About the Mess
“A Beautiful Mess” by Kristin Ritzau from ConversantLife on Vimeo.
Book Available Now
A Beautiful Mess: A Perfectionist’s Journey Through Self-care
About the Founder, Director, & Author
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Kristin Ritzau earned her Master of Arts in Christian Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is a spiritual director, writer, speaker, and recovering perfectionist. She works as an adjunct faculty member at Azusa Pacific University teaching writing and leadership courses and is a blogger for ConversantLife.com. She also leads retreats and workshops for women wrestling with perfectionism. She lives outside of Los Angeles with her husband on their urban homestead. For more information about Kristin, her blog and her homestead, please visit www.kristinritzau.com.
About this Blog
A Beautiful Mess was birthed out a group of women coming together and sharing about their authentic journeys. Since then, it has grown to include many more people looking for a safe place to be themselves. In 2011, Kristin hosted Open Mic/Art Shows at her home when the seasons were changing where anyone could contribute an original essay, poem, song, spoken word, art piece or photograph.
They proved to be much needed and satisfying events for everyone involved. Using the same model of the solstices and equinoxes, this blog has been re-envisioned to be a sacred community space where people can share from their hearts, their heads, and their hands. If you feel you have something to share with this community, and we would love it if you do, please contact Kristin for the latest prompt.
I have a passion to gather people together in safe spaces. Not in stadiums or even churches where some can feel alienated, but in homes, and at retreats and workshops where hopefully they can feel more intimately at home with each other, the Spirit and namely in themselves.
A Beautiful Mess: A Perfectionist’s Journey Through Self-Care
(From the book jacket)
In a society obsessed with perfection, it is not surprising that so many women — especially Christian women — are breaking beneath the burden of expectation. With airbrushed models and “reality TV” blaring in stereo sound, it’s no wonder women are abusing themselves, literally, to maintain the perception of perfection.
If you are exhausted from trying to keep it all together or feel anxious at the thought of someone “finding you out” and calling you a fraud; if you are at the breaking point from meeting the demands of everyone else and always putting yourself last or simply beating yourself up because of your imperfections — this book was written for you.
In her debut book, Kristin Ritzau shares her very personal journey to overcome crippling perfectionism. As she navigated a new marriage, endured a quarter-life healthy crisis, and was forced to redefine the God of her childhood, Ritzau discovered freedom in accepting she was a beautiful mess. She didn’t need to clean up her “perfect” life any longer.
It was only through examining the emotional, mental, physical, sexual, and spiritual facets of herself, that she experienced the Holy Spirit’s healing: acceptance, contentment and rest. A Beautiful Mess will help readers do the same by introducing practices such as contemplative prayer, art journaling, and “playing in your body” while demystifiying the self-care journey. The best part of Ritzau’s story is that she is sharing it — to help other women heal and discover their own beautiful mess.
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