Growing up as a 'parentified' child, I was conditioned to manage everyone else's mood to keep myself safe. I carried that trauma right onto the psych unit, letting a toxic system have total access to my health, my sleep, and my peace. If you let everyone have access to you, don't be surprised when there’s nothing left for the people who actually matter—like your family, your partner, or your own soul. It’s time to stop being a doormat and start being the steward of the life God actually entrusted to you.

We often treat our bodies like they are our own to run into the ground, but Psalm 24:1 reminds us that everything belongs to the Lord. If your body is screaming for air, why are you still trying to give your 'last breath' to a job that doesn't care if you can breathe or not? It’s time to stop being a people-pleaser to a system that doesn't love you back and start being a faithful caretaker of the life God actually entrusted to you.

"I used to roll my eyes at the Israelites. Why were they so obsessed with carving wooden statues and bowing to golden calves? It seemed like such ancient nonsense—until I looked up the Hebrew definition of an 'idol.' In the Bible, an idol isn't just a statue; it’s a 'thing of nought.' It’s a clever pun on the word for God: while the true God signifies substance, an idol signifies emptiness.

What does it mean to lead a 'quiet life' when your world is screaming? By connecting the origin story of the Thessalonian church in Acts 17 to the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, we explore the difference between being targeted by the world and being chosen by God. It’s time to move from the exhaustion of constant defense to the peace of an intentional position.

Nursing school teaches us the clinical skills, but it doesn't always teach us how to survive the 'noise' of a toxic environment. I’m opening up about my first year as a nurse, the hard lessons learned in a Max Psych unit, and why protecting our peace is a matter of survival. To my fellow nurses: you aren't made for the burnout.