Author: CJMillar82

I sat on the porch with my skeletons tonight. It wasn’t that different from any other night, really only tonight I listened to them when they talked to me. I heard their side of the stories I’ve lived. I asked them why it is that I always throw them out in the street to either act as a distraction or get run over before I ever really let people in, and I listened to their answers even when it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

The moon drifted in and out of the passing clouds, almost full, but Arcturus still made an appearance in the western night sky. The citronella candle flickered on the porch, more for light and comfort tonight as the cool breeze and dropping humidity ushered the bugs away as if the past two days of swampy existence almost never happened. There was a faint smell of campfire smoke coming from the campgrounds over the hill as summer campers sat out under the stars in the place that I live marveling at the sky. And I realized that’s just another thing I have to be grateful for.

I live in a place where the smell of campfire smoke drifts among the forest over the mountains on the cool mountain breeze on any given summer night. This place most people vacation – this is home to me. This is home.

It’s amazing what we’ll learn when we just sit still. The hummingbirds telling me that they like the fresh flowers in the garden more than the feeder I put out for them. The fisher cats and foxes screaming next door arguing over territory and who gets to feed their young first. The coyotes howling over the hill on the other side of the pond, knowing they can’t come too close or our dogs and mule will sound the alarm. Fireflies flickering until the air gets too heavy or too cool for them to enjoy and then they just hunker down until the next night to share their lights again. All of this everyday magic everywhere I look, all while sitting on my front porch talking to my skeletons and learning how to become a better person.

The dogs bark at the nothing in the distance just over the treeline and I laugh at their insistence that there IS something in the nothing across the street. Maybe they’re right, but no matter. They’re only right about half the time anyway. They’re not hunting or guard dogs, after all. Just regular pets, a part of the family with something to say so long as we’ll all listen and I love them for it.

I used to wonder what life would be like if things had been different. If I had made different choices, or done things differently but recently I’ve stopped that. My skeletons are still here to remind me in case I forget, but these days they’re more about the conversation and learning together how I can let them rest, take the best parts of what I’ve learned and move on. Forward is always a better direction than stagnant, and backwards is never a way life wants us to go even when we may feel otherwise. I’m learning that more and more these days, and that’s part of why even on the days I feel like it’s impossible to see the next step, I keep putting one foot in front of the other and have the faith to believe that I will always land on solid ground.

I do. Thank you.

It’s funny how we can plan and think and anticipate, and even drive ourselves crazy doing so – my father most certainly did and I’ve walked that fine line most of my life. But the Universe seems to always have other plans for us, regardless of what we think or anticipate or try to map out before it ever happens. Life never quite happens the way we plan, but that’s what makes it so beautiful. There’s always something new around the corner, around the next turn, the next sunrise, the next daybreak, the next nightfall. There’s magic everywhere if we believe in it.

I do.

Shooting stars are common here, as if the magic in the skies transformed right from the back of the lightening bug’s body into the night sky above seamlessly from the treetops to the horizon and everything beyond. The occasional plane flies overhead looking to weave in and out of the Milky Way but I know that it’s just my depth perception and the twinkling stars of our galaxy’s widest band overhead in the country bending light as it travels through space and time to reach here. There’s so much more ahead.

In troubled times, I refuse to believe the worst in the world. There is still so much good in people and I see it every day. I see it in the people around me. In how my kid helps her friends. How my other kid is such a role model for those around him. How new people I meet connect with other people I know and there’s a synergy there that blends the lines between work and friendship in all the best ways that makes loving my job and my life all that much easier. I am so incredibly blessed and so incredibly grateful.

I’ll leave you with this. The moon is almost full and my skeletons are almost out of stories for tonight. They’re still out here, dancing in the moonlight for everyone to see – because they know if you see them first and still want to get to know me, that you are genuine and that’s all that we ask these days. Genuine people. Laughs that make your abs hurt. Smiles that form creases in the corner of your mouth bringing out your dimples and that twinkle in your eye. The magic as the campfire dances around our faces and we toast to days gone by, days like today, and oh so many more days to come. Real friends. Real experiences. Real life. Skeletons included, because they never scared us anyway and besides, it’s almost October…

 

I sat down to write today, after days of thoughts circling in my head, asking to be written down but not yet quite sure what they wanted to say. As the storms rolled out and the sun broke through for another sunset on my porch that paints my life with wonder lately, the words finally started to come together. And then I found this. This blog I wrote 12 years ago, at a time when I was mostly in a dark place. And I reread it this evening, and I smiled. I’m really proud of her. Of me. How much I had been through back then and yet I was still willing to share the softer side of me. I didn’t let the world harden or break me, even though it tried. And oh, it tried and it would again many more times over those next 12 years. But she made it. I made it. I am her, and oh how I’ve grown. I am so proud of myself as I reread those words and smile in amazement at the message I left myself from back then and just how true it still is today. It’s pretty amazing.

