life – Laura Hillkirk

Resilience, the trophy no one wants

My parents divorced when I was 5. I vividly remember the day my Dad left. After the divorce my Dad will start to walk away from his children entirely. People say oh kids are resilient, they adjust. I mean they do adjust but isn’t that just survival? We adjust because we have to in order…
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Facing my fears one deep breath at a time

As a child I always felt different. I never felt anyone understood certain parts of who I was. Those things would remain hidden and ignored for many years. I had a very strong sense of who people were. I can remember meeting people, even complete strangers and getting an immediate good or bad feeling. The…
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The intense love of Motherhood

When you become a mother everyone is quick to tell you all the perfect sitcom versions of what motherhood will be like. The love you’ll feel, the joy they bring to your life. They tend to tell you some sugar coated version of what motherhood actually feels like. Now my kids do bring me joy…
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Chasing down the perfection of tomorrow

I feel like we are programmed to live in the future. I don’t mean some sci-fi time travel to some future life. I’m talking about instead on being mindful and present our focus is often on the future. What about tomorrow? What do I have to get done next week? What if this thing could…
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Get lost in gratitude

Have you ever become lost in thoughts of gratitude? I’m not talking just acknowledging the things you feel grateful for then moving on. Those pauses are nessesary and equally wonderful but I’m talking much deeper gratitude. The kind that gets you lost in your thoughts. This has been happening to me much more often. It’s…
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Make your own rules

Women are led to believe they must do it all and well. That if you drop the ball in any area you’re a failure. You are expected to juggle all of your hats with a smile on your face. Heaven forbid you get emotional about something then you’re labeled a crazy bitch. Hide all of…
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Panic with a side of insomnia and broken heart.

I wrote the following words on June 15, 2015. I was suffering from a broken heart and insomnia. My best friend had just cut her family vacation short, a vacation we both knew would be her last one ever. She was in Cleveland clinic awaiting some relief. She was losing her fight with breast cancer.…
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Beauty is in the ordinary

The simple and ordinary parts of life are the most beautiful. Sure we can have big grand moments, and they produce a fun memory or joy in the moment. But I think my fondest memories have the simplest backdrops and have even less frills. I get a huge laugh to this day when I think…
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Category: life