I see you.
Tired. Exhausted. At the end of whatever it is that has been pushing you, pressing, guiding you down a path you never saw coming and probably wouldn’t have chosen.
I see you.
Loved, loving, trying, trying, trying just to do your best, from the second that you open your eyes in the morning to the long moments before they close again, after your head hits the pillow, hours, minutes, seconds later.
I see you and also crave to be seen.
To know that I am not alone. I want to hear that you see it, too. Not only in me, but in yourself. Because you are worth it all. The footprints you leave behind down the difficult path, for someone to follow, or no one at all, even if that someone is a future you. When you’ve done the hard things once and can follow your own path, knowing that it will be easier this time simply because you’ve walked this way before.
I finished the book I was reading—Untamed by Glennon Doyle. I will likely talk about this book until the ends of time, referencing the impact that it had on me, my life, confirmation of my path and the way I have chosen for myself. And it is my recommendation that everyone read this book. There are things about the book that may be tough for some to read, but as the author explains, that’s all the more reason to run at those subjects with full force. Don’t look back, deal with the hard things, they are what make us human and give our lives soul and validity.
We are only alone if we choose not to reach out and ask for someone to walk beside us.
One of the many themes in Untamed is this quote: “We All Do Hard Things.” The things that we find difficult in our lives will always be the most difficult for us—this theme was also explored a few weeks ago when I attended Mom Camp Virtual (more to come on that). We can be empathetic towards what others are going through, not because we have gone through exactly the same thing—which is not possible—but because we have experienced the same emotions our friends and loved ones are experiencing. This is the key thing about empathy. Our experiences are always going to be our own, it’s the feelings and emotions that we can see in others and relate to. Sit with that one for a while and let me know how that resonates with you. And to take it even further, let me know how that impacts your view of empathy.
These difficult times are unprecedented in our generation—when have we ever been instruction to stay home as much as possible? Locally, in British Columbia, we have been doing a pretty great job. We are seeing the restrictions lifting slowly, and have a near-to-normal summer ahead of us, with the exception of no cross-border travel in the foreseeable future, on top of the continuation of social distancing. There is hope, my biggest being that we get a damn vaccine sooner rather than later and we can hop a plane somewhere, anywhere, but more specifically Mexico for the wedding of two special people in our lives early next year.
We can dream, right?
Let the sun shine and the hope grow,
Anya