The past few weeks have been really hard, but I got through it. I always do, even when I feel like I won’t or I can’t, I do and sometimes I just need to remind myself that. But lately it was even harder, and I was having a hard time keeping my head above water and reminding myself of anything other than that I was drowning. Suddenly, friends showed up from everywhere to save me. And I do mean everywhere. Several friends from Jersey, some whom I haven’t seen in a year, some in much more than that. Some that I’ve known for a few years, and others for decades, and even some for just a few weeks and months. And yet, some of these friends became friends with each other through me, and we all spent time together these past weeks. I went from going out alone all the time feeling incredibly lonely despite being surrounded by people, to simply enjoying life around me, and I stopped to listen.

Do you know what I heard? I heard how amazing I am. How I helped that friend. How I saved another one. How happy they are for me. How grateful they are for who I am. I heard about how some of them wish they knew me in my 20s and how much fun I must’ve been (dude, no, I was a train wreck!). And here’s where the crazy thing happened.

I started to see what they see in me. 

Read that again…

I started to see what THEY see in me!

Maybe I really AM those things? No, not maybe. I AM THOSE THINGS. I am a lot of things to a lot of people, and I learned that even when life and time and the day to day gets in the way of spending all the time you want with all the people you love and call family, they are still always close in your heart. And when you really need them, they and the universe will conspire together to make sure they are there. And they were. Each and every one of them, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you, for being my parachute, and for all these years also letting me be yours. ❤️

If you read the below, I’d love to hear your thoughts. It feels like I could have written this today, as it applies to everything I am going through right now and what I see others I care about going through also. If nothing else, read the very last paragraph and know that I hope it helps you as much as it is helping me. #WordsOfWisdom

____________ original blog “halfway more” from July 8, 2010 below____________

somehow i’m feeling halfway gone, and i’m wondering how it was all these years ago i ever did anything halfway.  i live with too much love, passion, and vibrancy for that.  but there was a time that i did nearly everything halfway, afraid to commit to anything or anyone, always convinced that there was something better around the corner until the moment i felt i made the wrong decision and then i came back wishing for all that i’d just thrown away.  it was this vicious cycle that i put myself and anyone close to me through.  it was awful, and i was quite awful at the time.

somehow i’m not that person any more and i’m grateful for it.  in catching up with someone today, i realized that you can touch someone’s soul even when you are not at your best, and think you may have nothing to offer.  and then i realize that even when you think you are nothing, you are not worthy, to someone you are everything that they ever dreamed of, and more.  trust in that.  trust in that and believe in that with all your heart and all your soul.  before you wake up and it’s ten years later and you realize that you’ve missed your chance.  believe me, you don’t want to miss out on that.  i always said i never wanted to miss a thing, and somehow along the way for so long i did.

but it’s okay.  i’m better, i’ve learned better, and i know better.  i’m a better person now in so many ways.  i’ve figured out how to write for myself and to share my life and love and emotions and thoughts and dreams with the world in lieu of having someone right here to share with me.  i feel like if i write it out, then i can let it go and move on and grow.  i used to carry my emotions, especially my grief, in my pocket like a scarlet letter, something to worship or be proud of that i let it take over every corner of my existence.  now i write it down and share it, and let the world read it and know that we all have these feelings, and we all can deal, and we all can get through this, and we are never alone.  and then i move on and smile, and know that tomorrow will be a better day.  

we always push.  we always pull.  but someday you’ll open up and be my parachute, and you’ll never let me down.  somehow i’ll become your own angel, and we’ll never hit the ground.  we don’t just need these grand gestures to get by, though.  we just need the day to day.  we just need to know there’s someone else out there, listening, breathing, thinking.  looking up at the same stars as me.  smiling to the same song on the radio.  watching the same sunset.  dreaming under the same moon.  standing under the same rain wishing for that kiss that makes it all wash away.

one day at a time we will get there.  brick by brick i will rebuild what i have lost and make it through.  brick by brick these walls will come down.  day by day this house will become a home.  life by life i will be closer to sharing this with someone who sees me for me and understands who i am and why i am here.  

it amazes me how people wish for something their whole life.  with all their heart and all their thoughts.  they wish for someone different.  someone who would just understand them.  someone who just gets them and knows what their life is like, how hard it is some days to just be them.  and who won’t take advantage, who won’t push them away, who will be there through thick and thin.  and who has their own life, their own passions, and their own wishes too.  and all of a sudden when that’s standing right in front of them, they are too scared to do anything and so leave the person there waiting with the nothing they’ve said until the person life sent them eventually just walks away.  and somehow they go back to wishing for what they could have had that they were too afraid to do anything about.  blaming it on life, blaming it on timing, blaming it on everything around them.  telling themselves it wasn’t worth it.  they weren’t worth it.  it would have never worked out anyway.  it’s better this way.

