Good Bones: Taking Inventory
We spend so much time focusing on what we've lost that we rarely stop to ask what survived. And once we find those pieces, another question quietly follows: Does this still belong? Episodes 6 and 7 explore the inventory we take after life's hardest seasons.
Healing Changed the Questions I Asked
Healing isn’t just about understanding your story. It’s about learning what is yours to carry and what isn’t. In this week’s Good Bones reflection, I explore the questions that transformed my understanding of grief, boundaries, and responsibility.
A Short Fuse
If you met Susie, one of the first things you might learn is that she is proud of her short fuse. She says it like a warning and a badge of honor. She does not let people push her around. She does not wait quietly when something is wrong. She speaks up, demands answers, and usually gets what she came for.
In some situations, that can look like a superpower. Susie gets the answer, the apology, the table moved, the bill corrected, the phone call returned, or the problem handled while everyone else is still deciding whether they should say something. But the same thing that gets Susie results also costs her.
10 Songs That Name Hidden Struggles
Sometimes a song says what has not been easy to say out loud. Before there are words for shame, exhaustion, loneliness, numbness, or identity loss, a familiar lyric may give shape to the feeling. Music is not counseling, and it is not a substitute for sitting with someone trained to help. But a song can help you notice what has been sitting quietly under the surface. These ten songs each point to a different kind of inner struggle, and sometimes recognition is where honesty begins.
Is This a Trigger or a Button?
That distinction matters because the response may not be the same. A button may call for perspective, a boundary, or a direct conversation. A trigger may call for curiosity, regulation, and deeper healing. Sometimes the answer is both.
Your Worth Is Not Up for Debate
Some of us learned early that love was conditional. Approval was conditional. Belonging was conditional. So we adapted. We became what the room needed. We learned to read faces. We learned to anticipate disappointment. We learned to perform.
And performance can look a lot like worth.
But worth is not a grade.
It is not a role.
It is not something someone can grant or revoke.
Worth is inherent.
