The Selah Journal

Welcome to The Selah Journal

A space for honest reflections, self-care, healing, wellness, and the everyday moments that remind us to slow down, breathe, and make space for ourselves.
Day 14: Piece by Piece: Self-Care Doesn't Mean Standing Still
You might be thinking... With all this talk about self-love, self-care, resting, and taking Selah moments... How does anything ever get done? I get it. Life doesn't stop because we've decided to take better care of ourselves. There are still bills to pay. There is still laundry to do. There are still children to take care of. There are still jobs, dreams, goals, appointments, relationships, businesses, homes, and a million other things that need our attention. Self-care doesn't mean ignoring those things. And self-love doesn't mean spending every day wrapped... Read more...
Day 13: Let the Storm Pass
There is a nor'easter happening in New Jersey today, and honestly, I'm not mad about being inside. I'm in my comfy clothes. I have my coffee. And I'm watching the weather outside while I wait for the storm to pass. And as I sit here, I started thinking about how much this moment actually fits into my self-love journey. There was a time when I probably would have felt like I needed to be doing something. Working. Cleaning. Writing. Planning. Checking something off the list. Being productive. But today? I'm... Read more...
Day 12: Sometimes You Need to Rest
Well... It's been a while. The last time I wrote was September 13th, and today is September 23rd. Ten days. At first, I felt like I needed to explain why I hadn't written. I thought about the commitment I had made to myself to share this journey. I thought about the people who may have been reading. And, if I'm being honest, I felt guilty for stepping away. But the truth is, I needed to rest. I went through a period of depression and heaviness that made it difficult to... Read more...
Day 11: Self Care For the Mind
Day 11: Self-Care for the Mind Today, I took some time for myself and got a massage. I thought, This is self-care. And it was. But something interesting happened. While my body was relaxing, my mind wasn't. My body was lying there, enjoying the massage, but my mind was somewhere else. I was thinking about what had already happened.I was thinking about what was coming up.I was thinking about what needed to be done. My body was in the present, but my mind was living in the past and the... Read more...
Day 10: Becoming the Love I Needed
Today, I want to talk about the little girl inside of me. I was the middle child growing up, and there were times when I felt very alone. My mom was hard on me. She probably wouldn't say that today—and I don't think she would necessarily remember things the way I remember them. But I'm learning that I can honor my experience without blaming her for it. I remember feeling like my older sister was the special one. My mom called her her “queen.” And I remember what that made... Read more...
Day 9: Nurturing Your Inner Child
What does it mean to nurture your inner child? For me, it means learning to give myself some of the things I may have needed when I was younger—and recognizing that the little girl I once was is still a part of who I am today. Sometimes we grow up and become so focused on being strong, responsible, dependable, and there for everyone else that we forget about the little person inside of us who also needs love, attention, comfort, and reassurance. Nurturing my inner child means giving myself permission... Read more...
Day 8: It Is Well
Today, we said goodbye to my brother-in-law's mother. As I sat through her homegoing celebration, I couldn't help but think about one thing she would say, no matter what life brought her way: “It is well.” Those three words carried so much meaning. It wasn't that life was always easy for her. It wasn't that she never experienced disappointment, heartache, loss, or difficult seasons. She simply believed that whatever storm she was facing, it would eventually pass. It would be well. I've been thinking about those words ever since. Because... Read more...
Selah For a Funeral
Sometimes life asks us to pause. Yesterday, I didn't write. I was packing for a trip from New Jersey to Baltimore to attend my brother-in-law's mother's homegoing celebration. But this trip is also giving me something I didn't realize I needed—a little more time with my 86-year-old mom. I'm traveling with her and helping take care of her along the way. And as I think about it, something about it touches my soul. My mom spent so many years taking care of me. She was there when I needed her,... Read more...
Day 6: Self-Love Isn't Selfish
Good morning. This post was supposed to come yesterday evening. But it didn't. And I have to admit, I felt guilty about that. I've been sharing my journey one day at a time, and when yesterday came and I didn't post, I immediately started thinking about what I should have done. I should have made time. I should have written something. I should have kept my promise to myself. But the truth is, I was helping a friend. And yesterday, that was where I needed to be. So this morning,... Read more...
Day 5: What Self-Love Looks Like Today
After sharing some of my story over the last few days, I've been thinking about what self-love actually means to me today. Not what it looked like years ago. Not what I thought it was supposed to look like. But what it looks like right now. And you know what I've realized? Sometimes self-love looks surprisingly ordinary. For me, today, self-love means making my doctor's appointments—and keeping them. It means putting my health on the calendar and treating those appointments like they matter. Because they do. I do. Taking Care... Read more...
Day 4: When My Body Finally Said, "Enough"
Nathan wasn't much of a sleeper. So neither was I. I kept going. Work. School. Motherhood. Repeat. I was running on little to no sleep, but I kept telling myself that I had to keep moving. There was a baby who needed me. There was work that needed to be done. There was schoolwork that needed to be finished. So I kept pushing. I was exhausted from caring for this baby all by myself, but somehow I convinced myself that exhaustion was just part of being a mom. I didn't... Read more...
Day 3: Selah — Give Yourself Permission to Pause
Today was supposed to be Day 3. I had already been thinking about what I should write next. I felt like I needed to keep going, keep producing, keep following the story that had already been written. And then I realized something. I was stressing myself out. I was putting pressure on myself to produce. To perform. To keep up. To have the next thing ready because I had decided that was what I should be doing. And isn't that exactly what we do sometimes? We create a list of... Read more...
Day 2: Surviving Isn't The Same As Healing
When I finally came home, I had my beautiful baby boy in my arms. I had survived. I should have felt nothing but joy. And honestly, in many ways, I did. I felt like someone who had escaped death and been given the most precious gift imaginable. But underneath that joy, I was scared. I felt alone with the responsibility of this tiny human who now depended on me for everything. For most of my life, I had been responsible for myself. I worried about myself. I made decisions for... Read more...
Today
Today, I Choose Me Let's start with today. Today, I love myself first—right after God. I know that I am beautifully and wonderfully made, and I finally understand that loving myself isn't selfish. It's necessary. Once I made the decision to truly love and take care of myself, something began to change. I started healing from things I had carried for years. And as I healed, I became a better version of myself—not just for me, but for the people I love. I became a better mom, companion, daughter, sister,... Read more...