you see, i promise you this – it is not better this way.  

you just missed out on one of the greatest things life put right in front of you because you were too afraid to try, and too convinced that you weren’t good enough that you let it all slip away.  that she couldn’t be real anyway.

how do i know this?  because this is me.  i have done this to the best things life has ever given me in a lesson that took me longer than i care to admit to ever learn.  i was so busy convincing the world that i needed something more that when the world gave me everything i wished for i threw it away, yelling that i wasn’t good enough, and it would never work out anyway.

i’ve lived this.  i am this.  i know this because this is my life too.  but i’m different now.  i’m smarter now.  i can live alone somehow.  and while there’s still so much more i want, this time when the world puts someone in front of me, i stand tall and i say how i feel.  and then i stand still.  and then i stand some more.  and i stay strong, patient, honest, and understanding.  i take a deep breath, and before i blame the world, him, you, or me, i step back and try to understand where you’re coming from.  what’s going on, and what else is going on outside of me.

and this time, all the while, i’m still out living my own life.  i may be patient and understanding, and i’m not running away, but i’m not putting my whole life on standstill either.  i’m sorry if i miss your call, or your text, because my phone was off because i was out with friends, or in a meeting, or focused on work, life, horses, or something else that makes my life whole.  there’s so much more these days and it seems the older i get the more i understand that.  i had a friend tell me today that he wished for our younger days when things seemed simpler, but i disagreed.  i think things are better now because i know more now and i love more now.  i’m bolder now, stronger now, and i’m not afraid to stand here and tell you how i feel, and be accepting that if you don’t feel the same way it won’t break our friendship or ruin my life.  we’ll still smile together, and laugh together.  because that’s what friends do.  no drama necessary.  because really, that’s only a means for attention and when you need to resort to that, you’re not surrounding yourself with people in your life that really care about you anyway.

i don’t want to be that girl anymore.  i’m not that girl anymore.  the me i am today is so much better, so much stronger, so much more honest, open and fun.  i want to jump off cliffs into waterfalls, run through fields chasing fireflies, go camping under the stars with some of the best friends in the world, hike up the mountainside so high i feel as if i could touch the sky, and race the wind on the back of a horse who knows me so well it’s as if we share a soul.  maybe that’s too much for you to understand, or too hard for you to see.  but that’s me.  and in the words of some great bottlecaps, i leave you with this, my friends, and my loves…

stop looking and you’ll find it. the answer is inside you. the weight is not as heavy as you think. write your own future. be here now.

i love you.
all.

 

I wrote this back in 2009, not long after my birthday, wondering now where I was just then and what it all meant back then. Rereading these words now and they still ring true, though my mind calls up some new and different friends’ faces alongside some of the ones that I have known since back then. My heart still remembers the hurt though and I laugh a little at a much younger me, lamenting all the suffering and pain and loss I had already been through as if it had been so much. If only I knew what was to come. There was so much more still to come.

It was all of a much greater magnitude – those things to come. The good stuff, too though. Even that was greater in all the best ways. I used to wonder how I had found no way home. I never quite found the road that lead me to where I was supposed to be, yet I can say with confidence now that I did find that road and it’s right here on Brown Settlement, up in Manor, to this home on the top of the hill looking out over the horizon where I can sit on the porch and watch the sunset and know for the first time in my life what home truly feels like.

This is what I have been homesick for all these years. Home. Not just a house, or a farm, or a place to lay my head. A place to feel safe, to build dreams and imagine storybook endings and believe in magic and wander in my woods and marvel at all the wonder the world still has to offer. And I finally found it here. This is home.

Now it’s time to move forward while still nurturing these roots. The family I chose is all here, and life has so much more still to offer. After the past years, I think I am finally ready to look up more, smile more, believe more, and maybe even finally start to trust myself a little bit more, too.

I’m done chasing. I’ve learned that when I chase, all that happens is I push people away. So convinced of my own lack of self-worth, I felt I always had something to prove. Why wouldn’t I? I grew up always being told I was never enough, while always too much. Not smart enough, not pretty enough, not strong enough, not talented enough. If only I had been more… but then I was more. Too much. Too reckless. Too foolish, too trusting, too cocky, too strong, too talkative, too loud, too intense, too everything.

And so I became nothing.

