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SIMPLE + TRUE

by Grace Theisen

Simple + True EP available now on iTunes and Spotify.

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WHY I WROTE A BLOG ABOUT SUICIDE. - The AA motto of “one day at a time” has never felt more real than in this season. When my counselor told me detoxing from pain meds was no joke... I only half believed her. I kept thinking, “yeah yeah I’ve been through two major surgeries I will be fine.” And yet here we are two months in and I count the good days as only thinking about dying a few times a day versus every hour. - I don’t write that to sound dramatic... it’s just the only way to sum up the unending pain, nausea, anxiety, depression, body chills, nervousness, and sadness that the lack of drugs are doing to my mind and body. I sat in my psychiatrist’s office today hunched over starring at the floor with tears streaming down my face thinking that I finally get why you would become an addict. This shit is SO. HARD. It feels like every waking moment is a battle to get to the next moment. - All that to say... I wrote a blog about all of this along with suicidal thinking and mental illness for @soulscripts. Link is in bio. Why? Because no one wants to admit they have these feelings (ESPECIALLY within the church) and yet, it’s more common than not. I will never be one to sweep under the rug the hard issues just for the sake of making people feel comfortable. CHURCH is where we should ALL feel the safest to expose our uncomfortable... but that’s not always the experience. Did you know Jesus said “I FEEL BAD ENOUGH THAT I WANT TO DIE” (paraphrased) right before He was crucified? Yeah. He had these thoughts too. So we should absolutely be talking about them. - I choose to be transparent with my social media because I figure if my honestly through this journey of chronic pain, mental illness... etc can just make ONE person out there feel like they are not alone... it’s all worth it to me. It makes walking through hell a little easier. It gives me purpose and pushes me to find Light in the darkness. So thank YOU for reading. I don’t take it lightly. - Here’s to a day ending with a beautiful esthetic and an açaí bowl. Sometimes the little things can make all the difference. ❤️
When your niece wants to follow in your footsteps... you say BUCKLE UP COWGIRL. It is going to be one wild ride. She even has her Auntie’s “serious riding” face down. 🙈 - For the record... my dad wouldn’t let me start riding until I was 10. She is 3. The grandkids ALWAYS get the better deal. ;) #futureccrider
When the sweetest friend sends you your own (gorgeous) fanny pack so you can do horse show season in style. 😍 LOVE YOU SO MUCH CHRISSY!!! I am OBSESSED. - I didn’t think I would be about this new fanny pack trend until yesterday at the fair I asked so many of my girls and their parents “Where are my keys? Anyone seen my water? Anyone seen the clippers I brought?” That’s when someone said: “You need a fanny pack!!!” And of COURSE this angel had just gifted me one. (Also just excuse the bathroom pics. My family doesn’t believe in body length mirrors and I kind of love it.) - Ladies if you want the CUTEST most fashionable western accessories... go check out the lovely Chrissy Ballard’s store. She SLAYS at transforming boots that people like @mirandalambert wear on stage! Plus she is just the sweetest Texan angel that’s ever walked the earth and has an actual heart of gold. She has welcomed me with open arms since moving to Nashville, supported my dreams and shared margaritas and guaca as I have outwardly processed the challenges of chronic pain, boys and well... just being a girl in my middle twenties. I couldn’t be more thankful for you, C. - @frankieballard YOU CHOSE A GEMSTONE OF A WIFE. - #oldsmokeysboots #chrissyballard #fannypacks #frankieballard #westernwear #vintage
Last night was one of those “STOP EVERYTHING AND RUN TO THE DOCK TO SEE THE SKY ON FIRE” kind of nights. - Isn’t it funny how you can grow up somewhere and get so familiar with what’s around you that indescribable beauty becomes mundane and taken for granted? - In this season of rest, slowing down and moving back home I’ve become astonished at how HARD it is for my brain and body to just BE. Life goes by so quickly and then all of a sudden we are forced to slow down just to realize how much of life we have lived with blinders on? Why does it take something tragic to wake us up? What do people start “living like they are dying” when they are actually faced with death? - I’ve been thinking a lot about this. Mainly because in a season where I am supposed to be “resting” it’s all I can do to actually sit my butt down to read a book, write or be silent. Everything inside of me wants to GO, DO and CREATE. And yet, when this season is over and I actually have to start “doing” again all I will think about is how much time I wasted in my “resting season” by not actually resting. Life is all about the hindsight 20/20 am I right? - We want what we can’t have. We wish we were somewhere else. We wish that relationship didn’t end. We wish we had those persons skills or looks or personality. - I was just texting a friend this morning about how anxious I have been when no one is around and I have nothing to do. I told her I feel purposeless and sad. You know what she said? “You are doing something! Day by day you are filling up your tank!” - None of what I am saying is rocket science. Everyone knows we should be thankful more, say ‘I love you’ more, soak in the little moments more, ask for forgiveness more. And yet? WE DON’T. We wait until life turns us upside down and inside out to start truly living. - We can wait as long as we want to start putting into practice those things we “wish” we did but the reality is life doesn’t wait for us. It keeps on being beautiful and painful and messy and glorious and colorful no matter if we soak it in or not. But what we do soak in shapes us as we only have so much room in our hearts. And what goes in must come out. ❤️
A little update for you all who have followed along with my pain journey or have donated to the campaign! You can find the rest of the video & campaign link via the link in my bio! - We still have $3,500 more to go!!!! Any little bit counts. Cannot thank you all ENOUGH for how much you have celebrated, encouraged, or prayed for me. I have only made it this far because of you all. - I feel VERY excited about this next season and talk about why in the video along with a new treatment program that is changing my life and pain. Anyone who has chronic pain-would highly recommend watching!! Shoutout to @jihaverda @jilianlinklater @codyhutchgbgh @hollynic15 @heyrobertlucas for making this all happen! ❤️ G
