Dayna Del Val

Personal Systems Disruptor

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact me
  • Daily Dose
  • Personal writing
  • Public speaking
  • Writing Retreat Reflections
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact me
  • Daily Dose
  • Personal writing
  • Public speaking
  • Writing Retreat Reflections
  • Personal Writing

    But what do I want…now?

    July 20, 2019 / 2 Comments

    For most of my life, I wanted (expected) to be a movie star. I don’t mean that in the contemporary, Instagram-able, get hired to show up to a party because of who I am kind of way. I mean it in the acting kind of way. I wanted to dig deep, suck the marrow out of characters, stretch myself to take on the roles and lives of others kind of way. And I wanted to do in on film, not on the stage. But for a lot of reasons, that didn’t happen. Or at least it hasn’t happened yet. And that’s the quandary I am dealing with these days. Because…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    Just some (more) existential thoughts from this week

    May 16, 2020

    In conflict with faith

    August 31, 2019

    From the desk of Dayna

    April 9, 2019
  • Dr. Marry and Me,  Personal Writing

    Us and them = us

    July 16, 2019 / 1 Comment

    I was scrolling through Facebook last night before I went to bed–something I tell myself not to do and often end up doing anyway. This post, from a friend of mine who is a fabulous, run-of-the-mill, small town, midwestern-raised, dynamic, smart, sassy and all kinds of nationalities woman, was the last post I read before I went to sleep: “I’m trying to remember the first time I was told to go back to Africa. It’s happened so many times in my lifetime, that I actually can’t recall. But I do know this – the first time I heard it, I knew exactly what the speaker was saying to me and…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    Two Voices of Hope: Second Star to the Right, and Straight on ’til Morning… (8c podcast)

    March 26, 2020

    An added bonus amidst the stress

    April 28, 2020

    Daily Dose of Dr Marry and DD week 1 recap

    July 18, 2020
  • Parenting,  Personal Writing

    In the face of history

    June 27, 2019 / 6 Comments

    I am completely overwhelmed by the situation at the border of this country. I know I’m not alone in this feeling, but I can’t shake that by doing nothing, I am complicit in the atrocity that is this piece of another chapter of our history in the making. It’s easy to look back at other times and faceless, nameless people and judge them for allowing slavery, the systemic slaughter of Native Americans, the jailing of women suffragists and civil rights activists, the extermination of Jews and others during WWII, the forced internment of Japanese and German Americans, the horrific abuse of GLBTQ people and more to happen on their watch.…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    Until my throat is raw

    May 30, 2020

    My first mate on the journey

    October 19, 2019

    25 trips around the sun with my boy

    January 13, 2021
  • Personal Writing

    Better Late than Never

    June 26, 2019 / 0 Comments

    I’m late to the Brené Brown game. I have known about her for a number of years (hello, I don’t live under a rock!), and I haven’t actively ignored her writings and TED talks, but I haven’t sought them out, either. I suppose I chafed at her seemingly universal popularity; I’m not a joiner of really…anything; getting on her bandwagon felt too obvious. Too basic. So I passively ignored her work. But Brené was in good company; I pretty much have always ignored all self help, personal exploration books. While my mom and my college best friend were eating them up like happy meals, I was busy touting their irrelevance.…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    Two Voices of Hope: Second Star to the Right, and Straight on ’til Morning… (8a)

    March 21, 2020

    Pursuing passion and finding grace in the midst of a global pandemic (podcast & zoom check in)

    April 5, 2020

    A Thanksgiving to remember

    November 28, 2019
  • Inspired Home Magazine,  Personal Writing

    A Quick (and Easy!) Getaway

    June 24, 2019 / 0 Comments

    This story originally appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of from house to HOME magazine. I was fortunate when I was growing up that we got to travel a lot in the summers. My dad was a school teacher and my mom stayed home, so we had the entire summer to plan trips. Some years we visited my grandparents in New York, where the humidity would make it nearly impossible to sleep; the beaches were full of people hoping to catch a little relief from the heat, and the black tar on the pavement was wavy all the time. Some years we went West to visit my mom’s side of…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    A Thanksgiving to remember