I’ll tell you all my stories because it’s easier than telling you my hopes and dreams and fears. Especially my fears. I’ll have you believe I’m afraid of nothing but heights if you’ll let me. And my hopes and my dreams? For work, sure. Material stuff? No problem – as that doesn’t hold any real value anyway. Ask what I want out of life? Love? Time? No, no, I don’t have a story to spin on that one. Saying any of that out loud means you get to see my soul, and if you get to see more than I am willing to put as words on a page tucked safely behind a computer screen and Instagram vaguebook posts then you may get to really know me. And if you really know me, I can be hurt again, and hurt that I can’t turn into comedy just tears me apart from the inside. So I make a joke about it, dodge the meaningful questions, and tell you a story.

I’ll tell you where I want to travel, the kind of car I want to buy next, what my messed up childhood was like, how losing my best friend saved my life, how losing my father was both a blessing and a relief that I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around. How becoming a parent to two teenagers was the craziest, most spontaneous, and absolute best thing I’ve ever done – not because I am good at it (I still think I am awful but thanks to friends I am figuring it out). But because I didn’t stop for a second to think. I just DID. 

I trusted my gut and made a split second decision that forever changed the rest of my life. For the better. So much better. Even when it was incredibly hard, it was better because they were a part of this life with me. It’s incredible really how sometimes when you just trust your gut, your soul finds its way home.

I still spend a lot of time alone. In a career filled with public social posts, tagging brands and companies, profiles, and colleagues, peppered with work get togethers, happy hours, conferences, speaking engagements, and everything else that has me “always on,” I still spend a lot of time alone. In some cases it’s to rest and recharge. In others, it’s to quiet my mind which left to its own devices seems to keep going often to my detriment and self-doubts. And then I get stuck back to thinking too much, talking too much, and spinning my wheels in a way that just gets me in deeper with nothing while going nowhere. I know it’s futile, and I am spending less days stuck and more days forward again finally, and I think I am finally learning that “forward” doesn’t always mean you have to keep moving.

Sometimes the best way to move your heart and your soul forward is by just sitting still. Stop chasing. Stop screaming at the top of your lungs that you are worth it! That you ARE something! You ARE someone and you DO matter! Stop screaming so loud, laughing so hard, spinning your life story into a great comedy show that makes everyone laugh with you. Because if they are all laughing at your misfortune with you, they don’t have to feel sorry for you, and you don’t ever ever ever feel sorry for yourself so of course why not laugh? Who doesn’t like to laugh?

There are other things to laugh at, too. Good times with friends. Beers and whiskey around the campfire while smoke chases you wherever you sit and your eyes tear and you can’t tell if it’s from the campfire smoke or laughing so hard. It’s a combination of both, really.

I am smiling more these days, and not just when I am out with people, or out alone people watching and sitting by myself at the end of the bar with my laptop working because I just can’t bear to go home to an empty house again when the kids have plans. The silence doesn’t echo so loudly in my ears these days. I ride around the state park for hours on end saying nothing, seeing no one, and just listening to nature and the sounds of my horse’s hoof beats against the trails and catch myself smiling for no reason. Or all the reasons in the world.

That will keep happening more. I believe that. Time alone will always be sacred to me, and a key part of my sanity. It’s finding that balance between withdrawing all together versus having every day and every weekend and every moment packed so full with life that I forget to even stop and breathe that’s a challenge. I am getting better at it. I am not planning weekends, or even weekdays other than general work stuff and deadlines and big things like graduation parties. The rest I am not chasing. I am here. I am home. I am still homesick for someone to see me as not too much, and always enough, but I am lucky that I had that once as a kid in two amazing friends who always had my back, and I do believe if nothing else, there is the possibility of finding that again in some way even if it’s not the way I imagined. Though maybe it will be. As long as there is the possibility, I will always believe it can happen for me.

And so, as I said 13 years ago, this time heading into what I have every intention of making #thesummerofourlives, I again exclaim, “let the wild rumpus start!” as I head off into the forest where the wild things are to camp out in that clearing and wish on the stars. Come find me if you like, I’m right here, not chasing anything, not even dreams anymore, because I believe that everything is right here falling into place and the people that want to be a part of all of this will find me if they want me in their lives. Just know I want you here, too. I love you all, thank you for always being there for me. Let’s go make magic together this year, and for years to come.

