I am stronger and more resilient than most people will ever know. I have experienced significant hardships but am still learning, growing and improving.
While I may or may not have children, I have within myself a connection to my inner child which means I do experience a form of parenthood. And through my inner child I still get to experience the joy of learning and the satisfaction of new discoveries. This keeps me grounded and youthful.
My experiences with deep pain and wounds to my soul have given me perspective that allows me to find great satisfaction in simple joys and natural experiences. I am focused on what will bring me to more of those moments.
I am learning mastery in my life as much as I care to. The deepest knowledge I can reinforce with regards to this is that the less I try to control or perfect my situation the more progress I will make. It is the difference between trying to swim against the current and swimming diagonally across it, lessening the force of impact upon me.
My T told me more than once that recovery work is like climbing Mt. Everest and today I think I really get it. I can't just rush to the top of the mountain, that would kill me. Instead, my progress is made in smaller trips to progressively higher elevations. And each time I grow further, I spend time at that elevation acclimating before going down again for recovery. I need the down times to prepare me for the next push upwards. I need the slow progress to make sure it is sustainable. Today I accept and am grateful for this.
Elegant and eloquent...thank you!
Thanks for this, mftb! Inspiring <3
Brilliantly said and reassuring also. Thanks.
A wonderful tribute to the work that we are all doing, and a brilliant piece of self awareness. Many thanks, and congratulations to you!
Thanks everyone. Sometimes I feel like these realizations are sand slipping through my fingers. If I don't commit them in writing somewhere I can lose them so easily. I wrote them so I could refer back to them when I need to, which turns out to be today, already.
I hope you all encounter these kinds of thoughts on your own journeys, too, the ones you know prove you are strengthening, and the ones that are defining to your healthier selves.
I really find this section of the forum inspiring and you all have given me a lot of motivation to keep going by sharing your journeys.
Thank you -- that was very helpful.