Sometimes lately I find myself going about my evening, or morning, or lunch break, or weekend, and half-jokingly asking myself or someone else, “Who is this person, and where’s the real Kirsten??” And tonight it hit me that, this IS the real Kirsten. Or at least, more so than I’ve ever been before. This is almost the Kirsten I’ve worked so...
As I was logging in to post here just now, I started thinking about the word “satisfying,” and its meaning. Without going to an actual dictionary definition, I consider being “satisfied” as the feeling you get when you have a need or needs met. More than contentment, which I think of as the absence of strife, it alludes to a...
Two years ago, I brought my brother to two Portland Pirates games, two nights in a row. As it happened, the chorus and band from the middle school he’d just left when he came to live with me were performing the national anthem and America the Beautiful at those two games. Two years ago, I came as close as I...
Disclaimer: I don’t know anything at all about the inner financial workings of this or any other university, how and when they get paid by government and private loans, etc. This is from the perspective of a frustrated student-hopeful who is tired of receiving shrugs and sympathetic nods and business cards as I’m sent back to Go. It’s no wonder...
I’ve written so often about fear as the great controller, the strongest motivator, that reading The Four Agreements’s explanation of how we are conditioned by it from infancy makes me feel awash with gratitude for someone else’s words expressing this as a known fact, handed down through thousands of years of Toltec wisdom. Can these 130 pages also contain the...
I want to take a moment to thank each of several friends who have lovingly acknowledged that I have been silent here for a while. I’ve felt guilty about it at times, but have also had several reasons for not writing that I felt were justified, and I know I don’t need to explain them for you all to trust...
Jenny Lawson, perhaps better known as The Bloggess, shared a video last fall in which she states that depression lies. I had never heard it said that way before, and it really struck a chord for me. Even though she’s mainly addressing suicidal thoughts, which I’ve never struggled with, my battle is against stories my mind spins that are borne...
Don’t lie, this was the first thing that came to mind, right? And then this, right? …Okay, maybe that one is a couple stops down the line for most of you. It’s cool, I still love you. Unedited rambly shit below, PS. And I’m not gonna apologize, or edit. …well, maybe edit, but not tonight. For real though, a friend...
“If you’re reading this then, you’ve made it through Thanksgiving just fine.” This email from Richard made me laugh and laugh. I did indeed make it through Thanksgiving just fine, as I hope you all did, as well. Holidays, for me, have not always been the joyful events they’re intended to be, and honestly, I think many of us find ourselves...
I’m going to take a moment to pat myself on the back and not care too much if anyone thinks I’m an arrogant prick. I am a smart kid. I catch on quickly, I multitask like nobody’s business, and people like me. Genuinely like me. These are, apparently, super helpful things when one is starting a gig as a patient services representative...