__________ original blog 10/13/2009 below ______________

sometimes i wonder if it’s really that hard to understand. that hard to communicate. that hard to deal, grasp, and move on. i’ve suffered great losses, and lived through great triumphs, and each one has taught me a lesson. i’ve learned what death means, how it truly is a celebration of life, how mourning is okay, and how when you really think no one understands, someone does.

i’ve learned that when the days are harder than they have seemed to be in years, i’ve been blessed to have friends for all lives here – friends that aren’t just here and now, but friends that will be here through many lives. friends that have left and returned, and friends that are newer and have made their way into the core of my life. these are the friends that are with us, not just this life, but through lives, and i’m grateful for mine that they would be so brave as to be there for me not just in the good times, but also in the bad. to move on and move forward and be willing to leave the past behind. to be there when i need a shoulder to cry on, or to just be there and let me cry by myself sometimes.

it’s times like these and friends like these that make the victories sweeter, the triumphs more glorious, and the dreams we wish for a reality. i’m so lucky and so blessed and i promise to never ever take that for granted. and then i still wonder why it’s that hard. why IS it that hard? to understand and deal and just be yourself? there are people who get this, but then others who seem to just not….and i wonder. what gives? where is the reality in that? why can’t i find someone that i can just talk to and be myself with? why can’t i just end up wherever it is that i’m supposed to be anyway? i can see all of this ahead, i can know so much of where i am to go. but still there are so many answers and no road home, and it’s frustrating.

i wonder if i loved wrong. or if i chose wrong. the heart wants what the heart wants, right? what if my heart wanted wrong? what if the love of my life already passed? what if i’m waiting for too much, or held on too long, or lost my way when i let go so long ago? what if then? or this? or here? or now? what next?

i just don’t know.

i do know that it is hard. and i do know that these are friends for all ages, and all lives, that no matter what else is hard, i have friends that will help make it easier. i know what it’s like to feel lost and feel loved, and i’m happy to be in the latter more often than not these days. i’m happy to be able to return the love – if not to one soul, at least to many souls close to me that help make this life so much better and help me look forward to all that is yet to come.

and there is magic on the horizon and change on the winds. i could smell it on the brisk fall air the way i always do this time of year. the leaves are changing and autumn is all around. there’s ways to other imaginations through this path in the woods where i live, and i know where i’ll be this friday. under the stars in a boat to a land where the wild things are. with friends for all lives. making memories to last this life into the next. and with that i say, let the wild rumpus start!

I love this porch. I could live here forever. I plan to, actually and anyone who knows me knows I really mean that. At least for this life or as many years as I have remaining here. This is home. I’ve lived a lot of places, and left a lot of things in my past but this is different. This is, quite simply, home.

I laid down roots here, and this is where I will be. Don’t get me wrong – I look forward to traveling again and getting back out there and having great adventures and amazing times wherever life may take us. But home – home is right here. This porch. These kids. This farm. This life. It’s something I’ve never truly felt before, and I promise you, every second of every moment that lead me here has been worth it for this. This. This is the stuff dreams are made of, and how lucky am I that I get to live mine?

Don’t get me wrong, the past few years have been nothing short of hell that I’m grateful to move on from. But also, for the first time in a long time, years actually, I feel like myself again. I am starting to laugh again. Things are looking up. We can smile together. I can wander the state park on the back of one of my two favorite horses in silence surrounded by nothing but the forest and truly live. Me and my kids have fallen into a comfortable rhythm where we understand each other and no longer need to stress the small stuff because we all know we will always have each other’s backs and even when money is tight, we all know it is temporary. We all work too hard and care too much to have things work out any other way. Sometimes, life just throws you curveballs.

So you learn how to hit those curveballs. And here we are. It’s always good to see you. Welcome home.

I would like nothing more. Actions speak our true character, words just romance us. My one friend put it succinctly when she said:

“How we face fear tells so much about our character, we are no more than the sum of our actions and the reliability of our word.”

I’ve said my whole life my word is my bond, and I’ve meant it. There are some things that are values that are a part of me. But truth be told, actions and words aligning are the most important part of who we are.

There have been people in my life this year who I have had to step back from because their words and actions didn’t align, or they just didn’t have the courage to follow through. It’s been easier than in prior years, which is saying something since this has happened with a few friends so far this year, though I hope we’re done with that. I just keep reminding myself that negativity will not leave you. You must leave it. If it is in your life, it is only because you allow it to be. Easier said than done sometimes. It gets easier over time with confidence and trust in yourself, and when you respect yourself enough to realize that while there is some good in having boundaries adjust and change, it’s never okay when it is to the detriment of your values.

My opinions are based on what people show me of themselves, not on what stories they tell. I’m a storyteller too, both in work and life. We all are. Life is a story, and we are our own authors. However it’s more than that. Words on a page can spark emotion, drive anger, inspire love, create passion, and so much more. But they’re still just words.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

– Maya Angelou

I don’t always. That’s a lesson I have a hard time with. I also believe people can change, but only if they truly want to and never for someone else. Change for someone rather than change that is self-initiated is never sustainable. At some point in the future, the choices made to enact that change for someone else result in resentment, a crumbling of trust, and eventually the floor falls out. I’ve seen it too many times in people around me and that’s not something I want to be a part of. I’ve spent a very very long time alone because I felt that I was worth investing in – and I still believe that today. I learned that going from one relationship to another just to fill that hole in my heart and to feel loved only resulted in the floor falling out eventually. And eventually I learned that hurt far more than learning how to look myself in the mirror every day and love the person looking back at me.

