My journey on the Path less traveled. Introverted survivor of childhood abuse using writing to “Bring on the thriving!” A little lopsided sometimes, stubborn, but smart enough to know it’s time to truly heal! 🙏🏻❤️
We’re not the first, and we won’t be the last to see a year like this one was. Today, on the last day of 2020, I’m choosing to feel blessed and humbled by the year’s lessons thrown at us from multiple directions.
Mass illnesses have happened before, horrible racial divides (unfortunately) are very deep in our world. 😔 Forced social isolations and mask wearing has happened before (Spanish Influenza). We can learn and react differently though.
Faith that God has a plan for all of us, and knowing that we’re actually given a chance to make a positive difference in the world is inspirational on a monumental level! If he sees and cares for the sparrow, he definitely sees and cares for us too.
We aren’t the first generation, and we won’t be the last, to experience everything we’ve ever gone through personally. Today I’m so thankful it’s finally been knocked into my stubborn head that we actually need each other. We cannot, and are not meant to walk this journey alone.
Bring on the New Year! We’ve got this, together. 💜✨
As we’re getting ready to transition into a new year, 2021, and we’re looking back on what some of us feel was a really bad year,….
My mind is wired a lot differently than most, and I’m in therapy now for it. Actually working on trying to retrain my brain, to learn how a health adult’s mind can be adaptable, flexible, reasonable, and adjust as needed, in a health way. I’ve learned that PTSD and history of living through traumatic events/abuse can leave the person in survival mode permanently.
During a special holiday service, with a dear friend and spiritual mentor leading it, she brought up a quote that just hit me in the stomach so hard. I haven’t been able to forget it, and it’s been a couple of weeks already.
“You Cannot Heal What you do not Feel.” Dr. Edith Eger
She was telling the story of a Dr. Edith Eger, a sixteen year old Hungarian Olympic gymnast cut from the team for being Jewish (NewsColony, 8/16/2020); and also a ballerina that was taken from her home in 1944. She lost her parents on the first day to the gas chamber. She was forced to dance for the feared and hateful Angel of Death, SS officer Josef Mengele.…..forced to walk in a death march, and was then saved from Auschwitz. (Source, NewsColony, 8/16/2020)
So going back to the way my mind processes information, and how it compares a current situation to what it could be, or was, or might have been,…..Hearing that single quote two weeks ago has profoundly affected how I’m feeling about this year of 2020 coming to an end,…even through all the noise around us right now.
I heard that quote from Dr. Eger for a reason, and now I’m being pulled to share it for a reason,….big picture, I’m still here for a reason. Ok, I won’t go down that road right now.
After reading just a tiny bit of Dr. Eger’s story, it is now tops on my list to get her memoir, “The Choice.” Seeing life through the eyes of another can have such a profound and groundbreaking way of settling and adjusting our perspectives. I have heard that a lot of times, the most compassionate and loving people have actually been through some unimaginable pains in their lives. They know what it feels like, so they try to show just the opposite to those around them.
As we come into our new day, our new year,….Live, Laugh, Love with everything you’ve got, while you still can! 💜✨ Thank you so much for being here. I truly appreciate and value you all.
When you’ve done this for over three decades,…..and you’re really not sure how to stop,….because that’s all your adult brain has ever known? It feels like you’re constantly on an emotional roller coaster. You stop, make a connection, then take off in high speed again; stop, connect, speed up again.
It’s like that time in 12th grade English class, when your high school teacher, who is also a part time professor at the local college, says in his deep theoretical way, “write your winter essays on anything”,….anything?
#overthinking #anxiety #healing
I toss it around for weeks,….think way too much, and then decide that the “Santa’s of the world” has to be the best topic,….stop, connect, speed off,…..passionate but missing something. C+ overall grade at best; not the work you were capable of.
You think you’re a writer, but your mind laughs at you. Then the one time when a friend takes your hand, and has you really slow down. You actually start to see the how’s and the why’s of your “survival way” of thinking functions, and how it doesn’t EVER let you thrive.
It’s starting to all close in. The air is getting thin. It’s a new concept of seeing life choices clearly, through lens that don’t involve emotion,….they just show you the real picture. These are the times life requires you to live in the moment, to see it for what it is, to learn from it, and to make the hard decisions if you have to.
Prayers for the new year coming! 2021 may you include love, kindness, and peace along with all of the speedbumps, hills that need climbing, and potholes we hit.
Live, Laugh, Love with everything you’ve got, while you still can! Thank you for stopping by. I truly appreciate and value all of you here. 💜✨
This is my least favorite question,….I never have a prepped answer ready! Oh, the new air fryer that everyone has, or the subscription of the month to that favorite magazine, or something to do with music (which I haven’t kept up on this year at all)!! 🤦♀️
#findingthejoy #caringforothers #loveyourneighbor
It’s just never been about stuff to me. I do remember as a kid feeling a little sad when I’d hear my friends list off all the necklaces, bracelets, and new gadgets from aunt June; a half dozen of the newest and trendiest sweaters that looked amazing on anyone who wore them,…. Well, I actually did appreciate my new gloves and the small bible from mom. It was still hard to listen to others list all those “things” when I was younger.
Whether it’s how I was raised, in a very simplistic way, or just how my personality is naturally wired, I really don’t equate stuff with Christmas. The “stuff” actually stresses me out. 😳 It’s the caroling with the church to the home bound, or the baking and then eating all of our own cookies, the sweet handwritten notes in the cards from friends and family, and our new favorite, the Advent candles and readings leading up to the Holy day for our family. ✨
When I say I don’t “want” anything, I’m actually serious. But, I have to admit, seeing my older teens get excited about getting us gifts “all on their own, with their own money” for the first time this year has been extra sweet. Again, it’s not the material gift, but the smile on their face, and the giggles about how they’re so excited to surprise their parents this year. That’s what gets me right in the heart!
#merrychristmas #joyinthesimplethings #peace
Sending Christmas Love to everyone! I’m findings my voice this year and that’s the biggest gift I could have ever asked for. 🙏🏻
Sending you all love, joy, and hope for that feeling of peace and happiness, even in the smallest of ways, things, or gestures.
Live, Laugh, Love with everything you’ve got, while you still can!! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or however you celebrate this year. Gods love is here for all of us. ❤️🎄🙏🏻
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Live, Laugh, Love with everything you have, while you still can! Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate and value you all so much. 💜✨