Blindsided with news that hits you like you’ve been punched in the gut. It makes you feel like you were set up. Betrayed, even though this was long before you were in the picture. It’s nonsensical, but logic doesn’t have a place in emotions. Emotions don’t always make logical sense.
Just because it was in the past doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting. Old news from the past brought up in the present, is the present to the people who weren’t there. It’s new news, and a fresh trauma. That’s was life is… trauma after trauma. We just get better at dealing with it.
Avoiding the issue and burying it doesn’t fix anything. Just leaves a giant mess to deal with later. Typically, when left alone, these things have a tendency to get bigger. Rip it open. Talk about it. Listen and be compassionate towards each other. Accept there are differences, changes, pasts, and mistakes. But that’s easier said than done. Emotions get in the way.
You visualize it because you are a creative, emotionally intelligent person. You play it out in your head like you are watching a movie. You see it all happening in front of you like it’s real, playing over and over. Like it’s right now, and you are just watching on the sidelines. There’s nothing you can do but just “watch”. It’s so real, you can almost hear it. You feel dizzy and feel your heart in your throat. But if you make the smallest sound, the floodgates of emotion will consume you.
So you say nothing, sit in silence. You want to throw up. The blow in the gut makes you nauseous. Wait until the threatening choking feeling resides. You try to remind yourself this was in the past. Try to talk yourself down and hide the hurt because it doesn’t make sense. You can’t. You can’t because emotions aren’t logical. So you lash out. You question everything. You doubt because you’re hurt. You ask questions you never thought of before. Emotions are threatening to cause as much damage as possible. So you swallow it to avoid making it worse. You just hurt more.
Vulnerability can make people mean. Make them angry and defensive. So, eventually someone gets angry and lashes out. The other gets defensive. There’s a big fight. There are tears, and there are wounds getting deeper and deeper. The more lashes, the more yelling, the more damage is done. But underneath everything is just hurt. Hurt drives all the symptomatic feelings and causes the problems.
You have to get out. Fight or flight. Fighting made it worse, so you leave. You leave to cry and mope and scream and feel the hurt. You’ve learned to sit with your anger, your sadness, your hurt. You’ve learned to feel it, because only then, you can process it.
I love my place! That isn’t just referring to the house though! I love the property and the house, and I absolutely love the plans that are starting to form to make it really 
Recently, there have been many events that have brought the sting of being ‘married to my business’ to the surface. It hurts. A lot. I want to go on vacation; I have to plan months in advance to go. I want to take a day off; sorry… no, you have a company to run. I’m sick; buck up, Chuck. I work anyway or nothing gets done. If I’m not here, I don’t get paid and business stops entirely. I want to take a break; sorry..no. You can’t because then I work until 10:00. I’m hoping with some new plans I have brewing, that will change within the next six months or so. Doesn’t stop the ‘now’ from reminding me there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to do everything I need/want to do. But I’m working on it. Patience. I’ll get there. Just keep truckin’.
So, chocolate or vanilla? This could be a difficult decision because you like both or neither one. But ultimately, it doesn’t affect anything in the future other than calorie intake, taste, and possibly consistency. It’s the most simple decision. Life decisions can be vanilla or chocolate. Could you have both? ½ and ½, or double it up? Maybe pass altogether. What kind of toppings? What if you mix in a little fudge or hazelnut? Candy toppings or fruit? Shit, son! It’s gettin’ real! You start adding other things to this very ‘vanilla’ decision (hehe, excuse the pun) and it starts to get messy. Life is, isn’t it? Messy, I mean.
Ok, I’ve learned my lesson time and time again, but apparently I need to keep touching the hot stove to see if it’s still hot. I put my faith and trust in humanity to see if anything has changed. I put myself out there and took a risk. I want to believe there are still good people in the world. People who don’t lie, cheat, manipulate, or trick people into getting what they want. I want to believe there are still people out there who remember what it means TO BE GOOD. I want to see the good in people. That want is slowly diminishing, and I’m finding that concept is starting to totally extinguish in the world.
Keep your positive thoughts to yourself for now people, it won’t help. Encouraging words just make it worse right now. I’ve been strong for so long.. for SO long for so many people.. I can’t be strong for myself anymore. I’m falling apart. So FML, let me vent, and let me crawl back inside myself and put all my stupid fucking emotions back in the box. You’ll see the smile on my face tomorrow, and I’ll seem fine. I’m not. Enjoy fake Heather for a while, world. She can’t handle reality, so she’s crawling into her fucking shell of safety.
We are in control of our own state of mind. Certain events can trigger emotions in a certain direction. Such as fear, anxiety, depression, hyperactivity. Adrenaline, dopamine, melatonin, serotonin…You know what these are. They work together (or against each other in certain situations) to create emotions. You have the power OVER your own mind and the ABILITY to guide these chemicals to stay in balance. I am not medicated for bipolar, depression, mania, insomnia, meltdowns or psychotic episodes. This is a CHOICE I made because I don’t want a drug controlling my state of mind. I feel like I need to be stronger than the chemicals, and stronger than the need to have drugs controlling me.
