Rising slowly...

Have you missed me?

I can't say that the last few months have been fabulous, but neither have they been horrible. I've been struggling with some hurts and decisions and the direction I want my life to be heading. This is never an easy task and one made even more difficult when there are other lives intertwined with mine. I have my children to think about. Granted, one is now an adult and can take care of himself and the other is nearly an adult and will soon be out on her own. But they are still considered with the decisions I make, especially the really big ones. I have others, too, but their part is too vast in this to even attempt the task of narrowing it down to mere words.

I had withdrawn into my deepest Self at the end of February. The reasons for that are my own and I've only shared them with one person. I may never share them with other people, but that could change over time. As everything can, and always does, change. During this time, I had been thinking about how I let other people affect me. I'd been contemplating prescription medication (yeah, really). I'd been trying to figure out what I should fight for and what I should let go of. In the middle of it all my spark of Light and Hope flickered to nearly nothing and I almost gave up everything. Don't get me wrong, I'd never end my life or anything like that, but there are other ways to give up. One is to give up that brilliance that we all have inside. To give that up means that you just go from day to day following the routine, smiling when it's appropriate, answering the questions people ask you, and never allowing the beauty of the world to really touch your soul. To me, that is a far deeper death than the cessation of bodily life.

During this time of sheltering my Self, there were only a few moments of emotional connection and they brought on such a rush of chaos or pain that I broke down and cried. Some of those times I didn't merely shed a few tears, I sobbed so fiercely that I thought I'd break in two. And, when the words I spoke were misunderstood or even ignored by those around me, I stepped back into my cave.

I read the various "words of wisdom" that were splashed in my books, across Facebook, and written in other places and I tried to figure out how they fit into my life. Fight for what you believe in. Let go of the struggle. Live your life to the fullest. Find gratitude in the life you have. Eliminate the toxic people from your life. Forgive those who cause you pain. Hold on. Let go. Smile. Cry. Be at peace. Let the rage wash over you. Don't give up. Accept your fate.Where is the enlightenment in the middle of so many conflicting messages? Which answers really fit the Life I want to give to myself? What choices do I make?

Part of me realized that there is a need for all of those bits of wisdom. During some parts of my life I will need to forgive the hurts and keep those people around, during others I will need to forgive and walk away without looking back. At some points I will need to smile and let joy shine through, at others I will need to cry and let the rage boil over. All of these are vital to a life lived to the best of my ability. I deserve nothing less than that.

I knew something had to change so I started working on some things that would help my future be a little more stable. Each day I worked on something that would benefit my life in some way or another. Some days it was making sure I meditated. Many days it was dyeing extra yarns. Once in a while it was letting myself just stare out the window at the birds in the back yard for a little while. Regardless of what it was that I did, I made sure it was done with reverence for the gift of Life that I had been given.

Yesterday a lot of those things coalesced into a fabulous day of celebrations. The money for my CCW permit, the filing of my business registration, the completion of one of my healer's certifications, the order placed for more shipping labels, the lunch with my son, the requirement met for the new team in Nerd Wars, and, perhaps most important, the support I felt from my loved ones and my friends.

Are there still pieces of my life that are in shambles? Yes, of course. But I have come to realize that it's not entirely up to me to rebuild what has been shattered. Some things that have been broken need repairs from other people, too. My job is to live my life with the integrity that I know I am capable of, with the bravery I know I have inside me, and with the dedication to what I believe in that I know I have the capacity for. (Hah! I just realized that the antonyms for those are honor, courage, and commitment... yes, I find that amusing, considering that the first 28 years of my life I thought bad things about the Marine Corps.)

And now? Now I am taking the time to breathe. And to Shine just a little bit until I feel stable again with all the emotions.

Surprises, late

December 24 - 
On the 14th, I got a text from Anthony asking if I was awake. It was 4:21am. No, of course I wasn't, but I sent a text back and asked him what was going on. After a couple texts back & forth about little things, I was starting to get pretty annoyed. It seemed like a series of drunk texts, and I thought it was one of his friends or something. Then he called me and asked me to go outside. I grumbled about it being cold and some other nonsense, while I was trying to figure out why I'd want to walk outside in the wee hours of the morning. I could hear his cat in the background and figured he was at his friend's house. Well, I stepped into the entry, thinking there was something about the moon or something that he wanted to share with me (I still wasn't quite awake). Instead, I saw his smiling face in the outer door window. And the furry face of Athena. He'd been able to get leave, but wanted to surprise me with it. Very cool.

January 4 -
I started this a while ago and never got back to it... Oh well. It's been a fun couple of weeks for the most part. As you gathered from the previous paragraph, Anthony was home for the holidays. Having both of my kids here, truly, was the best gift of all.

What's going on now? I feel a renewed sense of direction in many areas of my life. Health is at the forefront of things, physical, spiritual, emotional... all of it. I have a list of goals and plans (not resolutions) and I'm looking forward to implementing them. These are all pretty personal and I don't really feel like sharing them right now. Perhaps, with time, I will, but for now they feel too fragile to put here is pixels.

In the meantime, here is the progress on my orchid. Isn't it fabulous!?

 

January 5 - Another cousin has been linked on my Facebook page. I can't help but feel a little strange knowing that there are people out there who are related to me, but whom I've never met. Entire lifetimes have passed between the time my mother moved us away and now. Children have been born, parents have died, joys have been experienced, sorrows have dealt their blows. And all without the knowledge of one another.   

January 7 - Our lives are truly precious. One small and simple mistake can really bring that into the forefront of my mind and make me take a really hard look at what my life is filled with. There was such a mistake last night. It was handled rather quickly (instincts kicked in immediately) and no one is worse for the wear. The only issue this morning is a raspy voice (mine). The short story is that I made chlorine gas last night unexpectedly. After clearing the house with fans and a call to Poison Control, I followed all the instructions they gave me. 

The whole thing didn't really sink in until this morning, though. Brianna slept through her alarm and, until I woke her up, I was slightly panicked. After she went to school I actually began shaking. Yes, I'm admitting this on here, I was scared. I'm not going to dwell on what might have happened (though I did briefly). Instead I'm going to see this as another wake-up call. One to make me take a hard look at what is in my Life, what needs to be reevaluated, what needs to be renegotiated, what needs to be let go of completely, and, perhaps most important of all, what needs to be cherished.

I'm still a little shaky, but I'm going to go workout for a little while. I'm hoping that will help.