Crafting a Life of Love Story

I graduated from college in May of 2021.

While my friends celebrated in Boston, I celebrated with my family at home in California.

Struggling with anxiety and physical health challenges, I began to feel stuck, isolated, and searching for ways to live out my purpose.

Have you ever felt like that? 

I knew I was loved but many days it felt difficult to believe this.

I knew there was hope and beauty around me, but it felt like they were just out of my reach.

I learned about pain- in the lives of loved ones and strangers- and felt helpless to offer hope or healing.

I wanted a life full of love. And I wanted to make a beautiful impact in the lives of those around me: family, friends, strangers -- near and far.

But it's often so hard to follow the cord from longing to love.

And to walk the winding road from desire to impact.

So, I decided to turn to design.

I decided to begin designing my life for creative love and impact.

And as I wrote about my journey, I created the 'crafting' analogy. Because it gave me permission to look to the lives of other 'crafters' for inspiration, to make mistakes, and learn more about life and love and myself in the process.​

I started small. I started with one act of love and one person at a time.

And as I was crafting my life, I learned some qualities that were important to me about the practices I was creating for myself to try: 

Simple,

Sustainable,

Joyful,

Creative.

Some were solitary...

and others allowed me to invite friends into my excitement.

Slowly, with some setbacks along the way, I began to feel more connection, meaning, and hope. Through small exchanges with strangers, through surprising hope as I woke up in the morning, through recognition of love in films and books and from families I passed on the street. In gratitude as I fell asleep remembering the love I saw that day. In moments of inspiration as I assembled small gifts to send friends in the mail, sent with love from one coast to another.​

It was all the 'I love you's' to my family members.

And short text exchanges with friends.

It was reading and listening to stories that taught me more about love.

​And discovering how to incorporate small reminders into my day of the love that surrounded me.

​Little by little, through crafting and exploring and picking up the broken clay when it was splattered on the ground, I began to rediscover purpose. I woke up to the possibility of offering others hope. And I experienced the love that felt so out of reach before.

But I don't think the story ends there. When we find something beautiful, we want to share it with others. So that's what I am doing.

​One of the most beautiful learnings I have discovered is that each of us has unique gifts that we can use to share love and purposefully impact the lives of people around us.

​I created this online space to encourage anyone who may be feeling like I felt. Longing for a deeper sense of love and purpose. But feeling a little lost about where to begin.

​My hope is that we can learn from each other as we are crafting our lives to become more full of what matters and less hindered by so much that doesn't.

​I want you to feel empowered and equipped to use your unique gifts to share love with the people in your life. To begin shining your light into specific places of darkness that you care so deeply about. And to embrace each day as an opportunity to cultivate, design, and learn in this beautiful life of love.

​Let's begin!