Eggshells

Happy Thursday evening everyone!

How are you doing. Can you believe it, it’s Friday eve. One more workday for many of you then hopefully, we can all enjoy an incredible weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful with some bright and sunny skies. How about where you are in the world? How’s the weather and if you’re getting some nice sunny skies, what are your plans? Shoot me a text or drop me a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

Oh, before I forget, guess what I’m going to try. Give up? Okay, I’ll tell you. I’m going to try bike riding again. I’m going to borrow my nieces’ bike for a week and see if I can balance myself enough to ride. For the last few years, I’ve been keeping up with my vestibular therapy exercises because I don’t want to be off balance anymore and if I have to be, then I’d like to improve myself overall. So why not try a nice bike ride around the lake. It’s been forever since I’ve ridden a bike. Probably 20+ years. I’m hoping I can do it and I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it. Who knows, if I get back into riding, then maybe I’ll get an adult trike just to make sure I have a little more balance support. I’ll go pick up the bike next week. Believe me, I don’t need anything else to store before Kevin and Jagger’s big party.

Today John and I walked down to the mailbox, so that was nice. It’s not super far, but far enough to get in a nice little jaunt. We met a new neighbor on the street below us on our way back from getting the mail. Her name is Anita and she’s super nice. She lost her hubby a little over 2 years ago, but this woman is amazing. She said, “if I have to be a widow, I’m glad I get to live here in the lake.” Anita was telling us how she’s joined a few different clubs. She’s made some wonderful friends, and they keep track of her, so she hardly feels alone.

I know a few widows here in the lake and while I know life isn’t the same without their partners, they are cared for by so many members of the community. That’s what lake life is like. People still, for the most part, genuinely care about others and they make sure they are included and checked in on. The lake has its own unique train where most folks know their neighbor. It’s pretty special.

Tonight, like last night, when I sat down to write I couldn’t come up with one particular topic. So much is going on and while things are awesome here in the lake, my mind is still spinning with so many subjects running amuck through my brain. So again, I scrolled my drafts, beginning with the oldest. It didn’t take me long to get to this one poem I found probably over a year ago. Again, it spoke to me and thus, the topic, Eggshells.

I am reflecting back on my life, and I can tell you the reason I saved this poem. I related to it on so many levels. I know what it’s like to walk on eggshells I know what it’s like to want to avoid the hard conversations simply because I wanted to keep the peace and avoid the criticism.

When you’re with someone who is never wrong, it’s easier to just keep quiet and let them have it their way. At least that’s what I found.

Walking on eggshells, at least for me, turned me into a robot. I just submitted and boy, those eggshells most certainly got louder.

I never realized that walking on eggshells was, indeed, a form of trauma. I think that’s why some people, me included, suffer from not only PTSD, but C-PTSD. Complex PTSD means a person suffers from more than one type of major trauma in their life.

Therapy helped me sit in the uncomfortable of trauma. It taught me to release it and not hold onto it. Don’t get me wrong, I still get triggered, and that’s normal. We can’t erase our traumas, but we can learn to accept them and deal with them, at least that’s what I took from therapy.

Sometimes when we are finally able to welcome thriving, we allow the surviving to set back into our mindset, thus, we might miss out on some pretty amazing opportunities.

Thriving is so much better than surviving. Surviving does keep us in trauma. We tend to revert back to doing the things we used to do just to survive whatever it was happening to us. Thriving on the other hand, that’s where the beauty of life lives. Thriving is a path to growing and evolving.

Change is hard to accept. We tend to fall into a pattern of complacency, but when we change, we evolve. We are open to a much bigger world. We are truly living and not only existing.

My thoughts on the subject aren’t meant to replace mental health interventions or treatment plans. I’m only sharing what works for me most of the time. Please seek the proper help if you are struggling with your mental or physical health. I am not an expert, and I am not a doctor.

For me, I’m hoping to get out and explore. I’m hoping I can ride away and explore the many sites the lake has to offer. I’m excited for a new adventure. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a little toned up while enjoying the great outdoors.

I hope none of you are walking on eggshells because it sucks. To this day, if I feel triggered, I put up my wall immediately and I shut down. I’m a work in progress and guess what? That’s okay. As long as I’m working towards something, I’m growing as a person.

My friends, let’s say a little prayer tonight before bed, thanking Him for all he does for us and maybe we can ask Him to help us wake up in the morning with a positive attitude and an attitude that’s ready to take on the world, instead of walking on eggshells.

Fingers crossed. We got this.

Hey, don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs.