It’s Not Over

Life has many ups and downs. It will take us down numerous paths, detours, and roadblocks. Life has a way of taking us on an emotional roller coaster. It ebbs and flows, it’s great and it’s depressing.

We never know what life might hand to us. In some ways that’s scary, in many ways that’s thrilling and leaves us with much hope.

Despair

Unfortunately, sometimes in life, we will have moments of despair. We may feel like we have lost hope, we are depressed, and feeling lost and broken.

In these moments, it’s hard to see any good at all. It’s hard to see the positives, the silver lining, and it’s hard to practice gratitude.

Life Happens.

As we go through life, we encounter many things good and bad. During the happy moments, we feel full of life and on top of the world! Maybe we just got married, had a baby, got a job promotion, and moved to a new area. We feel full of life. Things are going our way!

On the flip side, we have times when we feel that the world is against us, we feel like we don’t matter, and that everything is going wrong. We might be grieving the loss of a loved one, have been laid off, or ended a relationship.

It’s Not Over

Our world might be crashing down around us, and we feel that it’s over. The job loss changes everything, grieving a loved one is debilitating, and the loss of a relationship really weighs on the heart. At that moment, we feel that everything is over, it’s too much to bear.

It’s not until much time has passed that the clouds can lift and we can start to see life in a different light. Hope comes back stronger and we feel like we will be okay, we can keep moving forward and tackle anything in the way.

Transformation

Although we never forget. Time has way of healing and making things feel less intense. It’s sad to see our loved ones going through a rough time, but it’s a beautiful thing to witness others who were deeply sad or upset become whole again. A smile returns to their face, and they have picked up and started moving forward.

Witnessing this transformation in life is a beautiful thing. It shows how strong the human mind is, and how much strength we all have as human beings even throughout our darkest days.

A Little Motivation 

Think of all that you’ve been through in life and here you are! You’ve made it. Sure, it wasn’t easy, but you did it. Life is ever-changing, we will have many highs and lows. Each time we go through something stressful, devastating, or traumatizing, we grow that much stronger. We realize that we have what it takes to pull through.

In closing, I leave you with a quote that I have always found to be encouraging and true:

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

   -John Lennon

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The Path of Redirection

Can you recall a time when you wanted something so badly, but it never happened? A time when you wanted A, but you got B? Maybe you were upset and mad at the world for a while and wondering why me?

For the most part, we generally have a direction that we want to go in life. We have a path that we want to take, dreams, goals, and aspirations.

Life will take us on many journeys and they won’t always be the ones that we expect or hope for. While this sounds like a negative outcome, it can end up being the most beautiful thing ever.

A Different Path

The path of redirection may be what we least expect or hope for as we navigate through life. We have this vision for our lives, and we anticipate most of it happening to us as we strive and work hard every day to create the lives that we want.

Being taken off of the path that we were originally on can be discouraging, frustrating, and can leave us questioning so much about ourselves and our lives.

Fate

We all have our own beliefs about life. I believe that we all have a destiny, a designed path that we are to be on. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and somehow, we all end up right where we should be when the time is right.

Our path is unique to us. Traveling down the path of redirection can put us farther away from where we want to be. What we may not realize is that this redirection may lead us to our desires despite it feeling like a huge curveball.

Life Experiences 

There have been so many times in my life when I’ve been redirected. I remember feeling frustrated and lost. I couldn’t understand why I was being taken so far away from what I wanted.

As time moved forward, things started slowly falling into place. Many of the times the desired outcome was reached even if it was the complete opposite way of how I expected it to be. Many of the redirections in my life became some of my biggest blessings!

The Puzzle of Life

Have you ever noticed that our experiences in life fit together like a puzzle? Everything connects to something else as we march on.

Each piece fits together so perfectly. Each piece is important as it becomes a part of the larger picture.

The next time that you find yourself being redirected, hold onto hope that it might be for the best and that the biggest blessing might be just around the corner!

Can’t Sleep? Try This

I usually have the ability to fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I’ve been that way ever since I was a child. My parents joke that when I was little, I used to tell them that I wasn’t tired and then as soon as I laid down in bed, I was out like a light!

There are times, however, when my mind is racing, my nerves are unsettled, and I am feeling so restless. There are times when it’s 2:00 a.m. and I can be found still lying in bed wide awake. In those moments, there is something that I turn to.

Finding Out

One day I was scrolling through YouTube videos, and I came across a video for Delta Waves. I had never seen any of the videos before. I thought that I would check it out.

I am a huge fan of YouTube. I love to look at all sorts of videos from cooking to vlogs and funny clips. I just really enjoy the variety of what YouTube has to offer. I am always discovering something new, such as this!

Delta Waves

I clicked on one of the videos like the one I will share below, and I was almost instantly calmed. It reminded me of meditation music. I was able to focus on the beautiful and relaxing beat as I drifted away instead of being consumed by my racing thoughts.

I found delta waves to be so relaxing and filled me with much peace. The music almost put me in a trance. I could feel myself getting lost in it. No matter what mood I am in, this beat has the ability to soothe me, and in most cases, I fall asleep rather quickly. Here is one of the videos to give you an idea of what delta waves music sounds like.

YouTube video by Silent Rhythm

I use videos like this one to help me sleep on those nights when I have trouble. I also use these videos when I am stressed out or I just need to get my mind to stop running on a hamster wheel.

Have you heard of delta waves music before? If you listened to the video above, how did it make you feel?

