Cassidy Peterson

I think it is human nature to compare ourselves to one another. We each do so differently, but we do do it. In our subconscious thoughts, we quickly evaluate everyone else as better or worse, popular or not, socially aware or weird, older or younger, smart or dumb, or mature or immature. I think we miss out on so many opportunities by relying on this evaluation to decide who we will welcome into our lives. This type of differentiation limits your life to such a narrow experience. When we...

When I was young, anytime that I would dislike something about myself that I thought was different, my mom would say, "no, I like it - it makes you unique". As a child, I thought those were lies from my mom to make me feel better. However, every year that I get older, her words become truer. Whether or not she meant to, my mother was training me to celebrate our differences all those years. She never hesitated to love every unique feature, whether or not others agreed and no matter what...

My grandma used to do this thing with all of her grandkids where we would go outside at night, onto her porch, and sit down with all the lights off. She lived out in the countryside in rural Illinois, so there was nothing and no one in sight. Then, my grandma would have us close our eyes and listen, . . . and we would keep sitting there, listening, me curled up in my grandma's robe, eyes closed, with her by my side, for a while. Eventually, we would break the silence by discussing what noises...