It was a long journey, and I’m finally home. I moved in this past September, but it just recently truly started feeling like home. Once the weather broke from winter, riding again was the last missing piece. The yard still needs work, and the ground hasn’t settled and as soon as I have more money, I need to lay the Lighthoof panels and order more gravel so we can drive along the barns behind them and drive to the shop if we need. Right now it’s a sopping wet muddy mess but that’s ok. We just put in the water lines in early December so it’s going to take some work. We have time. We live here now. It’s home.

I lost most of last year from riding because every free moment not working for one of my three agencies, I was commuting 2h away to my childhood home to clean it out and sell it after the death of my father. There was barely time to breathe, let alone ride. This year is different. I will have Duke and Cole both conditioned and ready for the first pace April 24th, right before I leave for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day event for one of the busiest weeks of my career. I am doing their marketing with my team and we’re going to rock it! But it’s long days, and even longer nights, usually up at 6, working by 7, home by 10 to do it all again the next day. And that’s not counting the other client work that needs to get done that is unrelated to the event. It’ll be exhausting but worth it.

When I’m back, it’s full swing on hunter pace season, and I can’t wait! We get one in before the trip. There’s a follow up trip for Florida planned for mid-May, and then beach to see friends, then Six Flags, and hopefully VA to see more friends and Busch Gardens, and camping to Lake Luzerne with the horses in between. Working this hard is absolutely worth it!

Maybe you’ll be here but I don’t believe so. Good thing I’m not a betting person, huh? Guess that’s why I only bet on horses – they’re a lot easier to understand than humans, that’s for damn sure. There’s a lot of stuff you’ve said that I don’t believe, but that doesn’t mean I want to be right. People assume I always have to be right but that’s not true at all. I just prefer not to ask questions that I don’t already know the answers to which is why I research things so much and learn as much as I can before I speak….well most of the time anyway haha! We all have our moments. Anyway. I really don’t want to be right, especially not about this. For now, though, I believe I am. There’s been nothing else to show me otherwise. It’s also why I’m not asking the questions. I have no way of knowing the answers other than to base it on what I’ve seen so far. I don’t have time for conjecture. Life is calling and I must go. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Recently I’ve been scrolling through some of my old blogs and writings, back from the days of MySpace and when Tumblr was actually a blog site and revisiting things I’ve written in the past. Sometimes it amazes me how much of what I’ve written still holds true today. The larger message in so many of my words is still very much the same, as I’ve worked to grow, learn, improve, and evolve. I also took one of those personality tests – partly out of curiosity, partly out of boredom, and partly because it’s wet and rainy out and I am procrastinating barn chores. But regardless, I took it and found I am an ENFJ-A which makes a lot of sense. As a protagonist, I have high ideals, even higher standards for myself, and a core foundation of trust, honesty, authenticity, truth, and justice. It resonates with me and was reassuring, as recently I’ve had my truth questioned by someone who I thought trusted me – but clearly does not.

Any time things get hard, or I am faced with a statement or observation from someone close to me that I didn’t see or realize or feel, I take a step back to evaluate. I go to a place of calm, take out my own emotion so that I can better understand someone else’s point of view. I always want to learn more about myself and how others see me, so that I can continue to grow and learn and improve. Most of the time, their insights are valuable. Actually all of the time, insight from others is valuable. What I’m learning is that there’s also a duality there that needs to be separated. There are people who share their thoughts and opinions and observations of you who are, doing so out of honesty and care. But that’s not always the case, and sometimes people are sharing based on their thoughts and opinions and observations of themselves that they are afraid to admit really is about them, and not you. That’s the duality that needs to be sorted through. Which is it?

I’m learning that if you take the former to heart, it’s a great way to learn and grow. I am also learning that if you take the latter to heart, when those statements come from a place of fear and are actually a projection of the observer’s own insecurities or even their own actions, it can cause incredible hurt and pain. Separating that duality and not lumping both types of observations into the same category – and learning not to take someone else’s projections of their own actions as a true assessment of your own can help you see their inner emotions and fears and realize that it never really was about you, after all.

Sometimes it still hurts. Sometimes it makes me sad for that person, but I’ve also learned not to take on that sadness as my own. And I’ve learned that my greatest fault always will be seeing the greatness in someone and loving their potential, even when they are too afraid to make the changes in their life around them to embrace the strength and beauty of their own soul.

