Michelle Porter

On January 2nd, I got an email with the subject line: "Already struggling with your New Year's resolutions?" Day two. Thirty-six hours into the new year and someone's marketing algorithm had already decided I'd failed. It made me laugh at first. But then I kept thinking about it. Because if something genuinely matters to you—if you're truly connected to it—does it fall apart in two days? Real resolution doesn't require constant willpower. It emerges from connection. From knowing why something...

This reflection is a companion to last year's post about grief and finding light in darkness. Today marks thirty-five years since my dad died. A lifetime, really - and yet the weight of it lands as if it were yesterday. It's strange to think I've now surpassed the age he reached. He had just turned 58. Time does odd things with grief. The sharp edges soften, but the shape remains. And on days like today, I find myself thinking not just about loss, but about what happens to us when loss...

I was checking out at a store recently, still wearing a fleece I'd just had on for an appointment. The cashier complimented it, and I found myself telling her something I'd been rejoicing in for the past month: "I've had this for twenty years, but I've only worn it a handful of times until this season." For two decades, I looked at this fleece as a jacket—something for crisp autumn days when the weather required outerwear but hadn't yet demanded a real coat. The problem was, I had other...