You Should Read These Things.

Every now and then, I come across articles or posts that I really just want to make all my friends read. Here are three of them from the last few weeks that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, so I wanted to pass them along!

Anxiety Makes Me Want To Apologize For Absolutely Everything. This article depicts anxiety in one of the most correct and clear ways I’ve ever seen. If you love someone who struggles with anxiety and maybe you don’t understand why or how or when it’s such a big deal, I’d really encourage you to read this.

“Anxiety plants these black seeds of doubt in my mind making me question everyone and everything. It makes me doubt really good people because anxiety tells me they aren’t. Anxiety tells me, “you should wonder if they are lying?” Anxiety tells me, “you’ve done something wrong.” Anxiety is what makes me question my self-worth, not people. Anxiety makes up these scenarios in my head and I have no choice but to follow the destructive path it will lead me down.

Next thing I know, I’m apologizing for something that didn’t even cross someone’s mind but my overanalytical skills think it’s something. . .

. . .Anxiety creates solutions to things that aren’t even problems anywhere other than in my head.”

When Treasured Things Are Dead. It is not an exaggeration to say that I sobbed when reading this. While it deals with being on the wrong side of religion and experiencing betrayal and hate from fellow Christians who she thought would always have her back, I think there’s something in it that we can all relate to. Because there is truly something that dies when you look at a treasured friend and think, “I thought I could trust you with my life and now I cannot.” May we read this and remember to love, always love, no matter what differences of opinions we have. 

“This year, I deeply experienced being on the wrong side of religion, and it was soul-crushing. I suffered the rejection, the fury, the distancing, the punishment, and sometimes worst of all, the silence. I experienced betrayal from people I thought loved us. I felt the cold winds of disapproval and the devastating sting of gossip. I received mocking group texts about me, accidentally sent to me; “Oh, we were just laughing WITH you!” they said upon discovery, an empty, fake, cowardly response. It was a tsunami of terror. One hundred things died. Some of them are still dead. Some are struggling for life but I don’t know if they will make it.”

Green Ain’t Your Color. My friend Lindsay wrote this post this week and it was both a breath of fresh air and a punch of conviction. I’ll be the first to admit that I needed to read this. It was a great reminder that petty jealousy isn’t healthy or helpful. Let’s do better. 

“And remember that if someone else is living your dream, it doesn’t mean you can’t get it, too. There can be more than one full-time blogger. There can be more than one dream home, more than one good man (or woman), more than one degree, more than one weight loss, more than one dream job, more than one dream life. Just because it happens for someone faster doesn’t mean there’s none left for you. That’s a garbage way to live life. There’s room at the table for us all.”  

Have you read any articles worth passing along lately?