Not every ugly duckling grows up to be a beautiful swan and not every caterpillar emerges from the cocoon as a beautiful butterfly. Sometimes, some people choose to live in a place of fear and insecurity and jealousy and untruths. When those things become a way of life – and they in turn project those emotions and behaviors onto you – that is when you have to step back and remember to breathe.

I am many things. A liar is not one of them. And anyone who knows me at all knows that to be true to the core of my being. Truth and Justice are tattooed in Latin across my back, and for good reason. They are words that define me, who I am, and how I live. I believe, above all else, in living your truth and always always having your actions match your words. Without honesty, the rest of who you are becomes entirely obsolete because what are people to believe anyway? If you can lie to some people, and you can lie to yourself, how I am to believe that you’re not lying to me?

I am not a liar. Sometimes, and for some people, that is especially hard to understand. Those are the people who live in the muddiness of their own lies. I do not want your misery. I only wanted to help you see the joy around you when you live your life with honesty, integrity, and truth. Only then can you be a champion for the justice that you say you believe in, or be the partner, parent, or best friend you claim you wish to be.

Find your truth and learn how to live it. I cannot do that for you. I can only – and always will – live mine.

I live an impossible life. In nearly every aspect of my life, I defy the odds. I move mountains. I make the impossible a reality almost every single day. It’s exhausting, but it’s also incredibly fulfilling. I know my strengths, and I am continually learning and working on improving my weaknesses. I am human, but that doesn’t mean the impossible is just that. I am anything but ordinary, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Forgive me for my honesty and my never-ending grit. Over the years as I’ve seen obstacles all around me, I used to be afraid. Frozen in fear, I’d only see the path right in front of me regardless of if it was even passable or not and in the wake of challenges I’d often give up.

Over time, I learned to not give up. That even when there are seemingly no other choices, there always are other choices. Sometimes you just have to change your perspective. As I grew up, I learned that when you can’t see anything but the path right in front of you, that doesn’t mean there is no other way. It simply means you may have to make your own path. And, at times, my sword from all my years as a warrior became instead a tool for clearing new roads, finding new ways, carving out new options and creating better choices for the life I wanted rather than the life I had.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Over time, you learn that if you lower your expectations of everyone around you, and choose to focus instead on the expectations you set on yourself, you’ll never be disappointed in anyone but yourself. And you can always improve and fix yourself. With love, time, and attention even the most stubborn and broken and battle-worn parts of your soul can heal. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone to share that with. Actually, it always is. But it’s not a requirement. You learn to shoulder on, focus on the positive, carry the wins with you, and take the losses and turn them into tomorrow’s triumphs.

Life has been hard, but then again it always is. It’s just a matter of choosing your hard. It’s hard to be stuck. It’s hard to be afraid. It’s hard to miss out on the life you want because you’re so busy heads down working to pull things together that you fool yourself into believing that if you just keep going and just keep pushing on, that things will get better. It’s also hard to forge a new path. It’s hard to change your way of thinking. It’s hard to see things from a different perspective – a lot of different perspectives. I’m still learning that, and asking questions and trying to see things better from others’ points of view. It’s even harder still to choose the way you want to go over the way you need to go over the way you thought you’d be going and trust yourself enough to know that whatever you choose, you have to always have faith in yourself. Life is hard. Choose the hard that leads you over those obstacles and pretty soon you’ll realize, it’s also beautiful.

Mountains can move. There’s a big difference between can’t, won’t, and choose not to. Use the right words when you tell yourself your story long before you tell your story to the world and you’ll find it will make all the difference.

There’s a calm that comes over you in the wake of a storm where regardless of the outcome, somehow you have serene faith that everything is going to be okay. It doesn’t matter that the wind is howling at you, the storm is screaming, and even if the world around you seems to be splintering, if you are really strong, you can find this deep sense of faith that will see you through.

You see, I don’t care which God you believe in. Or Goddess. Spirit. Light. Buddha. Or any many other names. No, that doesn’t matter. What matters is who you are at your core, and where does your faith stand. Who do you trust? Yourself? Yeah, that’s a good place to start, but a hard one too. Sometimes trusting ourselves feels like an impossible challenge until one remembers that the word itself implies the possible by simply saying, “I’m possible.” There are answers there if only you look hard enough. There are answers if you have faith.

Regardless of anyone’s personal struggles, we all have our burdens to bear. Life is not easy, and for those who may have it easy, often behind closed doors the things that they live are less easy than they may have us believe. And, even so, regardless of that too, if we have faith we will see that that one person’s easy doesn’t make the next person’s life hard in return. We each have our own challenges, our own burdens, and our own battles. The beauty comes when we can see that none of these has to happen alone if we allow ourselves to be loved.

