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Life

Be Bold In Your Love

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019 Crystal // Dreams, etc. Post a comment
Be Bold In Your Love

A few weeks ago I attended a ceremony at my nephew’s school and one of the teachers addressed the 8th-grade graduates. At that point, I had started to tune out some of the talking, but eventually she said something that caught my attention:

Be bold in your love.

She might have been talking about the things the graduates love to do, which… yes. Be bold in those things, too.

But my mind immediately went to the people in your life. Be bold in your love to the people in your life. Now, obviously, I don’t mean this in a creepy, harmful way. But we can be bold in a way that shows we care.

So often in conversations we’ll ask how someone we know is doing. “Have you talked to this person recently?” “Have you seen anything with them on social media?” “How are they doing?”

I don’t know why we do this. Why do we ask others for information we could find out ourselves? With so many people on social media, why can’t we hop on Facebook and find them? If they’re not posting, why can’t we reach out with a message to say, “Hi! It’s been awhile. How are you?”

Maybe it’s because we don’t want them to know we asked about them, in which case I have to ask again: why? If you don’t really care how they’re doing and you’re just being nosy, that’s not love. Don’t feel a need to be bold in your nosiness.

But if you thought of them because you genuinely care and you’d like to know how they’re doing, reach out to them if you can. If you’re friends on social media, send them a message to say hi. If you have a phone number, send them a text or call them. If you have a mailing address, send them a card. We don’t need to wait for Christmas to send mail.

Sometimes I wonder if what holds us back is fear. We’re afraid to reach out to them because… they might not respond back?

I mean, really. What’s the worst result that could happen? They might not respond. Chances are: they didn’t get your message. But if they did and they didn’t respond… So what? Your life will be exactly the same as it was before.

The biggest possibility is this: they will get your message and it will mean something to them. It will give them a little boost. It will let them know that someone thought about them, that someone cares. And you don’t know when someone needs to hear that message.

I work with churches and one thing that always comes up as a concern for the people they serve and the people in their communities is loneliness. People are experiencing loneliness at epidemic proportions. (Here’s a link to an article that one pastor sent out when the topic came up.)

And maybe it’s not even loneliness. Maybe it’s just a general sense of feeling like you haven’t been seen or that you’ve been left out. Maybe it’s a feeling of being… disconnected.

Outside of work, this feeling of being disconnected from others has come up in two conversations in the last month that come to mind right away. In one, a friend who’s good at keeping in touch with people said, “I often think if I stopped reaching out to others to see how long it would take them to get in touch with me, I’d be waiting a long time.”

In another, a friend and I were talking and I said, “Sometimes I think if I disappeared no one would notice until they needed something that I typically do.” And she said, “Yes, I know that feeling.”

If you’re bold in your love, you might reach out to someone and not receive a response. But if you’re bold in your love, you might let them know that someone cares. And that’s worth a lot.

How can you be bold in your love this week?

About Crystal

About Crystal

Hi! I'm Crystal, a millennial learning how to live slowly and sustainably, while still seeking adventure and following my dreams, etc.

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hi!

I'm Crystal, the storyteller behind Dreams, etc. I'm all about learning how to live slowly & sustainably, while also seeking adventure as we follow our dreams, etc.

If only we always remembered to be in touch with o If only we always remembered to be in touch with our loved ones regularly; to tell them that we love them.

This thought has been on my mind the last few weeks as I’ve been in touch with one of my best friends almost daily. They’ve been navigating a scary situation.

But that’s what everyone says, isn’t it? Reach out to those you love. Tell them you love them. Don’t let a lot of time pass.

We all know that. We think about it sometimes. We hear about it when others are in crisis. We’re thankful that we aren’t the ones in crisis and we can remember this lesson through someone else.

But eventually we get caught up in life. Our daily “I love you’s” are reserved for those we live with and sometimes we forget to text someone back… or it takes a few days to do so.

This week as I wondered why we don’t remember this more often I realized it’s probably a good thing. It’s a good thing that we can live life without worrying that tragedy is right around the corner. That would be an exhausting way to live.

It’s also good that we can get little reminders, sometimes not from our own life. So from someone who spent one week numb, another week weepy, and this week sad, remember to send your friends a text. Tell them you love them.
I took these in early January when the snow still I took these in early January when the snow still felt a bit magical, but right now I’m just ready to walk barefoot in grass.

When I was younger I used to imagine what it would be like if we got so much snow that it would be piled high above our doors. I wondered if we’d be able to create tunnels in the snow to move around in.

And this year might just be the year we find out. I’m kidding, of course, but at this point I feel like we’ve been buried in snow. We’re even on track to beat some snow records I think (the amount of snow and the number of consecutive days with snow on the ground.

So. What’s the weather like where you are?
February was here and gone in the blink of an eye February was here and gone in the blink of an eye but contained moments I’ll carry with me forever.
When it’s almost halfway through February and yo When it’s almost halfway through February and you still haven’t posted January’s recap. January was filled with lots of family time. 💙
Hello, friends! 👋🏼 Swipe through for a few g Hello, friends! 👋🏼 Swipe through for a few glimpses from January. As 2022 came to an end I had this feeling that I was preparing to hibernate and I guess, in a way, I have. I’ve been slowly easing into the new year, focused on getting back into a few routines after Iceland and the holidays. And it’s been a great month. I can’t believe it’s almost over. What have your favorite moments of January been?
2022. Looking back on this year it was the year of 2022. Looking back on this year it was the year of so many dreams experiences. Whales. Cape Cod/Nantucket. Iceland. I saw musicals that have I’ve been dreaming of with Moulin Rouge, Wicked, and Six. 

It wasn’t without its stresses and rough moments but I’m grateful for the good that can be found, even when it’s hard.
Let’s journey back to November for the second we Let’s journey back to November for the second weekly dam walk of the month. My dad joined me for this one and we made it somewhat fast because it was a chilly day. “The water looks cold,” I said when we back to the car.

Between Iceland and the below zero, windy, and snowy weather we had last week (which came with requests from my parents not to go) it’s been a few weeks since I’ve been to the dam and I miss it!
Years ago I celebrated Christmas and New Years in Years ago I celebrated Christmas and New Years in Vienna and it still lives in my memory today as such a special time. I know December in Reykjavik will be the same—and not just because I came home with a little over $100 worth of ornaments of all 13 Yule Lads AND their mom AND the Christmas cat. (There was a little bit of miscommunication between my mom and me on that shopping trip. 😂)

It might have been cold (and when that wind hits you don’t want to be outside or by the harbour…I speak from windswept, breath-stolen experience and will forever be grateful for the library we eventually found respite in) and we only saw the sun a few hours each day, but seeing this already charming city decked out in Christmas lights with a skating rink and the prettiest tree secured it’s place in my heart.

Reykjavik, I hope to see you again one day. Soon. Probably not in December, but I’m glad I got to see you in December once.
Last year my niece and I visited New York at Chris Last year my niece and I visited New York at Christmastime and it was fun to see the city decked out in lights. I can also now say that I’ve seen the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and skating rink and the Saks Christmas lights, but I’ve also seen the crowds they draw.

It was completely different in Reykjavik this year. You actually had a chance to skate on the ice rink if you wanted (and I never did the conversation, but I think it’s cheaper) and you could actually walk up to the Christmas tree. Two very different Christmas in the city experiences.
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