Managing Negative Emotions: Some Tips

October 26, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

I am a deep feeler––of happiness, as well as loneliness, regret, and fear. My effectiveness in dealing with the negative emotions has been mixed over the years, but I’ve recently gained some clarity about this area that I would like to pass on. This list is by no means exhaustive. But I hope it may […]

Teaching Moments: When Everyone Decides to Go Cray

October 21, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

Sometimes I think teaching has literally made me insane. Or perhaps I was simply insane to decide to teach in the first place. Sometimes my students are great. Everyone comes on time with their books prepared and pencils sharpened, having gone to the bathroom and drunk a satisfactory amount of water. Whatever candy or toys […]

Learning to Let My Heart Break

October 13, 2017.Reading time 9 minutes.

Feeling Lost Recently, my heart has been breaking a lot, and it hasn’t felt great. In fact, at times I wondered if something were seriously wrong with me. Unable to shake a heaviness that didn’t seem to match my circumstances, I finally asked God what was wrong. “Why do I keep having bad dreams, God? […]

The Boldness to be Me

September 22, 2017.Reading time 7 minutes.

Life Purpose I used to think of my life purpose as a job. It was my job to be Christ to the world. It was my job to support, encourage, comfort, and edify those around me. But God didn’t create me to do a job, He created me to be a person––a unique individual that […]

Unresolved Conflict – Living in South Korea

September 8, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Imminent Danger Yesterday, a group of students announced to me that North Korea was going to bomb us the day after tomorrow. “According to who?” I asked. But they were all chattering at me and each other in Korean a million miles a minute, and I was struggling to catch up. “At school, our teacher said!” […]

The Strength to Persevere

September 1, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged, but after a two-week trip to the States, a move to a new apartment, and a pretty major hair cut.. I’m back! New Beginnings Right in line with my Year of New Beginnings, I moved into a new apartment last week! Woohoo! It’s an amazing home with a lot […]

Self-Affirmation

July 28, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

I’ve taken to calling myself a rock star on a regular basis. Not out loud or anything, just silently, to myself. It’s by far one of the best lifestyle changes I’ve made this year. A couple months ago, my counselor suggested I work on affirming myself more. (By the way, I think receiving counseling is […]

Some Lessons From the Middle of the Process

July 19, 2017.Reading time 9 minutes.

I haven’t been blogging much the past month, because I’ve been doing a lot of personal processing. A lot. My thoughts, beliefs, hopes, fears, insights, and regrets have all been tangled together like a giant knot that is slowly getting loosened. And from that mess, I didn’t feel I had anything to share. I’m still […]