At Arm’s Length

As a young girl, I was always very outgoing and silly. I enjoyed smiling, laughing, and joking around. I also had a huge passion for making other people laugh. I wanted to see everyone with a smile on their face.

During my teenage years, I became withdrawn. I started dealing with anxiety and depression that stemmed from extreme social anxiety. I spoke to a few friends, but it was all small talk. The middle school years and most of my high school years were very trying times for me.

Young adulthood soon approached and slowly by slowly, I started coming out of my shell and gaining back confidence in myself. I started regularly socializing and opening myself up to others. I had many learning experiences with my group of friends and when I started dating. Not all of these were positive, many were detrimental to my sense of self and my trust in others.

My Personality

I have always been someone that loves to care for others. I am very empathetic, and I always want to lend a helping hand. I enjoy sitting down and connecting with other people. If I can be of any sort of help, even just by listening, then my day has been made.

Because of my kind and helping nature, I have been taken advantage of more times than I can count. I have seen many fair-weather friends. It really is sad to me that so many people take advantage of others because they are good-hearted. It is not in my nature to ever do that to someone.

Over Time

The life experiences that we go through can make or break us. Sure, we can keep a positive mindset and that helps tremendously, but we don’t forget the way that others have treated us in the past. Though much of this comes within, pleasant experiences will help our confidence and self-esteem. Experiences that cause us suffering can lead to mental health issues, lower self-esteem, and issues with trust.

The latter is a big one for me. I have had many experiences where people have taken advantage of my personality, ones that appeared to be the most loyal friends that ended up leaving and relationships where there was much dishonesty. Over time, it really weighed on me. Naturally, I decided to put a wall up.

Today

I am thankful to have a good group of friends today. I am close with only a select few, however. Many are acquaintances or good friends, but very few are best friends and ones that I can open my heart to. I am not an open book, and it takes a very long time to gain my trust and be open and vulnerable. I don’t want to be this way, I want to be able to trust everyone that I meet until they prove untrustworthy, however, the very people that I trusted to never hurt me ended up doing so in more ways than one.

I keep most people at arm’s length. I am trying hard to change this. I strive to be authentic and vulnerable; it is no easy feat. I am very friendly but also very slow to get to know. I used to put everything out there, but now my heart is guarded. I would like to unblock this energy and be able to see other people without a sense of fear. Sometimes I wonder if I am not able to pick up signs and red flags as well as others. Sometimes I think that I see people in only a good light, and I fail to spot someone who is not genuine.

I love to get to know others. I love it when they open up their hearts and minds to me, it fosters such a beautiful connection. Relationships are a two-way street and I know that if I don’t share my heart with the ones that are sharing it with me, it will be a one-sided relationship. Others may not feel as strong of a connection to me if I don’t reciprocate the intimacy and connection. I admire so much when I see two people in a loving relationship or in a deep friendship. I wonder to myself “how do they do it!?”

Knowing where we fall short and what we want to change is a huge step in the right direction. I hope that in time, I will be able to tear down these walls.

The Leprechaun Trap

It seems like every holiday takes me back to family traditions and fun school memories as a child. On St. Patrick’s Day when I was in elementary school, we were assigned a very fun project that I still remember today. It also left me with a reminder about life.

Our goal was to catch a leprechaun! The instructions were to get a pencil box and decorate it with stickers, glitter, or art of any kind. We were told to use our creativity and design the box any way that we liked. Our teacher helped us cut out a pot of gold and a rainbow made out of construction paper. We put this inside the pencil box to lure the leprechauns in. The final piece was to put an upright pencil inside of the box to prop open the lid. We placed these on our desks as we left for the day and waited for the magic!

That Night

I remember going home so excited to tell my parents and my sister what I had made in class and what we were going to catch that night. I was excited with anticipation of wondering what we might see the next day. My mind flooded with thoughts. “Are leprechauns real?” “Is it possible to catch one?” “What if this is just for fun?” I tried not to let those thoughts keep me from the fun! I was a child that adored magic and I liked to believe in anything and everything. I felt that it created so much happiness and excitement.

I couldn’t wait to get back to school the next day. My mind was busy wondering if we had caught anything in our traps! The possibility was thrilling.

The Next Day

I went to school the next day dressed in green with my treats in hand for the classroom party. I walked quickly into the classroom to see what had unfolded from the night before. There were tiny black footprints on our desks and the walls. We could find these little prints around the room. They were on the tables, in the bathroom, on the floor…it was magical!

Our teacher had used paint and a sponge to create these little footprints, like that from the black boots of a tiny leprechaun. My heart filled with joy! At that very moment, leprechauns were real, even if only in my heart.

Life Relationship

There is a lot in life that we wonder about. There are many things that we can’t see or explain. There is always the possibility that someone or something in our lives isn’t real, but we keep going and believing in whatever makes us happy, whatever brings us joy in this crazy world.

We have goals and dreams. We might know that the possibility of reaching these dreams is very small, but a possibility is a possibility. There is a chance, and it is that hope that we hold onto! Keeping hope lets us have fun and keeps us motivated. We keep trying and trying until we are the person that we want to be, and we keep persisting until our dreams have been met.

Even when we knew we possibly wouldn’t catch a leprechaun, the chance was there and that made for some magical and fun memories! I think that we could all benefit greatly in life if we chose to keep hope alive and know that there is a chance for anything to happen, no matter how small!