Millions around the world this week witnessed perhaps the single most powerful public act of selfless love in our lifetimes. At the memorial service for her late husband, Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk, quoted Jesus as He hung crucified in agony and spoke of His persecutors, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). Then with jaw-dropping quiet conviction, Erika spoke of the young assassin who took her husband’s life just days ago, “I forgive him”. 

We live in a noisy, chaotic world that seems to be getting louder and faster every day. Learning how to manage the noise and pace of daily life is essential to balanced living. Diego Perez is a poet and NYT best-selling author under the pen name Yung Pueblo who writes about creating peace within our own selves. In a recent interview with Mel Robbins, Perez urges that we have the power to release the stress we hold and unlock the confidence we crave – no matter what is happening around us. 

When we feel stress from overwhelm or fear,  Perez offers this 6-step process.

I never lost sight of her, that twenty-something girl in the mirror. I was in my early twenties when my wellness journey would begin. Plagued with infertility and hormone imbalances, there was little to know and understand. With no such innovation called “the internet”, you saw doctors and talked to family and friends about your struggles. All you could know was that you weren’t “normal”. As the girl in the mirror aged and took on various shapes and sizes, I was driven, consumed with finding her again. Where did she go, and why was this so hard to understand and “fix”?