I used to believe I was unworthy of love. Most of my life, actually. I still struggle with it sometimes. I thought for a long time it was because of my weight, but then I got healthier and I didn’t feel all that different. I still had many of those same self-doubts nagging at the back of my head telling me it was easier to stand here on my mountain and let no one in. But you know what I learned? I was wrong. Being vulnerable is beautiful and if you learn to love yourself, no one can ever use you against you, even if they try.

I am worthy of love. Even more so, I am also worthy of giving love. And that can be reciprocal. It doesn’t always need to be unrequited or fatalistic or some be all end all suicide pact. That’s not love at all.

Love is caring for others, opening your home and your heart to people you care about, and in turn letting those people care about you, too. It’s about family circles on Life360 so that we all know that each other is safe at all times without ever having to question it. It’s peace of mind knowing that we all care enough about each other to check in. It’s having a home where none of us have keys because we don’t need them – we all have codes to the door because everyone is welcome here and we will always call this home for everyone we love. Even when people feel they don’t deserve it, or don’t belong, or haven’t had the chance yet to figure out if they do or they do not. Because it’s more than that.

It’s home. It’s that ethereal calm that reminds you that your fear is lying to you, that your insecurities are bullshit, and that your doubts are only temporary. It’s that same ethereal calm that helps you through when your body decides to have a panic attack days after your brain sorted through (or so you thought) the stressors in front of you such as work and time and money. It’s that same ethereal calm that washes over you like a wave of relief in a hot shower after a long day and an even longer night filled with laughter and good times even when sometimes there are questions, too. And again it’s that same ethereal calm that reminds you it’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to not know what happens next. It’s okay to not know all the answers, or to sometimes feel like you know none of them and you have a million more questions every single second. It’s not knowing the outcome but loving anyway.

That’s what faith is. It’s trust, and hope, and love, and serenity, and a belief that if we live to our truest most authentic self, that we will always find our way home. Thank you for showing me that. I love you.

Sometimes in life you have to be strong to get through the stuff in front of you to get to the good stuff ahead. Even when that means it feels as if everything around you is burning to the ground and you feel like you’re barely keeping your head above water, if at all. Treading water is exhausting. Trying not to drown while still trying to swim through everything life keeps throwing at you like some massive obstacle course or challenge that you know will make you stronger even when in the short term all it feels like is that you’re getting hit from all sides and barely have time to breathe.

Sometimes in life, you start to realize you don’t have to do it all alone. It’s okay to ask for help. To stay up late to be there for others. To call someone just to say, I needed to hear your voice right now. To work a little longer. Try a little harder. Breathe a little differently. Just to make things come together even when it feels like the universe keeps throwing storm after storm your way until the big one rolls in and everything comes to a head.

Because you know what? On the other side of that massive storm is daybreak. And better days ahead.

I fell asleep before midnight, collapsed in exhaustion after a long day on the heels of a long day, followed by another long day strung together like a series of life challenges coming after you wave after wave after wave crashing over you pulling you out to sea only to realize things will settle, and you will wash ashore.

I sat on the front porch in the late night cover of snow listening as the snowflakes changed over to ice pinging against the steps. The soft white velvet blanket took on a silvery sheen under the pale light shining from the garage across the empty driveway and I wondered what tomorrow would bring.

Tomorrow is almost here. And the tomorrow after that is close behind. Sometimes when everything is on fire, you realize that it all has to burn down before the snow can blanket the earth in its soft comforting magic to remind you that where you are now is not where you were meant to always be.

Life is about change. Growing to become better. Learn more. Evolve. Adapt. And, through it all continuously seeking your True North.

The street is blanketed in cottony white, untouched by plows or salt at this early morning hour and it looks as if this mountain will remain untouched – at least for now – offering solace from the world down below. I listened to the wind rolling up through the hills, swaying the trees as the gradual change from snow to ice resonated differently across the landscape making a soft almost musical pinging sound as if nature was singing its own song to anyone who would stand still long enough to listen. I’m reminded of the story of The Piazza, the fairy cabin up on the mountain hidden in the woods under a blanket of snow and ice and sunlight that hasn’t yet come today.

Things will get better. That’s why we’re working so hard right now to get through this. Not just to survive, make ends meet, and go through the motions day after day, but to move forward to the magic that’s outside, the wonder that’s ahead, and all of the amazing things to come.

Life’s challenges make us better, stronger, and help us grow. Without storms to overcome, life would be flat and the flatness of surviving is a stark contrast to really living. Even when the night steals my sleep and I sit here listening to the snow fall outside mixed with ice against the windowpane, I know that eventually I will sleep and everything will be okay.