Faith and Family Reflections

Thoughtful reflections on faith, family, and connection in the midst of busy, everyday life. Written for parents navigating relationships, transitions, and the everyday moments that shape our families.

Lessons from the Wilderness
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Lessons from the Wilderness

Have you ever felt like you couldn't take a break? In a culture that worships the grind, we are often tempted to measure our self-worth by our momentum and daily output. When we are constantly "on," the thought of pausing, of truly quieting the noise and stepping into the unknown, can feel incredibly unnerving.

But scripture offers a different narrative. Throughout the Bible, when God wants to do a deep work in a soul, He doesn’t invite them to a crowded room or a busy conference. He calls them into the wilderness.

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Seeing God’s Design at Home
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Seeing God’s Design at Home

When we think about encountering the Creator, we usually picture ourselves somewhere quiet and grand, maybe standing at the base of a mountain or staring out across vast, open spaces. We picture the jagged peaks of a mountain range, the expanse of a sun-drenched desert or the untamed wild of the Serengeti. We travel thousands of miles to find God in the "Book of Nature," assuming that His voice is loudest where there’s no laundry to fold or emails to answer.  But here’s the beautiful paradox: the same Artist who sculpted those mountains is the exact same God sitting at your kitchen table.

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Why I’m Leaving My Laptop Behind
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Why I’m Leaving My Laptop Behind

I am currently preparing for a trip of a lifetime to Tanzania. My bags are packed, the itinerary is set, and I am preparing to step out into a space where phone signals and Wi-Fi will be spotty at best.

But there is one specific item that will be staying firmly on my desk while I am away: my laptop.

If I am being completely, brutally honest, this choice brings me a massive amount of angst.

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The Invisible Inheritance: A Dad’s True Legacy 
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

The Invisible Inheritance: A Dad’s True Legacy 

Sorting through my dad's things after he passed away earlier this year was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. As my sisters and I moved through a lifetime of physical items, deciding who gets what and sorting through old pictures, I found myself thinking a lot about what’s actually left when the last things are packed away.

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Why You Panic Before a Dream Vacation (And Why You Should Go Anyway)
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Why You Panic Before a Dream Vacation (And Why You Should Go Anyway)

Have you ever planned a dream vacation, only to find yourself filled with dread and panic right before you leave? You’re not alone. 

In a recent video, I explored why our brains often interpret rest as a threat. When you spend years acting as the "anchor" for your family, business, or community, your brain gets wired for hyper-vigilance. You become a professional problem-solver. So, when a period of total stillness or deep play approaches, your brain interprets that lack of control as a danger, not a gift.

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Beyond Time Management: Choosing Grace Over Frustration
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Beyond Time Management: Choosing Grace Over Frustration

If you’re anything like me, you often look at your to-do list and feel a familiar wave of panic—the one that says, "I am so far behind!" The good news is, you're not alone. It feels like every project, from writing a report to cooking dinner, seems to take longer than it should, leaving me feeling overwhelmed a lot of the time. Sound familiar? The easy answer is to blame our poor time management skills, but what if the failure isn't ours? What if the problem is the cultural obsession with optimization?

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Unsung Matriarchs: Relational Legacy from History’s Most Resilient Women
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Unsung Matriarchs: Relational Legacy from History’s Most Resilient Women

We tend to think that the struggle to stay connected to our families is a modern problem, invented by group texts, packed schedules, and long-distance moves. We feel a unique ache, but history's most resilient women faced very similar hurdles. In this video, I take you inside the pages of history to meet two extraordinary 20th-century women who faced staggering physical distance, political upheaval, and massive life shifts—yet managed to build unbreakable family legacies. They didn’t have smartphones, but they had a relational blueprint we can definitely borrow from today.

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Pivoting from Manager to Coach After Graduation
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Pivoting from Manager to Coach After Graduation

Graduations are important milestones - whether it’s 8th grade, high school or college. They all mark both a closure and a new beginning, and often bring with them a mix of feelings. So far for me, high school graduations have been the most bittersweet. The whirlwind of celebrations and logistics often leaves parents running low on emotional bandwidth. And almost as soon as you’ve finished the crazy schedule of "Maycember," it’s time to get ready to go off to whatever is next. While everyone focuses on packing the dorm room, the real challenge is packing up eighteen years of daily proximity and understand how to build a new connection from a distance.

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From Tuck-In to Talk-In: 3 Creative Ways to Connect with Your Teen
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

From Tuck-In to Talk-In: 3 Creative Ways to Connect with Your Teen

The transition from middle school to high school is a profound shifts in a parent-child relationship. Suddenly, those comforting, close-proximity rituals—the tuck-ins, the last-minute hugs, the nightly bedtime stories—all go away. If you feel like you’ve been abruptly replaced as the primary narrator of your child's life, you are not alone. My own 8th grader recently graduated, and I realized my old methods of connection had expired. This isn't a time to mourn the loss of closeness, but to embrace a new, more mature form of connection. We must trade in the "Tuck-In" moments for "Talk-In" rituals. To help you navigate this quiet, pivotal season, I’m sharing three creative, low-pressure ways to stay deeply connected to your teen without resorting to hovering or interrogation.

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 5 Creative Ways to Actually Stay Connected - Moving Beyond "How Are You?"
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

5 Creative Ways to Actually Stay Connected - Moving Beyond "How Are You?"

We’ve all been there: you pick up the phone to talk to a loved one who lives far away, and you start with the standard, obligatory question: "How are you?" In return, you get the automatic, conversation-killing reply: "Fine, how are you?"

