Thoughts by Hannah Michelle

Alternate title: 2019, you grackle (insult courtesy of Captain Holt) This has been one of the toughest years of my life.   At the start of the year, I had so much hope and felt like I was in a place I was meant to be. I had goals of improving my nutrition, but other than that, I felt good about where I was at in my life.   Then, my schedule at Midland didn’t really work out, and while I never felt like I truly belonged there, it was tough to change that plan and get off of what I felt was at least a reasonably normal path.   Then, my job fell apart and I began questioning if I ever want to work within a church, which I deeply feel like I am not made for now.   So now I am set with one semester left for a degree I already do not want at a college I only went to due to a job that broke my heart. Then the flood ravaged the town I live in, and even though it didn’t flood at my house, the heartache I saw in my old neighborhood was tough. Then, I...

One of my biggest rules for myself about writing has always been not to post anything I’ve written while angry.   Don’t tweet, don’t blog, don’t share.   Anger is not an emotion that should be dealt with publicly when at all possible, especially when you are my age and still have universities and potential careers looking at your social media.   So tonight I am writing from a place of conviction, knowing what I believe.   Another one of my major rules for myself is to always speak up when I see things that aren’t as they should be.   The past few months, I’ve let myself down in that regard. A few months ago, I left my job. While it is true that I was in a place where I physically needed to deal with my health, the reason my health was so bad in the first place was stress-related from my job.   I didn’t speak publicly on this at first, because I hate admitting someone hurt me when I know they do not care.   I don’t like sinking my...