    November 28, 2019

    Taking tea and enjoying the journey

    June 13, 2020

    Take a running leap

    January 11, 2020
  • Inspired Home Magazine,  Personal Writing

    A Shift in Dreams

    June 20, 2019 / 1 Comment

    This story originally appeared in the March/April 2010 issue of from house to HOME magazine. I have lived in three places as an adult. The little one bedroom apartment in the upstairs of an old house where I brought my son home from the hospital; the renovated 1920s apartment building where he grew up; and the 1950s cottage I purchased nearly three and a half years ago. The first apartment was darling with dormered ceilings and wooden floors. The second apartment was 45 stairs up and had lots of windows and charm. Then I began to look for a house. What I really wanted was a turn of the last…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    A Quick (and Easy!) Getaway

    June 24, 2019

    A Thanksgiving to remember

    November 28, 2019

    Taking tea and enjoying the journey

    June 13, 2020
  • Personal Writing

    Leveraging Your Passion: or Getting a Job and Learning That You Care a Whole Lot About It

    June 15, 2019 / 4 Comments

    This is a version of the talk I gave at the Ladyboss summit in June 2019. Caution: it’s long because it was a 15+ minute talk and it’s not absolutely complete because I made bullet points where I wanted to just talk to the audience. So if you know who I am, which you absolutely may not, you know that I run an organization called The Arts Partnership. If you’ve only vaguely heard of me, you know that I am somehow involved in the arts in the Fargo-Moorhead community. Ask various people around the community who I am and you’ll get everything from a fierce arts warrior activist to a…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    I really want (and need) to know

    December 3, 2019

    e2 podcast: Heather Zinger

    April 18, 2020

    Take a running leap

    January 11, 2020
  • Personal Writing

    Ghosting stinks

    June 13, 2019 / 0 Comments

    I’ve been recently ghosted by a friend and colleague, and I’m not gonna lie–it has really hurt my feelings. It’s also caused me to dig deep into what my role in all of this might have been. Did I expect too much from her? Was I a disappointment? Did I unintentionally do something that made her feel bad? Bad enough to literally just disappear from my life and erase me from hers? Maybe the biggest hurdle to overcome with being ghosted is simply the fact that not knowing makes your brain go in all kinds of directions that are likely not at all accurate. And all the directions also only…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    I’m stretchy-chasey, how about you?

    September 15, 2020

    Better Late than Never

    June 26, 2019

    6 months, 182 days, 4,380 hours ago…

    March 2, 2021
  • Personal Writing

    Finding my passion by talking about living my passion

    June 8, 2019 / 17 Comments

    I was invited to present at the Ladyboss summit recently. Founders Laura Caroon and Danyel Moe asked me to talk about “living your mission passion.” I could have given that talk in my sleep, and it would have been true…but it would not have been absolutely authentic, and that’s what I’m striving to have more of every single day. I countered that I would be happy to talk about passion, but that I actually wanted to talk about my unwieldy journey to passion for The Arts Partnership. I wanted to unpack my first passion, which was to be a movie star. I wanted to talk about settling into your role…

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    Maybe math does have all the answers

    May 27, 2020

    The perfect cup of tea

    November 1, 2019

    Forming new habits to carry on

    May 13, 2020
  • Personal Writing,  Uncategorized

    Water, water everywhere

    May 1, 2019 / 0 Comments

    How often do you chafe at the daily swirling combinations that include children, spouses, parents, friends, jobs, hobbies, health issues, scheduling workouts, dieting and more in your life?

    read more
    Dayna Del Val

    You May Also Like

    I now have the time, so what’s next?

    August 3, 2019

    Maybe math does have all the answers

    May 27, 2020

    But what do I want…now?

    July 20, 2019
 Older Posts
Newer Posts 
© 2021 Dayna Del Val | Created by Giraffic Media
Ashe Theme by WP Royal.