I judged Taylor. Swiftly.

Pardon the pun, but I did.

A couple of weeks ago, I kept seeing all these memes and stories about Taylor Swift’s latest album release “Midnights,” and I thought, What’s all the fuss about? After all, I thought, Taylor Swift is just some talent-less pop artist that everyone has glorified to stardom.

Several years ago, my friend Heather sent me a care package. In it was a little gratitude journal called 101 Joys Make a Rainbow. The idea was that every day you’d record something you were grateful for and then fold the page. When you were done the booklet, you’d have an entire rainbow of “joys.”

I still remember the day I decided to take a break from church.

For months I had been spiralling after attending the church service each Sunday. I’d go to church, hear the sermon, and it was like every word spoken from the pulpit, every song I heard sung from the congregation was pointing a nasty finger at me, telling me I was defective. I couldn’t get it right. I was unlovable.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not against gratitude. In fact, I recently spent an entire year posting a daily photo and blurb on social media for something I was grateful for each day of the year.

“I feel like a small potato,” I texted to my husband the other day.

Trying to be a voice for mental health, for women of faith, amidst all the noise “out there” some days feels impossible.