9 qualities that make a good friend | The Grit and Grace Project

4 Reasons Why Your Breast Cancer Diagnosis Should Not Rule Your Life

By Today's Collaborative Writer / Life & Culture

Anxiety, fear, anger, and depression – these are some of the many emotions you may experience after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Everyone copes differently with this diagnosis, and there’s no right or wrong way of coming to terms with it. But a significant aspect of handling this experience is to make sure that it does not end up handling you. Recognize these four reasons why your diagnosis does not own you. You’re asking the right questions Especially in the beginning, this path that you’re on is a scary one. Those first doctor’s visits after your diagnosis can be overwhelming, especially since you’re still processing the news. Now your doctor is telling you about your options, your prognosis, and the decisions you […]

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I Got My First Tattoo at 45, This Is Why

By Dr. Zoe / Life & Culture

I admit to having been slightly prejudiced against people with a lot of tattoos. Why mess up God’s masterpiece? When a woman with a completely tatted body crossed my path, I often wondered, is there some self-hating going on—masochism, rebellion? My mother’s words echoed through my brain, “If God wanted you to have holes in your body or pictures on your skin, he would have given them to you.” One thing I know for sure is that the older I get, the less I know and the more I learn. Over the years, I grew to kind of like the idea of a tattoo—some symbol of defiance or exclamation point on my body, saying, “Here I am and this is what I

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My Jersey Mom on Life And How to Throw a Punch

My Jersey Mom on How to Throw a Punch (in the Battles of Life)

By Meaghan Dawson / Life & Culture

My mom is a small woman. She’s always been. It’s not so much that she’s short—she’s actually taller than me—but more that she’s always been thin and slight, her bones seemingly the same as a bird’s. But what she lacks in stature, she makes up for in personality. See, my mom is from Jersey. Technically, we all know it’s New Jersey, right? But the truth is, there is a certain cachet to New Jersey that fits only when you say “Jersey.” It’s more fitting to the person, to the aura, than the formal version. And my mom is very Jersey. She’s tough. She’s got a fighter’s spirit. In some ways, it was difficult as a kid. My mom was quick to anger,

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10 Ways to Stay Focused When You Work From Home

By Sheena Jeffers / Life & Culture

You wake up, take an overindulgent stretch, rub the sleepy from your eyes, wiggle your toes. Flip on the coffee and take a luxurious look around. It’s time for work! When you work from home, there is a lengthy list of wonderful attributes and it can be equally challenging not to fall into the slump of crinkled sweatpants, unwashed hair, and endless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Working from home can be an empowering and more flexible situation that increases your creativity and lessens your stress, but how can you balance the productivity of a successful mission filled day with the call of the midday nap? 1. Set a schedule that works for you. This is one of the most wonderful perks

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Feeling Anxiety How to Snap Out of It and Live in the Moment

Feeling Anxious? How to Snap Out of It and Live in the Moment

By Ashley Johnson / Life & Culture

I recently read a great article about how anxiety can negatively affect our health, stress our immune systems, and actually cause us to become more susceptible to illness. While this is good information, it can also cause those who are anxious to feel even more anxious about their anxiety. Welcome to the mysterious world of living inside your head. Here’s the thing: cutting through the static of anxiety is not as simple as turning the station or flipping it off altogether. Trust me, if it were, I’m fairly certain the issue would no longer exist. Instead, anxiety disorders are affecting 40 million adults in the U.S.1 So, if you’re struggling in this crazy COVID season, here are 10 things that might help

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Ask Dr. Zoe – Should I Choose My Husband Over My Son?

By Dr. Zoe / Ask Dr. Zoe

‘Wench’ Asked: I have been married for 11 years to a man that appears to have narcissistic behavior. 5 years ago because my son was smoking pot, not at the house but away from the house my husband told me I had to choose between my son or him, I was told I needed to kick my son out who was still in high school. As a mother I couldn’t do that to my son. I was told then that I could get out and take my son with me. My husband cried the day I left and begged me to stay but it would be without my son. For 5 years we have continued to see each other and as far

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Are You Worried Your Prodigal Will Never Return?

By Darlene Brock / Faith

Motherhood is complicated, and there are parts of the journey that we are often reticent to share. One of the most agonizing may not be the experience of all moms, but in today’s culture it is of the large majority. This world is busy making truth into lies and lies into the truth which, time and again, leaves a mother watching as her child becomes someone she wishes they weren’t. She is helplessly regimented to the sidelines as they adopt a lifestyle she wishes they wouldn’t. Childhood rebellion comes as early as the toddler tantrum and peaks at the middle school personality shift, often leading to teen rebellion. But the most pronounced may not show itself until choices are made by your college

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This Is Why I Broke up With Facebook

By Joyell Nevins / Life & Culture

It started out so sweet. He promised connections with the young people I was working with, updates of friends who lived far away, and plenty of entertainment. He introduced me to a new realm of the online world (MySpace and I never really dated). It was fun, and he delivered on his promises. Or so I thought. Facebook, it turns out, was not the best boyfriend. Those promises came with a high cost of entry. Instead of pouring into my life, he became a massive vacuum, sucking my attention and wasting my time. Those youths I was working with grew older and moved on to whatever the “new” medium happened to be. The people who lived far away actually talked to or

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5 Tips for Mending Fences in Your Relationships

By Darlene Brock / Relationships

It’s a great time to mend fences. Not the ones in the back 40 of the ranch where very few of us currently live; I’m talking about the fences that are in need of repair between us. The damaged or broken relationships we all experience. Admittedly, there are relationships that are beyond repair, but most of the time that’s not the case. So ask yourself, do you really want to be 90 years old, comfortable in your lift chair, remembering a relationship you once had? Pondering the friend you lost because of anger over something you can no longer recall? The sibling rivalry you never outgrew? Or, the parent you walked away from? Probably not. So how do you manage this repair process before the knees give out

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Now Is the Time to Stop Wasting Your Talent

By Macea Whisettse / Faith

Do you have talent? Undoubtedly… undisputedly… undeniably… unconditionally… the answer is yes! The Lord says in Exodus 31:3, “and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills.” And just in case some may think He wasn’t talking to us in the present day, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Great news! The Bible is still relevant, and God created each of us with unique skills and abilities called talent. Each of us will have opportunity upon opportunity to use this

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