Creator Spotlight ⭐️ Micaiah

 

Hi, Micaiah! Thank you for being willing to share your story with the Hooga community. Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

 Hi! My name is Micaiah, creator of the blog, The Peacebuilder’s Cottage! I am a Christian, California girl, creative soul, and young professional in the field of international peacebuilding and collaborative policy. That’s quite a mouthful, so more generally, I’m just a girl deeply passionate about creating spaces that foster understanding, grace, and restoration. 

 

It's wonderful to meet you! What kinds of life events have led you to the pursuit of peace, faith, and healing?

I grew up in Northern California in a single parent household for most of my life with my mom and two sisters. As a young adult, I pushed through obstacles and eventually began placing my identity in my grit and ability to be independent. I believed all my worries were over when I was accepted into my dream graduate program. However, everything came to a crashing halt in 2021 when I suffered a traumatic brain injury early in the new year. After the injury, my body grew deeply sensitive to stressors to the point where I felt pain in my head when listening to traumatic events on the news. This forced me to take stock of what I consumed, cultivate more balance in what I allowed into my life, and approach my schoolwork in a way that was as healing as possible.

Recovering was a long and winding journey. However, that very journey forced me to confront whether I trusted God to fulfill His promises despite my physical ability to “make it happen” in my own strength. I learned that when I am weak, then I am strong, because the true source of my strength comes from Christ.

Ultimately, that was a point in my life where I gained more perspective. I often joked with friends that I learned so much about peace from resting in my bed – but it was so true. I prayed, listened to worship music and the Abundant Life Guided Meditations, cried (a lot), and quieted my mind despite fears about not recovering, not finishing school, and not finding a job. That recovery time gave me the space to quiet my soul, rest in God’s peace, and align myself mentally, physically, and spiritually for the first time. The Hooga Shop played a tremendous role in helping me to cultivate peace at home! The soundtracks have truly helped to ground me in the moment and work through anxiety. The Abundant Life Guided Meditations also helped me to heal in 2021 and now believe in my trifold purpose in 2022.

 

 

Wow, God has taken you on quite a journey in the past few years! Thank you for sharing your growth and healing with us. What inspires you to share your passions on social media?

Simply put, the goal of my lifestyle blog is to help people build peace into their everyday lives by fostering an online space that inspires reflection, restoration, and community. In peacebuilding, we are encouraged to approach our lives and work in a way where we think about our thinking so that we are more conscious of how our thoughts influence our daily choices. This ultimately helps us make better choices that and foster a stronger sense of wellbeing. Peacebuilding also emphasizes the value of storytelling, which will be a key component of my blog. I plan to share stories related to my faith, personal life lessons, and from my work in peace studies.  

 

I began implementing the starter kit by first listening to the music in the Sanctuary Kit and reflecting on how the songs made me feel. Doing so helped me stay in the right frame of mind as I worked on my content. I also incorporated the Instagram story backgrounds and highlight covers so that my page could feel calming and welcoming.