“What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello By Samantha McKenzie I work on a college campus and come in contact with thousands of…

By Dawn Onley At the start of each new week, I put together a “To Do” list which is comprised of the work and household-related tasks I need to finish by the end of the week. Items like “draft press release” or “pay Pepco” are written out as reminders of things I need to get done,…

By Samantha McKenzie Getting over the difficulty of offering someone an apology is often a tough pill to swallow. The first step is getting over yourself. In 2007, when social media was slowly making its way into my circle, a classmate suggested we use Facebook to plan our reunion. I was instantly hooked and began finding…

By Dawn Onley “I’m always broke.” “I’m fat.” “I’m dumb.” “I’m horrible with money.” “I’ll never be able to …” “I can’t …” Or a particularly bad acronym I’ve been seeing a lot of lately: “fml.” Quit it! Right this second. The self-defeating language. The negativity. The whining and complaining. The excuses. Quit replaying the…

By Samantha McKenzie When I was moving into a new house, I knew I wanted certain things in my home and my neighborhood. I was sure I wanted three bedrooms, two baths and enough storage. I was certain I wanted a vibrant neighborhood, close to my children’s school and a big enough backyard for them…

By Dawn Onley My parents would start slow dancing in the middle of the floor. Sometimes, my dad would sing to my mom. Sometimes, they swayed to no music at all. Then they would kiss. We were yucked out of course. I mean we were kids, and they were always touching and kissing each other,…

By Samantha McKenzie When I was growing up in a household of five, I had two main chores: cleaning the bathroom and doing the laundry. We didn’t have a washer and dryer in my home. I had to gather all the dirty clothes from the shared family hamper, load up the shopping cart with a…

By Dawn Onley Women, we can have it all: The fulfilling career, the loving relationship, kids, the fit body, the best girlfriends, amazing vacations, me time. Whatever we desire we can have, with two caveats. First, we must think we can have it all. We must see our dreams coming true. And we must turn…

By Samantha McKenzie There’s something to be said about a blacksmith’s grueling job of heating metals at the right temperature and hammering them into shape. He has to be strong, quick, focused, and determined to complete the task ahead. Experience has taught him that the temperature must be just right. If he strikes too soon…

By Dawn Onley Our bodies need food and water for nourishment to survive. But have you ever thought about your soul and what keeps it from starving to death? Your soul needs to feel alive. Daily. And it’s not that difficult to feed your soul. Once you figure out what rejuvenates you and leaves you…