Every night at the @grandhotelmichigan once it’s 6:30 P.M. you have to put on fancy black tie attire and dinner is at least four courses with the kindest wait staff. Once it hits 9:30 P.M. everyone galavants into the dance hall where a live full band plays the oldies, goodies and swing dance music and we dance the night away. - Last night I spotted a guy who clearly knew how to swing dance and I asked him to dance and we tore up the dance floor and one lady asked us “how long we had been partners” (a whole TEN MINUTES 😂) and that we should go on Dancing with The Stars. #bestcomplimentever I’ve got my Grandma D’s dancing feet. - To say last night was my favorite is an understatement. Give me a big band and swing and it’s heaven from my head to my toes. 😍 So great to meet you @sam_mann01! You are a killer leader. - All that to say it was done in some of my favorite clothing and shoe pieces to date. Jacket: @alexisandbolt Jumper: @vinnielouise Shoes: @lottafromstockholm - #swingdancing #fashion #puremichigan
Seeing Mackinaw by my favorite mode of travel. 😍 - Today I learned that this hotel has over 700 employees from all walks of life and countries. Every year they close their doors for six months, turn off most their electricity and brave the winter. Why? Because it’s cheaper to do repairs every spring and re-paint the hotel then to pay for electrify for 6 months. 😳 This is the one out of eleven wooden hotels left in the world and they have a 90% occupancy rate every season. - How? Because every spring each worker-from CEO to dishwasher-participate in the opening of the hotel and everyone does whatever is needed to make it happen. Your a waiter? Great you can help paint. You tend to the horses? Awesome you can help unload dish-ware. The owners and their family can be found consistently on their hands and knees scraping floors right alongside the kitchen staff or planting flowers with the gardeners. - Today we passed one of the owners and she was in a staff apron working beside the florists making bouquets for customers. It wasn’t until our guide pointed her out later that I even noticed who she was. - There’s no ranks. There’s no status levels. There’s no hierarchy. It’s about family. It’s about everyone pitching in to get the work done. It’s about realizing that while you may be some big wig CEO working next to someone who comes from the slums in Jamaica... you have a commonality in tending and taking care of a place that’s over one hundred years old. It’s about crossing boarders, races, economic status, genders and cultural barriers to simply realize we were all created from One source and that means we’re all just one big giant family. And you dont treat family as strangers. You embrace them, love on them, and get to know them on a deep level. - I think there’s a lot we can all learn from the history of the @grandhotelmichigan. The next time we want to elevate ourselves because we did “X, Y, OR Z” or know “so and so” remembers that none of it matters in the end. Status or possessions do not go to heaven with us. People do.
When your parents and sister try to surprise you with a weekend trip to Mackinaw... but the moment your sister texts you and says: “Make sure you pack dressy clothes and jeans...” you instantly say: “GRAND HOTEL MACKINAW ISLAND AND WE GET TO RIDE HORSES.” 😎 - It’s hard to surprise me when going to my FAVORITE place on earth. It’s decided. I’m moving here and becoming a horse carriage driver. 😍 - Mackinaw day one... you were an absolute dreamboat. Full of delicious food, drinks, scenery and of course shutting down the dance floor with my family. I CANT STOP SMILING. - PLUS THERES ROCKING CHAIRS ON THE WORLD’S LARGEST PORCH. I feel like a tiny doll in a massive castles day it’s kind of amazing.
My time at home has consisted of so many great things. Simple things... but fantastic things. -Windows are rolled down more than up. -Makeup is never worn. -Nights are spent reading not scrolling. -Belly laughs are a constant. (Thanks Kim and Amy) -Hair is never washed. (Because swimming in the lake is bathing right?) -Jeans and boots are my go-to. -Horses and my sweet 4-H community are a must. -Country music is always blaring. -My schedule is not overflowing. -God has space to say things to me. -Loneliness and pain are felt, sat in, acknowledged but not numbed. -Family has become my number one. But the best part? I can feel the stress, the pain and the pressure melting off. - I am starting to feel LIGHT. I am starting to feel FREE. I am starting to feel 100% ME. - So the question to myself lately has been “Why? Why did you let yourself to get to the point of falling a part before you made a change?” The answer? FEAR. I FEARED change. I FEARED letting go. Moving on. Going back to the basics. I FEARED that simpler would equal less important. Less noticeable. Less “showy.” - But in fact it’s made everything in my LIFE more noticeable to the most important person I have to take care of: ME. It’s shown me what actually matters and what doesn’t. - Guys. I’m begging you. DO NOT WAIT. Don’t stay in a situation that’s toxic. Don’t stay in the relationship for the sake of just “getting by.” Quit the job that makes you want to pull your hair out. TRULY. GO TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK. Let God completely turn your life upside down. Because WE ONLY GET ONE. And if we aren’t doing it courageously... what’s the point? - For me taking courage and moving through my fears didn’t mean some big fancy change. It simply meant (and still means) moving home, going to see that counselor, clearing my schedule, REST, learning how to slowly face life without without pain meds, taking the anti-depressant and facing the root of my problems. - I have NO idea what the future holds. But I do know Who holds My Future. And I can honestly say... I am not worried about it. Life is worth the living when it’s lived well. But it’s up to US to make the changes to make sure it isn’t passing by without us.

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Finding beauty in pain, through creating art, in pursuit of redemption. 

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