When you have long-distance family, it’s easy to let the day-to-day connection die, especially when you wait for the "big moments" like holidays or scheduled phone calls.

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3 Things Every Graduate Needs to Hear
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

3 Things Every Graduate Needs to Hear

As graduation season descends upon us, our homes are filled with a bittersweet mix of celebration and packing tape. We watch our children stand on the precipice of adulthood, ready to "launch" into a world that feels faster and more demanding than ever before.

In the midst of this transition, it’s easy to focus on the logistics: the dorm essentials, the first job offers, or the starting salaries. But if we look at the data—specifically the Harvard Study of Adult Development—we find that these aren’t the things that actually predict a successful, flourishing life. For over 80 years, researchers have tracked the same group of individuals to answer one question: What keeps us happy and healthy?

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Leading by Design, Not by Default 
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Leading by Design, Not by Default 

In the fast-paced world of technology and corporate leadership, we are often conditioned to lead with data, KPIs, and market trends. While these metrics are vital, many executives find themselves in a quiet crisis, "doing" the work but losing the human "being." It’s time to stop leaving your values at the door and start leading with your whole self.

The Connection Experiment in the Boardroom

Leadership is, at its core, about relationships.

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The Hardest Reorg Is the One at Home: Shifting from CEO to Consultant When They Launch
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

The Hardest Reorg Is the One at Home: Shifting from CEO to Consultant When They Launch

In the corporate world, the concept of retention dominates everything. We analyze, strategize, and budget enormous resources to keep our top talent and maintain key partnerships over years of shifting market conditions and distance. But as an executive and a mother of three—two of whom are now entering that high-velocity "launch" phase—I’ve realized that the most consequential retention work I will ever undertake happens not in a boardroom, but within the four walls of my home.

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The Work-Life Balance Lie: Why High-Achieving Professionals Need an Integrated Life Strategy
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

The Work-Life Balance Lie: Why High-Achieving Professionals Need an Integrated Life Strategy

In the high-stakes world of executive leadership, we are often sold a lie: the idea that "work-life balance" is a scale that must sit perfectly level. We believe that if we just manage our time better or find the right productivity hack, we can keep our professional and personal lives in separate, equal boxes. But for the faith-led leader, this scale doesn't just tip from time to time —it often breaks down completely.

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Never Miss an Opportunity to Be Kind, Fueled by Resurrection Hope
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

Never Miss an Opportunity to Be Kind, Fueled by Resurrection Hope

"You get what you give."

It's a saying we've all heard a hundred times, used in songs, poems and speeches. But it never hit home for me as much as it did last week as I was going through my dad's house, preparing for an estate sale. Removing the photos, sentimental items, and personal papers, I was overwhelmed by a beautiful, tangible confirmation of a life well-lived.

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The Presence Pivot: Your 10-Minute Guide to Reclaiming Focus and Connection
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

The Presence Pivot: Your 10-Minute Guide to Reclaiming Focus and Connection

In our hyper-connected world, we often find ourselves caught in a paradox: the more "connected" we are digitally, the more "disconnected" we feel personally. This is the digital marketer's paradox I deal with, but it affects all of us. Whether you are a professional or a parent, you likely know the feeling of a phantom vibration in your pocket during dinner—a phenomenon I call Availability Creep.

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How Busy Parents Can Stay Emotionally Present Without Doing More
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

How Busy Parents Can Stay Emotionally Present Without Doing More

I am a self-confessed productivity junkie. I love the "click" of a finished task and the "ding" of a sent email and my to-do list rivals the longest CVS receipt ever printed. For years, I applied this same logic to my parenting. I thought if I could just do more for my family—plan better vacations, cook more elaborate Sunday dinners, or facilitate more "deep" talks—we would be more connected.

But here is the hard truth I’ve learned: you can do everything for your family and still be completely absent from them.

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3 Catholic Women Who Mastered the Art of "Leading the Change"
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

3 Catholic Women Who Mastered the Art of "Leading the Change"

Happy Women's History Month! Every March, the world celebrates the "strong woman," but we often only see the finished product—the statue or the headline. We rarely see the "everyday drudgery" or the "unassuming audacity" that actually built those legacies.

Today I’d like to explore the lives of three women who excelled as master "Relational Architects," using their vocations and faith as a means of transformation. The 2026 Women’s History Month theme is "Leading the Change," and these women didn't just survive the 20th century—they sanctified it. We are looking at a radical journalist, a political trailblazer, and a civil rights witness.

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After the Sandwich Generation: Finding God and Love in the Present Moment
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

After the Sandwich Generation: Finding God and Love in the Present Moment

We talk a lot about the Sandwich Generation—that compressed season where you’re squeezed between the needs of aging parents and the needs of your growing children. It is a period of intense pressure, love, and exhaustion. But as intense as it is, it's a phase that, by its nature, is contained by two slices of bread: the generations above and below you.

But what happens when the top slice is gone?

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5 Reasons Why Family Connection Is Important
Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi Lorel Wilhelm-Volpi

5 Reasons Why Family Connection Is Important

I’m often asked why I focus so much on the "small stuff" of family life—the 30-second hugs, the carpool prayers, and the intentional texts to kids across the country.

The truth is, those small moments aren’t just "nice to have." They are the building blocks of a long, healthy, and meaningful life. Recently, I’ve been diving into a fascinating book called The Good Life by Robert Waldinger, MD, and Marc Schulz, PhD. It details the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study on happiness ever conducted (over 80 years!).

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