A Stroll in the Park

    With each passing season, I see a hopeful return of normalcy.  Anytime bad things happen, everything gets thrown into chaos and it can be a long hard fight to restore order, peace, and joy to our lives. On my journey, I can honestly say that it all seemed pretty bleak for a while and at times it seemed like nothing was healing and nothing was changing and there was no point in trying.  But, what's the alternative?  Trying to move forward, I'll at least make a little progress.  Giving up means staying stuck.  Giving in to the fear of doing the hard work required to gain healing means that depression, anger, bitterness, and layer after layer of hurt is all you'll have in your life.  Someone recently compared it to having a bad tooth pulled.  Pulling the tooth will hurt for a day, leaving the tooth will hurt for a lifetime.  In other words, avoiding the pain only causes more, so for the past three years, I've been doing the hard and very painful work so that I can one day have a healed life.  

    Looking back is something I try to avoid these days, unless it's for the briefest moment just to remind myself of how far I've come.  I'm not there yet--wherever "there" is-- but I'm not where I was either.  I'm better today than I was three years ago and tomorrow, even though it may not seem like it, I'll be a little better still, until one spring when it's all so distant and foreign to me I don't think of it at all.  Til then, I'm going to keep doing the work, keep helping others whenever I can, keep finding joy in little things, and keep looking up, and waiting for the better days ahead.

Shopping Info:  Dress from The Other Sparrows, Top from Shein