Spread the Good: Three sisters embracing the human experience, ups and downs included, inviting others to join the celebration.
SamanthaHey y’all!
I’m Samantha, the oldest—and the wisest :)—of the sisters. I have been married for 9 years this September and have two children; Charlotte (5) and Finn (3). And can I just say that parenthood is the biggest (and most terrifying) adventure I’ve ever been on!?! Seriously, my most wonderful, stressful, horrific, hilarious, emotional, and touching moments have been with my kids. They're like little emotion-eliciting creatures that can suck the life out of you one minute, and melt your heart with an “I love you mommy!” the next minute. (Can I get an Amen?!”) My husband, Aaron, and I met in college, and despite my best effort to dissuade him he decided to go to medical school and is now beginning his intern year of residency in central Texas. Our life together has been an inescapable continuation of “the building years”. Yeah, you know those years that you think are going to fly by because you’re young and in love and you're just living on more hope than money? Guess what! They NEVER end! I’m pretty sure it’s just a nice cliche that older people say to you to sound nice, and then when you leave they snicker and say “hehe can you believe they actually still think that one day it’ll be easy?!?!?!” If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, life is not easy. It isn’t meant to be. It’s about FINDING the JOY in the day to day, and using it to fill your canteen for when the joy can’t be seen. I have always been interested in health and have a bachelors degree in public health, a masters degree in health education, and am currently certifying as a childbirth educator. (I guess that’s why I ended up marrying a pre-med guy. He was the only person who found my vocabulary of medical terminology attractive.) To me, in order to thrive you have to be whole mentally and physically. This is what I love about health; and particularly health education. It’s an opportunity to provide someone with the skills to be whole so that they can thrive. Throughout my life—as is the case for most, if not all, people—there have been countless challenges, failures, and disappointments many of which came to a head when my son was about 9 months old and I went into a deep depression. During this time I had to rediscover who I was, what was important to me, and how I wanted to learn from the experience and move forward. Sometimes it’s difficult to SPREAD good when you can’t even see or feel it around you. Over the past 2 years as I have sought help, made changes, and continued to reevaluate, I have made it a mission to SEEK the GOOD, and to FIND JOY so that on the rainy days my canteen is full. But seeking to fill the canteen is how I aim to be whole. But to THRIVE, I look for ways to SPREAD THE GOOD. When I consider what my objectives are for this blog they would be: 1. to help you laugh. Life is just ridiculously comical, and it’s way better to laugh than to cry! And sometimes it’s just awesome to see another woman dealing with the same everyday crap, right? 2. to normalize that we all struggle. When I was 17 I was starting a new school, and was terrified. My mom gave some great advice when she said, “Sam, I know you’re nervous, but guess what! All of those girls poop just like you!” For the first time I realized that it didn’t matter who you were in life, you had to deal with nasty stuff. 3. to help you to recognize the good in the day to day, (I promise, it’s out there!) to fill your canteen, and once you’re full pay it forward and SPREAD THE GOOD! |
MollyWell Hello! Come on in and kick off your shoes. Let me put on some Chamomile tea (and a bra), and we’ll go sit on the veranda and talk about happy things while the hummingbirds feed above us and the flowers bloom beneath us. Then we’ll go barefoot through the grass while the kids run through the sprinklers squealing and laughing. We’ll breathe in the fresh cool air and talk about plans, dreams, and ideas. Once the kids go down for their naps we’ll go work in the garden a bit for some dirt therapy, then a lunch of fresh bruschetta, artisan bread, and grilled chicken. But come 5 o’clock, you’ll have to head out so I can get sufficient snuggle time with Aaron and family time with the girls. But feel free to come back tomorrow! Ahhh what a lovely day…
Well i’m Molly, the middle of this three ringed circus, and what a party it is with these two wonderful sisters! I am a visionary, essentialist, and dedicated advocate of perspectivism. I love learning and have way too much I enjoy to accept there are only 24 hours in a day. My husband Aaron and I were married in 2011 and have two precious daughters, Stella and Liza. Together we have experienced the challenges of severe anxiety, student life, financial stresses, babies that believe sleep is overrated, death of loved ones, and many other jarring times that are all part of the human experience. But within each of these moments a peaceful echo always resounded that good still prevails. Night always gives way to day, death to life, and loss to love. Sharing my life with Aaron has been the greatest joy of my life. So, spreading the good...this is how I plan to use who I am to do it! Vision - One of my strongest beliefs is that vision drives life. And the more clear and defined your vision is, the more easily you will see it come to fruition. I believe lasting confidence comes from creating a vision based on your personal convictions and then working to see it through with faith that all power and element will combine to assist you in your task. So let’s create a vision! Let’s use our experiences to tailor it to each of us individually and then let’s develop the confidence in ourselves and others to see it through! Essentialism - The world is never muted and ever screaming with voices telling you what you should do, be, believe, think, and want. And heaven forbid you can’t do it ALL simultaneously! Well… you can’t, plain and simple. I’ve had to learn that the hard way sometimes :) But there is hope in essentialism! When we focus on quality not quantity, being