EXPLORE FINDING HOPE IN CHANGING SEASONS
If you’ve struggled with chronic pain, mental health challenges, and/or burnout, you may relate to the poems shared in this book. Using poetry, this book explores ways I’ve learned to care for myself and cling to hope as I navigated new and changing seasons of life.
Following a medical leave and health issues which eventually led me to take a break from my career in social work and return to food service at a local café, I found myself confused and struggling with various emotions. However, through this difficult season, I began to rediscover things that brought me joy and helped me to appreciate being alive: Writing. Rescuing a dog. Spending time outdoors. Consistent fresh air and exercise. Intentionality in friendships. Quiet moments of stillness. In this book I share reflections on my struggles, ways I learned to care for myself, and how I found hope even in this new season. I hope it encourages you in whatever season you may find yourself. |
EXPLORE SLOW YOUR PACE, HOPE A LITTLE LONGERThis book holds a compilation of poems, chosen with the purpose of connecting and sharing hope with others, while simultaneously showing that it is okay to sit with the darkness the pain, and the questions. It is important to voice one's honest thoughts, sharing them with others who may be feeling the same way, yet too afraid to speak, it aloud.
The poems are authentic - many of them written on the spur of a moment- relating to a circumstance either I or a loved one was currently facing. Written in the middle of the woods, written in bed curled up in a blanket, written over a cup of coffee, written in a doctor's office waiting room, written through tears, through pain, through joy, scribbled on a napkin, or typed on a laptop - each poem has a story. As you read, I hope that you will connect with at least a few of these poems and allow them to remind you: Though your story is unique, you are not alone. You are not the only one who feels this way. You matter, and your thoughts are worth hearing, too. |