I do not have deep theological understanding or opinion, but I do not read the Bible as the literal word of God.

We're often ashamed of asking for so much help because it seems selfish or petty or narcissistic, but I think, if there's a God - and I believe there is - that God is there to help. That's what God's job is.

I quit my last real job, as a writer at a magazine, when I was twenty-one. That was the moment when I lost my place of prestige on the fast track, and slowly, millimeter by millimeter, I started to get found, to discover who I had been born to be, instead of the impossibly small package, all tied up tightly in myself, that I had agreed to be.

My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers from what seemed like one safe place to another. Like lily pads, round and green, these places summoned and then held me up while I grew. Each prepared me for the next leaf on which I would land, and in this way I moved across the swamp of doubt and fear.

Being in L.A. has definitely given me the opportunity to experience how my music sounds in real life because I can drive around and listen to the mixes, which I couldn't do in New York. I get to feel how a song works in combination with a sunset and a drive through the mountains.

My personal life is in the spotlight, but people say what they want to say. The truth isn't in the spotlight, I should say. I'm in the spotlight, but not the truth.

I suppose for a very long time I've been trying to understand how it is that people might make sense out of their lives and make meaning and make their lives meaningful in the face of the trouble that life brings.

It's so important just to be true to yourself and to own your own character and take responsibility for it, and speak up and say, This isn't right; this isn't me.' It's a great lesson, not just in wrestling but in life. If you're not feeling something that's true to your heart... everybody's gotta be true.