Life & Culture

Foreword: One of fellow #gritandgracelife contributors recently wrote an article about why it is important to share your story. My 20s helped shape me into the woman I am now–a woman I am proud of, although I took some tumbles and falls and made hard choices to get here. So with that said, I’m sharing 10 lessons I learned in my 20s… Age 20: You can “go your own way…” As an undergraduate in my junior year at Appalachian State University, I was catapulted into my twenties with a new fervor for life. The first few years of my college experience gifted me many life-shaping experiences that helped mold me into the adult I was becoming. The road was a little messier than I had

Apps are a daily, often hourly, part of our lives. We all have a bunch on our phones and tablets that we rarely (or never) use, but there are some that we just can’t live without. Here are seven of mine: Netflix: Did you know you could download and stream Netflix episodes and movies off line? It’s a game changer! Simply download the app, log in with your credentials, and search for the series you’re binging. Maybe this is a bad thing that we’re enabling our addictions… but maybe this is a great thing for me on the elliptical. 45 minutes on the elliptical sounds like death but an episode of Blacklist on the elliptical… best of both worlds. VSCO: I know

You’ve finally landed your dream job, adopted that foster child you knew was meant to be yours, moved to the big city leaving the small town behind, or finally made your way into the college of your choice. Plan A has been achieved and all is well. Or maybe not… The thing in life about Plan A, if you’re so fortunate to find it, is that it does not answer all of life’s woes. There is very little in life that lives up to our expectations. Yes, I had to say that… Now, before you jump off that proverbial bridge of defeat realize this: whatever follows the failure of Plan A can often become so much better than what you had hoped for in the

My heart continues to hurt because of the weeks we recently suffered; for the loss of life—all lives. I have never understood the lens that views humanity and focuses on our differences. Why do some individuals want to divide us, to pit us against one another? I don’t understand any of it today. I know we are unique; our life experience defines much of who we are and how we think… Yet I believe that creates an opportunity for us to offer a wonderful, rich perspective to one another. Yes, we do live in neighborhoods that are different from one another, with cultures uniquely our own, but in the uniqueness of our worlds there is a true treasure to be shared. What I do not believe is that

A Chick-Fil-A commercial caught my eye the other day. The company is advertising chicken for breakfast. Now I’m not here to talk about chicken vs. sausage but the ad left an impression on me. I’ll paint the scene: there was a man in some kind of trench in the middle of an office and a woman above him. The woman yelled down to the man and told him he was in a rut, to which the man replied, “no, I’m in a groove.” I can’t get this 30-second image out of my head because I’ve been that man. A few months ago I found myself bored and uninterested. I couldn’t muster up the passion to exercise, create, or socialize. But there was

I am so very weary of the notion that the sure sign of a strong woman is that she is angry with men. Outspoken or implied, this utter nonsense is everywhere. I’m not saying I’m not angry with some men. Those who think faithfulness is selective, the men who have their tail ends glued to the sofa while constantly playing video games, or the men who make promises they optionally keep … I can be really angry with those guys. But I am certainly not angry just because they have a Y chromosome that makes them what they are: men. Men really are pretty great! A few days ago I was in the grocery store parking lot searching my purse for my keys when