16 Quotes by Natalie M. Esparza

Maybe if I just kept acting like a Christian, I’d eventually feel like one again.

I was so angry that something that framed itself as comforting and inclusive [church/Christianity] felt like a dagger in the heart. The more I leaned into my true identity, the more distant I felt from religion. It just didn’t align with who I wanted to become.

A hallmark of female adolescence is the realization that you are being commodified. You then are developing a sense of self within a cultural framework that values you primarily as an object.

Regret is about the past, anxiety is about the future, curiosity is about now.

Life was moving so fast that I was having trouble landing with both feet in this moment. I’d finally “arrived” again...Why wasn’t I more excited?

When our reality is actually called into question it can feel like the world is falling apart. But it is fertile ground for our growth. Curiosity demands us to risk any previously held narrative to discover what is missing.

This past year many people wanted to “return to normal” but what if we used this disruption as an opportunity for transformation? This moment is begging us to become present and examine what might not be working anymore.