Kimberly Valzania

May 23, 2023 | elephantjournal.com | Kimberly Valzania

Stuff doesn’t make us happy. Moments do. Dieting, self-improvement, enlightenment…the search continues for a better version of ourselves. The constant battle to get to that special “place” where we feel the most happy is our lot in life, it seems. We read books about growth and spirituality. We purchase healing oils. We buy the stuff. For some reason, we’re convinced and conditioned to think the path to happiness requires improvement or “more” of some kind.

May 15, 2023 | elephantjournal.com | Kimberly Valzania

And she is 15, almost 16. And she is falling in love for the first time, with a boy she knows she has no business being with. But, he is wild, and funny, and bad, and cool. And sister, that’s all she wrote. He had her at his casual hello. He had her at his too long hair, his prominent nose, his weird grin. And it is Candlewood Lake in July. Lazy summer days, uncounted.

Feb 24, 2023 | elephantjournal.com | Kimberly Valzania

This time last year, she was cursing you. She was obsessing. She was thinking about you, twenty-four-seven. She felt sad, and abandoned, and lonely, and fragile. She was night dreaming and day dreaming—all about you. She was trying to run into you, accidentally, on purpose. Looking for you in a crowd. Sending you memes and weird, random, breadcrumb check-ins, just to keep a grip on the last few dangling threads of connection. She felt the temperature drop suddenly, dramatically, right through the phone.

Feb 8, 2023 | elephantjournal.com | Kimberly Valzania

“If you behave in a manner pleasing to most, then you are probably doing something wrong. The masses have never been arbiters of the sublime, and they often fail to recognize the truly great individual. Taking into account the public’s regrettable lack of taste, it is incumbent on you to not fit in.” ~ Janeane Garofalo~I will always be a “character.”Memorable, you might say. “Crazy” is a word non grata used to describe a person nowadays, but that word precisely comes to mind.

Jan 31, 2023 | elephantjournal.com | Kimberly Valzania

“Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create.” ~ Jana Kingsford~Some of my best writing topics come from conversations I have with my girlfriends. Recently, on a power walk with a friend, we were discussing the new year ahead as we always do in January and February, when things feel fresh. All the hopes and dreams we had for 2022 are now stale or dead and buried with no chance of resurrection.