If you are an avid reader of this blog, you know I aim to include and write about our life’s series of UPS and DOWNS. And life as a foster/adoptive parent, wife of a first responder, and public school educator has given me quite a bit of content to reflect on and attempt to make sense of along this journey.
The last 9 months has been the darkest period I have experienced to date…..with a few glimmers of magic here and there, many pieces of my identity and values I am proudest of were questioned and destroyed. Many times, I thought about coming here to process…..and every time I backed away due to fear of retaliation by those that would use it against me but also to protect a handful of people’s truths and traumas that wouldn’t be healthy to publicize.
Writing has always been a coping strategy and creative outlet for me….at one point in my childhood, my dream career was to become an author and started to write my very own chapter book when I was in the 5th grade (I so wish I could find this). And I just finished reading an amazing book titled Bittersweet by Susan Cain that referenced multiple studies that found that folks that wrote about their troubles, feelings, and trials were calmer, happier, had better health outcomes, and experienced more success with relationships and at work. The author of this book writes “expressive writing encourages us to see our misfortunes not as flaws that make us unfit for worldly success, but as the seeds of our growth.” This last line resonated with me and struck a chord as I realized I missed blogging and making sense of my own misfortunes….and highlighting some of the good stuff as well.
On January 3rd of this year (before my world started to crumble), I brainstormed a list of words that were top of my mind and heart for my 2023 One Little Word – you may notice a foreshadowing in this list (screenshot from my notes):
And I suppose I have had to tap into each of these words at different points in my year, but landed on the word BECOMING for a number of reasons that if you haven’t heard my story yet, will start to make sense as I tell my version of what has happened.
This quote from Michelle Obama is perfect in describing my next adventure so I will end on this and am excited to be back in my little corner of the internet, making sense of my world, myself and the world around me one post at a time.