productive not being busy, and only spending time on what is essential to our happiness, we find that 24 hours really is enough to be and do what we deeply want. So let’s explore and discover how to sift through the stones to find that gems of what is essential to each of us. Perspectivism - From my experience, I have found that happiness is more often found in changing perspective rather than changing circumstances. A shift in perspective can change an irritating toddler into a precious gift, a self-defeating thought into a confidence building epiphane, ambivalence into compassion, and monotony into excitement. Matte painted glass is always shiny on the inside. So let’s share different perspectives to help us discover the beauty in each day and each moment. The inspiration for this blog emerged from a desire to bring more positivity into our lives and other people’s too. But it’s not just a statement, it’s an invitation. We’ll start the ripples, but it’s up to you to turn them into waves, and we can do it together! Each of you has something to offer. There’s no need to offer more than you can, simply offer what you have to give and collectively we will fill the gaps. I hope this blog not only entertains but engages, enlightens, and enthuses. I hope it brings a measure of fulfillment to your life and that you share it with others. Let’s Go Spread the Good! Oh. And you should know I love my garden. Like I REALLY love my garden. |
EmmaLast but not least...Hi! I'm Emma, the youngest of the three gals and I’m wordy. Fact. So I’ll try to keep this relatively short or at least meaningful all the way through. I have something called a propensity for random association. That essentially means that I often have abstract thoughts and correlations that are justified by having just told you it’s part of my brain. You’ll often notice this in my writing. Onward.
I studied Communication in college. Many courses reiterated a basic idea: sometimes when someone’s talking, you just need them to spell it out plain and simple. PLAIN AND SIMPLE TRUTH: Life is hard. (Notice the little dot to the left. It means this point cannot be disputed.) But it’s a whole lot easier with a positive attitude. People are like sponges. We soak up what’s around us. If we want to be positive, we have to surround ourselves with positive things: relationships, media, hobbies, food, jobs, and...other people. There are positive and negative versions to each of these things. It’s up to you to decide what is positive. It helps me to think, “how does this make me feel?” If it isn’t a positive feeling, I do what I can to improve it or regulate it. Sometimes that means letting it go altogether. Once we are positive, we can help others be positive too. See how that works? #gospreadthegood Have you ever heard of the story of the three little pigs? I'd like to compare myself to the third (while in no way insinuating my sisters are the other two). My life's goal is to become a space where others find solace and refuge. Life is too short to spend lonely and drifting, feelings I know all too well. People are cool and knowing them is my privilege. There isn’t a single person on the planet that if you sat with long enough you wouldn’t have something in common with, and there is always something more to learn if we keep our ears open to them. I’ve been married for awhile now and it is bliss. (By bliss I don’t mean it’s totally easy because let’s get real, we are both VERY human.) I’ve often told him he is my battery pack. I like to do things, especially when it’s with other people so I go, go, go, go and then wonder why I feel exhausted. He’s always there to help me recharge with his words and time. He has taught me more about unconditional love than every human being I’ve ever met put together. It blows my mind to have someone that knows me that personally and loves me anyway. My hubby and I married in March of 2014. Wow, I feel old. Is 23 the new 80? Just before and after I experienced a string of emotionally and mentally hard things that lead to a serious bout of anxiety and a touch of depression. I’ve never experienced a more isolated feeling than the overwhelming cloud of dark meddling with my thoughts, accompanied by hyperventilating. I can so relate with Sadness and Fear from Disney Pixar’s Inside Out. With that in mind I really appreciate that movies end. Every emotion is a precursor to the next. Though this went on intensely for about a year and then some, I discovered something through it all: people care. And God does too. Believe it. Before, I was convinced I could get through life on my own and if I made good choices I wouldn’t struggle. That was incorrect. You can’t avoid hard things any more than you can change the weather. But you can realize that although sunshine feels good on your skin; rain waters the plants, the moon dispels darkness, and the biggest relief efforts come after natural disasters. There is always good, if only we take the time to see it. So once we do, why not spread it? With the support of my loving and ever patient husband, family and a reconstructed idea of God I’m able to wake up (almost) daily with new purpose and desire to not only live, but live well, and spread the goodness of life to those around me. Jordan (my hubby) and I welcomed our first child to earth last year. Noah is our joy. How he undergoes endless change optimistically (except for teething) is inspiring and I’m constantly in awe over how he grows. I want to be more like him. If time is our most precious commodity I want to fill it with meaningful things, and what matters more than knowledge, creation and people? I’m a creative at heart. When I’m not spending time with my favorite little guy, I’m often found playing guitar or writing: be it songs, poetry, books (I’m writing my first novel!), etc. And reading. I like that too. I’ve recently become interested in the topic of mindfulness and love. Try Bob Goff’s Love Does or The Book of Joy. Well that’s my life in a nutshell: endless thoughts, challenges, baby cuddles, hubby and many worn down pencils, taking it one day at a time. And ya know what? I love it. Spread the Good. |