There have been certain events in the last few months that have caused me to feel a high on life. I learned to love me for me. I love my strengths, and I have accepted and have learned to also love my weaknesses. I saw how beautiful the world is and what it has to offer. I see beauty everywhere and in everyone. It wasn’t until I could see the world this way, that I found another soul who also sees the world the way I see it. I look into his eyes and I see everything. Everything he is, what he’s been through to get here, how he sees the world, and how he sees me. And his soul is beautiful, and I’ve fallen for him. Every day, I find a new reason to love my life and to keep trying to be better every day. I love where I’m going, and I’m finally feeling like I’m reaping some benefits from all the struggles I have faced in the last few years. I kept saying I needed some good things to happen. I was way off base. I needed to OPEN MY EYES to the good things and MAKE them happen. If I wasn’t in the right mental place, I would have missed this. I would have missed the beauty, and I wouldn’t have met this absolutely incredible person. I deserve to receive genuine love, and I want to give it to someone who is as deserving. I needed to learn to love myself before I could even reciprocate this. I didn’t even know what I was missing in my life. I thought I had gotten over the feeling of having a broken soul, and I was ‘whole’ again. Again, I’ve been blown away. I didn’t realize what ‘whole’ meant until now.
A very relevant analogy I have been thinking about today, is that it’s just another hill I need to climb, and I will push past it. I’ll overcome it, and there are always crests coming up. Sometimes, the inclines are steep and daunting, but there are always crests. This is the walk of life. And I am learning to love every step, even the hard ones. Even when I’m exhausted and feel the want to give up, I won’t. Because the rewards of completing just one more step are so incredible, that I don’t want to sacrifice them. The hills never end, we will always keep climbing, but we will get stronger, and sometimes there are downhills and plateaus where we can catch our breath. I will not stop, I will not be beaten. I will not miss out on something because I’m tired. I want to experience everything and grow. If I stop walking, I’m not moving forward and progressing. I’m in no rush to finish life. I want to enjoy the journey, the scenery, and feel everything. I took a much needed meditative hike today, and reflected on all these things. It was good to get some perspective and realize how strong my mind and willpower have become. I’m impressed with myself, and I’ll only keep getting stronger.
I love everyone. Every single person I come in contact with is loved by me in some way. I choose to see the good in people. I choose to see beauty, and I see that everywhere I go. I see that in the mountains outside my house, the stars in the sky at night, in the personality of my dogs, and in the mechanics of my car. I choose to see beauty in absolutely everything. In people, I see their physical looks of course, but more importantly, I feel I can see the beauty of their soul. I start talking to people, and in just a few seconds of meeting them, I see them radiate their own special aura of beauty. I see their personality shine through when they speak, smile, work with their dog or interact with their family. And to me, every person is incredible and beautiful in their own unique way.
mourn the loss of this client with her family and friends. She was an incredibly beautiful person, and the way I remember her, she was always smiling and had a warm, inviting presence. She was there for me in my own time of loss, and was incredibly supportive. Nothing but loving energy from her, telling me everything will be ok, and that I’ll become stronger from my trials. She said she would pray for me, and that I deserve all the happiness in the world. I truly believe she meant that when she told me that, and I felt a sense of peace.
Anyway, it’s rare when I feel both fear and excitement at the same time, and these are very hard emotions to work through. I feel major anxiety without the depression. This is the hardest mania I have to work through. I think extra hard, my brain doesn’t stop, I can’t sleep, I talk a mile a minute, I clean like crazy, I can’t sort through my thoughts, I can’t talk to anyone because I just frustrate them because I’m all over the place. I think about all the possibilities of what could be. Then I think “Oh, I don’t want to get stuck in the tunnel vision trap” and try to slow down. Then I try to pick holes and find the bad parts so that I don’t overlook anything. Then I start to get anxiety because I’m now thinking about all the bad parts. Remember my last post about how I’m scared and doing it anyway? Well, this is me… on the edge of the cliff, doing it anyway. I’m moving forward no matter how it feels because I have to. I see my long-term end goal. I see my short-term goal… and I see the inkling of my very long-term goal. Every time I try to look ahead, I lose something in the now and lose a little perspective. There’s so much going on, so I have to just focus on the short-term while being mindful of the other goals. It’s exhausting.
What’s so scary? I know, I know! I’m being really vague. Ok, let me lay it on you. My house sold, and my closing date is on February 10th. I found a temporary place to live and I went out to see it today. It’s way better than living in a trailer for a few months and running my company that way (which is what I was planning on doing). It’s a little studio, and I can run my company and have all my dogs. I’m looking at a new place, and possibly building. I’m not going to get too much into detail because it will jinx it. But I can say it’s a big deal, it’s all new territory for me, and I’m having to learn about running power, water, septic, and gas lines to an undeveloped property, buying water rights, building licensing, costs of building, time frames, city ordinances/codes, and finding out what it takes to really get in there and make it happen. I’m usually on the phone for hours every day with realtors, lenders, the city mayor, utility companies, storage facilities, my builder, and a ton of other companies trying to get everything in order. I’m still seeing clients and training dogs every day too. Long days make for one frazzled Heather near the end of the day. But at the end of the day, I can say I am doing everything I can. I’m giving it my all, even though I’m overwhelmed. And that gives me a sense of peace. I won’t give up. I know what I want, I have a vision, and it will work out. I just have to keep learning and trying. I’m so incredibly determined to do this, I won’t take no for an answer. This is happening. It’s real. BIG, EXCITING, SCARY things are happening right now. Business is booming, and it will just continue to keep getting better!
Had an epiphany today when doing some house hunting. The place I had in mind fell through. That’s ok, hakuna matata. I’ll find something else, and something better. I won’t let the little things like this get me down. I’m always looking for the ‘next big thing’. And this place is where I will make my footprint. It’s a little strange thinking about how I’m leaving this house and moving on… a lot of emotions on that. I’ll deal with those later (compartmentalizing), and I’m focusing on my big picture goal. Which is to get a place up and running where I can live and work, and leave work at work.
End of My Leash 