All alone with my shadow For far too long I have been swallowed up Only my shadow remains Empty shoes where I used to stand A formless fraud Pretending myself into being Laughing, crying, raging Anything to feel alive So so tired now Yet unable to find solace in sleep Peace evades me I keep getting back up After each knock down I can’t seem to help it My longing for love is greater than my sorrow The seductive void calls to me Trust, trust, trust… My mantra Will the light return? Or have I finally been extinguished? Sweet surrender is where I’ll find my bliss.
“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.” ― Rumi
Today I celebrate 28 years clean and sober. I’ll be honest… I sometimes take my sobriety for granted as it’s been my way of life for over half of my life and most days doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment. But this year I really earned it!!!
I’ve been savagely betrayed by someone who was supposed to be my person.
I’ve walked away from a life I spent the past nearly 24 years building.
I’ve left my gorgeous mansion on the hill and am now renting a tiny cottage on a farm in Nelson; and I left most of my belongings behind so I can travel light.
I won’t lie… I woke up today full of terror and despair. Some days it just feels all too much. The universe has thrown nearly every challenge my way this past year and today I’m feeling exhausted and defeated.
BUT, in other news…. my beautiful daughter is well on her way to recovering her lost joy and is finding her passions and discovering her gifts.
My amazing son is happy, healthy and off to University in Auckland and enjoying his new adult life.
I have my precious fur babies back with me and they have been the antidote to my broken heart as nobody loves as deeply and unconditionally as dogs!
I am surrounded by so much love and support from both my soul whanau and even those I don’t know very well or haven’t really connected with in years. The outpouring of love from people far and wide has given me so much nourishment for my soul and hope for the future.
As sad and scared as I am, I also feel such a deep gratitude for this precious life and for all the blessings of the Universe that continue to carry me through this challenging time.
I’ve been presented with so many exciting opportunities to live my dream life and I KNOW that everything that was holding me back, weighing me down and poisoning my spirit needed to be stripped away so I could fly free toward my destiny.
Words fail to express how much I love and appreciate everyone who has supported me through this painful chapter.
You continually prop me up when I am collapsing, slap me silly when I am wallowing in self pity, tell me the truth when I’m lost in victim consciousness, encourage me when I lose my confidence, embrace me when I can’t stop crying, hold loving space for me when I’m enraged and just need to express it out loud, make me laugh out loud when I’m taking it all way too seriously, and when I feel like giving up, you remind me of my purpose and what I’m here to offer to the world.
So, thank you to everyone who has shown up for me this past year and I vow to honour your love by showing up and doing the work so I can live my greatest life and be that guiding light for others as you’ve been for me.
“Laughter connects you with people. It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’re just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.” ~John Cleese
Yesterday I had a realisation…. I’ve lost my laugh. Or rather, I gave it away.
He hated my laugh… the too-loud witch cackle.
I learned to hate my laugh too.
I spent the past 20 years trying to change my laugh. To make it quieter, less annoying, but in the process, I lost it.
Losing my laugh meant I lost my deep capacity for joy. Suppressing my laugh, holding it in my throat, preventing its escape shut down my ability to communicate love.
How dare he take my laugh. How could I have betrayed myself so savagely as to allow him to have it?
It is in the smallest of moments that pieces of ourselves are stripped away. The little comments, criticisms, the rejections along the way….
One day you wake up and don’t recognise yourself. So many pieces missing.
I didn’t know that this isn’t what love looks like.
True love would never take your laugh.
Of all the betrayals, indignities, and disrespect, this one hurts the most.
Today, I am reclaiming my laugh. I will laugh as loud and as deep as the moment calls for, or for no reason at all.
For anyone who cannot revel in my unfettered joy, who lacks the capacity to experience intense emotions, including bliss, has no place in my life!
I will never again betray myself as to dim my light to enable another’s need to hide in the dark.
I am reclaiming all pieces of my soul that were lost, stolen, given away.
This new chapter will begin with getting to know myself again… the woman I abandoned so many years ago.
And it will include so much laughter, I’ll never need to do a sit-up again!
“In order to love who you are, you cannot hate the experiences that shaped you.” ~Andrea Dykstra
It’s my first Valentine’s Day as a single woman, but I find I’m not as sad as I imagined I would be.
With each painful reminder of betrayal, his and my own, where I abandoned myself, ignored my intuition and my dreams, hid from the truth of my loveless union, I grow stronger in dedication to authenticity.
Accepting a life without true love, honesty, deep connectedness, reverence for truth and loyalty is where I betrayed myself.
Spending so long hiding in another’s shadow, pretending to be happy & fulfilled with all the trimmings of a “successful” life, but feeling misaligned with my values and my Knowing brings me such deep sorrow.
What was I so afraid of that living such a shallow life was a better option?
When did I decide I wasn’t worth being truly loved, protected, supported?
When did I lose the ability to trust?
I don’t believe He took that from me. He only touched an ancient wound, a wound we both share.
My work is clear…. Trust.
Trust in my powerful Knowing…
Trust in the soul contracts I hold with others that were made to ensure my evolution….
Trust that all is going exactly to plan…
Trust that my call to ascension is here, right now.
IT’S GO TIME!
The time for self-doubt, hesitation, not loving and honouring myself is over.
It’s time to embrace my future.
All of the experiences of my life have shown me just how brave and strong I really am.
I am free to design my life exactly as I want… in rainbow glitter and fairy dust.
No more compromise, settling for less than I deserve, agreeing to things I don’t want and that don’t serve my highest good.
No more superficiality, inauthenticity, toxicity…
I get to choose the energy I surround myself with and a life that is aligned with my purpose.
When I release those that weigh me down with projections of their own fear, I have space for my true soul tribe to show up.
To all who have shared my life and brought me to these truths, through both love and betrayal, thank you.
To all who have shown up and loved me through the most painful and scary time of my life, thank you.
To all who remain in my life to share this next exciting chapter, thank you.
To me, for choosing to show up and love myself enough to face my shadow, my fears and open my heart fully, thank you.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. I hope you love and spoil yourself today and everyday because you deserve it!
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