I am going through a season of life where nothing is easy. Our culture celebrates productivity. We admire people who are busy, efficient, and constantly achieving. But, life has a way of reminding us that none of us controls the pace forever. Illness, aging, unexpected circumstances, or simply the twists and turns of life can change everything. Living with chronic pain has changed more than my daily routine. It has changed my expectations of myself. Acceptance has become one of the hardest...

Today I decided to do something I probably should have done a long time ago. I tried on every single garment I own. With the change in season, it felt like the right time to clean out my closet and really take stock of what still fits, what’s still in good repair, and what I actually still like wearing. Thankfully, I’m not much of a clothes horse, so this wasn’t the overwhelming all-day ordeal it could have been. Still, I was genuinely shocked by how many pieces I own that are still brand...

This winter has been a pain in the neck—literally. My trigeminal neuralgia has been flaring since the beginning of February, and today is the first truly pain-free day I’ve had since it began. That kind of pain takes up a lot of brain space, so I wasn’t able to dive into many of the quilting projects I had planned over the past couple of months. Instead, I leaned into some lower-effort, more manageable projects. One of those was pulling out my embroidery unit and stitching up a few mug rugs...