In the beginning . . . .

I am by no means a writer, influencer or important person- I hope to feel differently about my importance one day soon and I’ll explain further in a moment. 

I have ran my practice (mental health private practice) on the premise that it’s important to normalize feelings and reactions. It’s normal to be sad when your dog dies, it’s normal to be frustrated when your partner doesn’t verbalize appreciation after a meal you worked hours to perfect, it’s normal to laugh at an inappropriate joke or be disgusted with yourself after an intrusive thought. It’s normal to want to crawl under a rock and hide for days on end, or dance wildly to the music playing in your head phones as you mow the lawn. It’s normal to fall asleep at night and hope that you don’t wake in the morning or fear falling asleep because you may not wake up. It’s normal to feel guilt over setting a boundary with a toxic person for fear that you may be judged. It’s normal to want to throw something because the anger feels good. 

It’s NORMAL. 

But then again what is normal? It’s subjective and perspective and it’s NORMAL to wonder. 

This will be the first of hopefully many posts in sharing my experience, perspective and ramblings on various topics as I have felt compelled to share through 25 years of being in the mental health field in one way shape or form and somehow have found myself a little lost at 46 years old. I am hoping by finding my own vulnerability I can help others normalize what they are feeling or expereincing. 

Because it’s normal to feel lost sometimes, even when you have spent most your life thinking you have it all together and you know what rest of your life may look like. I have spent years of training, exploring, educating, coaching and problem solving these very things with others- but like most I am the worst at taking my own advice. 

I am a mother, grandmother, daughter, wife, friend, social worker, mental health therapist, small business owner x2, college student, hiker (. . .  struggling with the order of those things because I do not want to leave anything out but most of all I do not want to ‘offend’ anyone- which is not at all what I should be worried about- what’s important to me- but can I prioritize that? Well it’s what we are here trying to do.)

So rather than sit here and wonder . . . . let’s find some space to figure it out. And if we don’t- let’s normalize that for ourselves. 

Gratitude: I am gretful to my daughters that helped shovel me out of my front door at 4:30 am so we can go to the gym together. 

Pressing thought: What am I doing putting one more thing on my plate right now aka this blog. 

Plan: Just breathe. It's Wednesday and I have got this. 

Meme (Theme) of the Day: