to focus on two pages in particular: Things I am Loving and 300 Things to Pray For. The first of the two includes an appreciation for the little things that have made my life feel quite sweet recently. Learning how to do my own nails with gel, highlighting my Bible, and my favorite coffee shop (and the only one in town) being back open are a few notable entries.
Next, 300 Things to Pray For has served as an ongoing list for a few weeks now. Being intentional about writing down my prayers and truly setting them before the Lord has been on my heart lately, and I can see why in the ways this has made me open my eyes. Now, I do not believe this is a prescriptive practice, and I am doing this cautiously and acknowledging that God's goodness is not at all dependent on how our prayers are answered. However, for me, seeing God's fingerprints on my life and on the things my soul craves has been super neat, as well as seeking to talk to God more often. To bring Him everything, big or small. I've written 34 prayers as of currently, and I highlight answered prayers as they come. 300 was a random number, so I don't have much of an explanation on that front (sorry).
1. My niece to be born healthy and safely is highlighted first, with the date written beside the entry.
2. To make a new friend. Highlighted: August 2026.
3. Get the internship. Highlighted: August 26th, 2026.
The list goes on, as do the reminders of God's personal love for me.
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