Posts

Everything Rain

Image
Have you ever been caught in the midst of a thunderous storm? The rain pelting against the windowpanes, the wind howling like a symphony of chaos, and the darkness enveloping everything in its path. It’s overwhelming, isn’t it? Sometimes, our minds can feel just like that - loud, turbulent, and consumed by a torrential downpour of emotions.  Picture yourself in the shoes of Tiny Dragon from James Norbury’s “Big Panda and Tiny Dragon,” feeling lost in the midst of a storm raging inside your head. “My head feels like this storm sometimes,” you might say. The turbulence within can be paralyzing, stealing away our executive functions and leaving us feeling stranded amidst the tempest of our emotions.  In such moments, it’s as if the storm has taken over, leaving us frozen in its wake. The ability to regulate our emotions becomes a Herculean task, overshadowed by the thunderous roar of our racing thoughts and feels.  But just as Tiny Dragon found solace in Big Panda’s gentle w...

Small But Certain Happiness

Image
Life can get pretty busy sometimes, right? We're often swamped with things we have to do, leaving us little time to enjoy the good stuff. But every now and then, life reminds us to slow down and notice the happy moments all around us. It could be a song, watching the rain from your porch, or finding something that brings back good memories. I remember one of these moments not long ago. I had finished my errands and was heading back to my car, lost in my thoughts about all the stuff I still had to do. As I looked up, I saw an anime store nearby, something I'd seen before but never really paid attention to. This time, though, something caught my eye. A couple came out of the store, both looking super happy. They were holding a model kit, but it wasn't the kit that made me smile—it was how happy they looked. Their joy was infectious, and even though I didn't know them, I couldn't help but feel happy too. Their happiness made me think: what makes me that happy? What s...

Finding Hope

Image
Hey there, amazing readers! It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions for me lately as I dived into BTS’s “Wings” album, gearing up for his blog post. Life, however, had other plans for me with an unexpected family situation throwing me off course. But here I am, ready to share a little about the bumpy journey and the unexpected twist that helped me find hope in an unlikely place.  Ever been in a spot where a loved one is going through a rough patch, and your usual bag of comforting words just doesn’t seem to cut it? It’s like trying to mend a puzzle with missing pieces - challenging and sometimes downright frustrating. What’s even trickier is when it feels like your loved one is caught up in this tough cycle, and you find yourself powerless to break it.  For me, this recent situation hit differently. As someone who often turns to faith for hope, it was disheartening to realize that my own words of encouragement were falling short.  It’s like trying to use a band-aid on a bro...

Found Family

Image
The Christmas Eve before my 11th birthday, 4 of my siblings and I were visiting my father’s house like we had been doing since my parents’ divorce. After dinner, we sat on his living room floor while he and my step-mom distributed our gifts. My two older brothers were teasing me incessantly about liking this new “boy band" that they claimed wasn’t a band. I honestly knew very little about them at the time. I was so annoyed with my brothers and in an effort to get them to stop teasing me, I declared adamantly, as I unwrapped my gift, that I emphatically did not like the group and to let it go. Mid sentence, I look down and what did I find myself holding? None other than a cassette for the debut album of New Kids on the Block.  Photo: NKOTB debut album cover.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Block_%28album%29#/media/File:NKOTB_debut_album_cover.jpg (Derived from a scan of the album cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivale...