The Crazee Chick's View of Life

A writer (and truth teller) that I really admire, Janelle Hanchett (The Renegade Mother) , offered to run her writing class FO FREE y'all  on FB during this COVID crisis.  After jumping for joy over her generosity and kindness I signed up and the first lesson last week was about finding your voice.  If you've ever read my blog you'll quickly notice that this piece I wrote is for the first time ever, NOT in my voice, and yet oddly enough it is. My husband has some reservations about me sharing such a personal story so I hope it's not too much for you to handle. The assignment was to write about a time where we had to find inner strength. This is my story.

D o you consider yourself to be religious or spiritual? For many years I considered them to be mutually exclusive.  If you weren't religious, how could you possibly experience spirituality?  How did you categorize it? To whom did you attribute the moment? My religion defined God--it gave him a face, a body, a personality, and from that I knew who looked down upon me at night as I uttered my evening prayers.  When I had a spiritual moment, I could see who had blessed me with that opportunity.  It was clear, so very clear. And then one day it wasn't anymore.   After a lifetime of being a devout christian I became disillusioned with organized religion and God and I separated myself from both.    And that was hard, so very hard.  It was then that I began to consider whether or not religion and spirituality were in fact mutually exclusive.  Could I still feel indescribable joy, or a burning in my soul, if I was ...

Have you ever done a vision board?  If not, let me tell you, they are the bomb diggity!  They are a visual representation of your goals and dreams and are a great tool for helping you remember and focus on what you want to achieve.   I have faithfully done one for about the last seven years.  I love the process--the dreaming, the refining, finding the pictures and then smooshing them all on one page.  And, of course, if you know me you'll know that I love laminating and so that final touch solidifies my goals and makes them unchangeable. Put your vision board somewhere where you can see it every day.  I have two--one in my office and one in my bathroom (yes, both are laminated!).  Look at them and recall the excitement you felt when you dreamed the dreams.  Use the pictures to strengthen you when you're feeling low or when you've lost your focus.   It doesn't have to be pretty and it doesn't have to make sense to anyone but you....

Yes, we saw it. Yes, it was amazing. Yes, we want to see it again today. But we won't. Maybe next week!

I've been waiting for you.   2016, I'm ready! 2015 was a good year, but it wasn't my best.  In retrospect I realized that I learned more about myself in the 365 days of 2015 than I had in my whole 48 years of life.  Sometimes the learning was hard.  Okay, let's be honest, most of the learning was hard.  Learning is never easy. Think back to learning how to tie your shoes.  It was hard until you finally got it and then it was a cinch! How about the first time you drove a car? It wasn't as easy as it looked, was it?  For the first time you came to appreciate why mom would shush your endless chatter as she drove through the city. Think about learning math, chemistry...any form of academia...yikes, sometimes you could actually feel your brain stretching as it acquired the new knowledge.  Sometimes learning isn't so obvious though. Sometimes through the dredges of the day you find yourself pensive, melancholy, or introspective. ...

Once upon a time I worked as a counsellor in the weight loss industry and a lady came into my office full of excitement with a look in her eyes reserved only for heroes and movie stars.  She was absolutely star struck and whispered in reverent tones..."I bought the program based solely on having you as my counsellor."  Good grief, I thought, why on earth would you do a thing like that?!  So, of course, I asked, "Why on earth would you do that?". "Because," she answered humbly with bowed head, "you've lost over one hundred pounds." Huh?  I have??!! Suddenly I realized what had happened.  I remember her walking by on her 'tour' as I was finishing up a conversation with one of my colleagues where I said..."Yeah, I've lost a hundred pounds but it's been the same 10 lbs ten times!" Unfortunately she hadn't heard the last part of the sentence. As it turns out, after my revelation that I had NOT lost 100lbs, s...