Oak Meadows Healing Center

06/03/2025

05/23/2025

As you grow older, you start to realize that peace of mind is worth more than attention, approval, or even ambition. The loud nights and endless chasing slowly lose their appeal, and you begin to crave the quiet—the kind of silence that doesn’t feel empty, but safe. You learn that not every battle is worth fighting, not every invitation deserves your energy, and not every connection needs to be held onto. Maturity teaches you that real wealth isn’t measured in what you have, but in how gently you can sleep at night.

The more life unfolds, the more you understand that peace isn’t found in chaos disguised as excitement. It’s in the boundaries you keep, the people who don’t make you question your worth, and the choices that align with your soul. You stop trying to impress and start trying to breathe. Because at the end of the day, when the noise fades and the crowd disappears, all that truly matters is whether your heart is light, your mind is quiet, and your spirit feels at home within itself.

~Balt Rodriguez

art | Julia Zhuravleva

11/06/2024

If I’ve learned anything from life, it’s that sometimes, the darkest times can bring us to the brightest places.

I’ve learned that the most toxic people can teach us the most important lessons; that our most painful struggles can grant us the most necessary growth; and that the most heartbreaking losses of friendship and love can make room for the most wonderful people.

I’ve learned that what seems like a curse in the moment can actually be a blessing, and that what seems like the end of the road is actually just the discovery that we are meant to travel down a different path.

I’ve learned that no matter how difficult things seem, there is always hope. And I’ve learned that no matter how powerless we feel or how horrible things seem, we can’t give up.

We have to keep going. Even when it’s scary, even when all of our strength seems gone, we have to keep picking ourselves back up and moving forward, because whatever we’re battling in the moment, it will pass, and we will make it through.

We’ve made it this far. We can make it through whatever comes next.
- Unknown

10/22/2024

When everything is feeling overwhelming, make your bed.

When you're not feeling in love with your body, eat a nutritious meal.

When your head is full of thoughts, write them down.

When your body is feeling tight and stressed, or you're feeling anxious, take a walk.

When something is on your heart, speak the words.

When the dream is always with you, take a small step.

Sometimes a simple action can help you reset. It can move the energy and change the mood. It can help you see something a little differently; it can feel like an exhale.

And when things are a little hard, there's nothing better than getting into a beautifully made bed at the end of the day.
~ Lisa Buscomb

~ Art by Lucy Almey Bird

09/17/2024

I don't think we talk enough about how quiet the road gets. How long the waiting feels. How lonely healing can be. I don't think we talk enough about how undone we become in the valley of grief. Or how enormously we must stretch just to fit ourselves into some kind of new normal and dare to call it life again. And I don't think we talk enough about how we have no other thing left, but to gather up our heavy limbs and carry on. Because the earth keeps spinning. The sun keeps rising. And the days keep on bleeding, one into the next, regardless of the moment that made all the minutes inside of our heart stand still.
~ 'New Normal' by Ullie Kaye Poetry

~ Art by Amanda Clark

08/30/2024

The fact that you’re struggling doesn’t make you a burden. It doesn’t make you unlovable or undesirable or undeserving of care. It doesn’t make you too much or too sensitive or too needy. It makes you human. Everyone struggles. Everyone has a difficult time coping, and at times, we all fall apart. During these times, we aren’t always easy to be around – and that’s okay. No one is easy to be around one hundred percent of the time. Yes, you may sometimes be unpleasant or difficult. And yes, you may sometimes do or say things that make the people around you feel helpless or sad. But those things aren’t all of who you are, and they certainly don’t discount your worth as a human being. The truth is that you can be struggling and still be loved. You can be difficult and still be cared for. You can be less than perfect, and still be deserving of compassion and kindness.
~ Daniell Koepke

art | Waiting for the Sunset, Dorota Piotrowiak