This is my costume this year. I think it might be my most favorite ever. (For a peek at school-aged Joy, check out the Halloween greeting on Deeper Story today.) What will you be dressing up as this year? What was your favorite costume? (No Life:Unmasked link-up today, since many of us will be donning…

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At least once a week, I fantasize about burning down the internet. At least once a week, I seriously consider quitting the blog, quitting Facebook, quitting putting myself out here like this. At least once a week, I think that all this stuff I’ve written about being real and open and honest, about taking down…

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My friend Abby says “Dress for the day you want to have, not the day that’s trying to have you.” Her words echo what my mom used to tell us when we were children. We were home-schooled, but she never let us stay in pajamas for school. We had to get dressed, and not sweatpants…

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I was a wreck in August and much of September, and I couldn’t understand why. I remember a conversation in which friends were comparing notes on mental health and medications and they described themselves with official-sounding labels. All I know is the med I’m taking. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I cried in…

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I’ve been hosting life:unmasked for a year now. It isn’t the most wildly popular link-up ever, but I think that’s understandable. Not everyone is ready to take off their mask. It takes courage and a certain amount of confidence that being real isn’t going to wreck you. In some ways, it hasn’t changed my writing.…

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“It looks like everyone else is keeping their house beautifully AND creating magazine-quality posts AND cooking gourmet healthy food AND raising perfect kids who eat the gourmet healthy food and follow their customized personalized monogrammed chore charts.” I hear this from friends a lot. This is exactly why I started Life:Unmasked last year. Because all of…

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