Jen Armstrong | Grit, Grace & Growth

Writer & Creator Grit, Growth, and Learning in Real Time

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A place for grit, grace, and growth

Hi, I’m Jen.

I’m a writer and creator, and this space is where I collect thoughts on grit, healing, ambition, creativity, and learning how to start again. Sometimes quietly, sometimes out loud.

Some of what I share here becomes books. Some of it stays unfinished. A lot of it is written in real time, while I’m still figuring things out.

This blog is for people who are capable, tired, reflective, and still trying.

If you’re rebuilding something, your work, your sense of self, your next chapter... you’re in the right place.

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The Glass Wall A story about survival, self-abandonment, and finding the way back to myself. one year ago It's been almost exactly one year since my life fell apart.... https://thegritjournal.blog/2026/06/09/the-glass-wall/

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Pride Isn’t About a Flag. It’s About Existing what happens when people feel pressured to hide parts of themselves Recently bought rainbow hearts to put on my car.... https://thegritjournal.blog/2026/06/05/pride-isnt-about-a-flag-its-about-existing/

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The Holistic Life Check-In: Looking at the Parts We Usually Ignore

have you noticed you’ve been carrying a lot? If you’re here reading this right now, chances are you are feeling “it”. We think we need a new job, a new relationship, a new planner, a new city, or a whole personality transplant, when really we just need to zoom out and ask ourselves: “What parts of my life are quietly on fire?” Not in a dramatic “everything is terrible” way. More in a “the smoke…

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Chronic stress, exclusion, burnout, and emotional exhaustion can change the way your nervous system responds to everyday life. This personal reflection explores the moment survival mode stops feeling sustainable and what happens when you finally choose peace.

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Chronic stress, exclusion, burnout, and emotional exhaustion can change the way your nervous system responds to everyday life. This personal reflection explores the moment survival mode stops feeling sustainable and what happens when you finally choose peace.

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A raw reflection on authenticity, identity, healing, and self discovery. This post explores what happens when life breaks you open and forces you to finally meet the real you.

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The Moment You Finally Surrender

Letting go of the chaos, the overthinking and the need to control. The Moment You Finally Surrender Dear You, I don’t mean the version of you that smiles through it.Or the one that says “it’s fine” when it’s very clearly not. I mean the tired version.The one that has replayed the same conversations a hundred times.The one that keeps trying to fix something that continues breaking you. Yeah……

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When Your Body Starts Telling You What Your Mind Tried to Ignore

How repeated patterns become somatic, visceral, and impossible to ignore You Kept Listening to Their Words. Your Body Didn’t. You don’t realize it’s happening at first.It just feels like disappointment. A conversation that didn’t go anywhere. An apology that sounded right but somehow didn’t land. A promise that gave you a flicker of hope… and then quietly dissolved into the same pattern you’ve…

When Your Body Starts Telling You What Your Mind Tried to Ignore

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You Have 72 Hours. Where Are They Going?

Using the 168-Hour Week to See Where Your Life Is Actually Going You have 72 “extra” hours every week. You don’t “not have time.” You have 168 hours a week. When you take out work and sleep, that leaves you with 72 hours. Seventy-two extra hours. Every week. The same as everyone else. And yet somehow, it still feels like you’re constantly behind. Like you’re running through your days trying to…

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You Have 72 Hours. Where Are They Going?

Using the 168-Hour Week to See Where Your Life Is Actually Going You have 72 “extra” hours every week. You don’t “not have time.” You have 168 hours a week. When you take out work and sleep, that leaves you with 72 hours. Seventy-two extra hours. Every week. The same as everyone else. And yet somehow, it still feels like you’re constantly behind. Like you’re running through your days trying to…

You Have 72 Hours. Where Are They Going?

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Finding Your Balance: You’re Not Falling Apart. You’re Out of Alignment

Using the Wheel of Life to pinpoint exactly where your energy is leaking. Ever feel like you’re doing “all the things” but still drowning?  You’re tired, so you sleep in on Sunday. Still wake up tired.You’re overwhelmed, but you can’t point to one specific reason why.You feel behind, stuck, scattered… maybe even a little disconnected from yourself. And the default thought? (For me,…

Finding Your Balance: You’re Not Falling Apart. You’re Out of Alignment

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The Invisible Weight We Carry

How Mental Overload Slowly Drains Your Energy, Motivation, and Relationships Most people don’t realize how heavy their life has become until they finally sit still long enough to feel it. I know that’s how it happened for me. Realization usually doesn’t hit due to the big obvious things. It’s not the dramatic, movie-scene disasters. I’m talking about the quiet weight. The invisible list running…

The Invisible Weight We Carry

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The Messy Middle of Healing and growth

When You Start Noticing the Drunk Squirrel. Healing and growth sound beautiful when people talk about it. They say things like inner peace and alignment and becoming your highest self. Here’s what nobody says… Growth feels less like enlightenment and more like your brain is being run by a drunk squirrel with anxiety and a megaphone. Picture this. You wake up one morning and decide that Today…

The Messy Middle of Healing and growth

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Healing Isn’t Linear. It’s More Like a Drunk Squirrel Crossing the Road

The messy reality of doing the inner work. Somewhere along the way we were sold the idea that healing is some beautiful, peaceful journey. Like you light a candle, start journaling, drink a little more water, maybe go to therapy. You’d confront the pain, process the trauma, learn the lesson. Then, suddenly you emerge as this calm, emotionally evolved version of yourself. That is a whole…

Healing Isn’t Linear. It’s More Like a Drunk Squirrel Crossing the Road

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Is Your Relationship Healthy, Or Are You Just Used to It?

If you have ever typed “is my relationship healthy” into a search bar at 11:47pm while lying next to the person in question… this is for you. If you have ever Googled “am I in an emotionally manipulative relationship” and then immediately closed the tab because you didn’t want the answer. Hi. This is for you too. And if you are reading this because something feels off in your relationship but…

Is Your Relationship Healthy, Or Are You Just Used to It?

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Valentine’s Day Is a Performance. Not a Measure of Love.

This post is part of February’s Uncomfortable Truths series on sex, intimacy, and relationships. First things first Let’s address this straightaway.Valentine’s Day is not proof of love. It’s proof that someone set a reminder in their phone because they didn’t want the fallout from forgetting it. There. Now we can talk like adults. Valentine’s Day is unquestionably built on optics, obligation,…

Valentine’s Day Is a Performance. Not a Measure of Love.