Transition

tran·si·tion \tran(t)-ˈsi-shən

:  a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another

[Websters]

There are so many other words I could use to describe this season Bruno and I find ourselves in, but none of them do it justice.

For many months we deliberated on our future, where it would take us and when things would happen. Late last year things began to fall into place for Bruno to chase after one of his childhood dreams. One thing I’ve learned about being a wife is you really should support your husband, even if you don’t always agree or understand things.

As a result of Bruno pursuing these dreams, he has been 1,200 miles away for the last two and a half months. He made a few visits throughout the months but for the most part we have had a majority of the country separating us.
Why? He’s been trailblazing a new season in our lives – one that will bring us closer to each other. For all of February there were over 2,100 miles between us so I really shouldn’t complain about 1,200. Either way – it’s a lot of miles.

It may seem strange that we have physical distance between us as we approach this new season, however it has really made me stop and contemplate things. I’ve never truly appreciated him for who he is and all he does. There are no words that can express what he means to me and it is my hope that I will continue to grow in this appreciation and recognition when we are back to living together.

We’ve been striving, yearning, trying, fighting, pushing, and desperate to really come together in our marriage. Whether it was a result of the time away from each other or the fact we are moving to a new location, I feel like we are getting there.
Finally, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
We are blazing our path.
Our sights are set on a new place of dreaming and existing.
In just a few days it will all become a reality.

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Dissolve into the New

Recently I’ve been debating about getting back into writing. One of the cons is the fact that I have very little time. However, one of the pros of writing is the fact that I love it tremendously and am capable of truly sorting out my thoughts through it. So after a few days of removing myself from social media sites (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest) and focusing on my classwork as well as revamping “Individual Odyssey”, here I am!

For the first time since launching, the site has a new look! I believe it is a better fit than the previously dark theme that was in place. While the dark theme was a perfect outward example for the experiences in my life when the site was originally launched, a lot has changed. The differences in myself between the time of launching this site and now are as obvious as a caterpillar who has gone through metamorphosis and is now a butterfly, or so I like to think. Hopefully over time my posts will reveal a different writer to those of you who have followed my journey thus far. As things have changed, I felt as though the website should change as well.

I cannot, and will not, promise regular postings. As always though, I will do my best to be open and share my thoughts on different topics.

It’s amusing that so many people go through their lives believing that they are the only ones who have to deal with any number of things. All too often have I overheard conversations where people are explaining to their friends about an issue they are facing, when I remember dealing with a very similar issue whether years ago or recently. It would be so refreshing to be able to reach out to those people and they accept what others outside of their current friends has to say. Maybe I’m crazy for thinking that this could ever happen in our society, but a person is allowed to dream!
So while I may not feel as though those who are talking about issues in their life are willing to listen to a total stranger, I shall write my take on issues here.
Entirely accessible to the general public.
For the taking or the leaving of whomever shall pass by.

Follow Your Inner Moonlight…

Don’t mind my random ramblings…

Things are going well, in the full scheme of things. Yes, there are challenges – but that is how life goes. Tonight I am stuck. I have quite a few things to do for school, as well as personally, but it seems as though my mind is on vacation. At the least, it is preoccupied with trying not to dwell on the facts. The facts? The facts are things that are and cannot be altered. There are those which are good. And then there are those which are not. There are the facts which push you to grow. And then there are the facts which seem to stunt you where you are. Any and every part of life has its facts. With school, work, home, relationships, personal and other – everything can be broken down into one of these categories.

Finding the time to sit down and do my school work is challenging. Being motivated to write essays on topics I do not even begin to have any sort of passion for is practically impossible. Putting a project together on a country which I have already visited and didn’t necessarily enjoy is low on the list of interesting things to do. I know what I want to do, but I do not know how to get to that point. Without a doubt, I want to work with children in orphanages. Show them some sort of love and kindness – prove to them that there are people out in the world who truly do care and they are not alone. My heart twists every time I see parents who yell at their children calling them names or demeaning them in any sense. Sadly, I feel like I see that every day.

I’ve always been a great actress, and I feel as though that should be a requirement for my job. So many days I walk in and do not want to smile, talk, or be peppy and warm. All the things which are required to be a great employee in a major retail store. Work isn’t a place to bring your personal life in to, so I leave it at the door. I try to at least. Every once in a while when I’m not helping a customer I find myself feeling entirely overwhelmed and struggling to maintain my composure. I do though, every time. Because I am capable of handling anything that is thrown my way.

My baby puppy, Ava, will be turning two years old soon. It is easy to see she has not had the attention she deserves. It is difficult to give her the attention when I barely have any time when I’m at the house with her. I have found that losing two hours a day driving to and from the house has been detrimental to my ability to raise her properly, and also to accomplish essentially anything when I am at the house. It is “the house” and not “home” because it isn’t my home. I don’t have a home. I don’t have a place where I truly feel comfortable enough to relax, cook dinner, have “me” time. Since moving out of my apartment in Mechanicsburg in August 2010, I haven’t ever felt home. I’m not a person who can survive without a home – I need it. I require it. Otherwise there’s a lot of unrest.

On the outside everything looks great. Everything looks perfect at times. It isn’t until you get into the meat of things do you realize how many things are not even close to perfection. There’s a constant striving – striving to be the best daughter, friend, confidant, equal that anyone ever could be. I’m afraid to disappoint anyone. Every move I make I wonder who it will affect and how. Through this I’ve put myself through more stress than I ever should. This stress has truly taken its toll on me the last couple of months. Since the beginning of the year I have dropped a couple of pounds because I lost my appetite, and when I would force myself to eat I would get sick after only a couple of bites. On my tiny frame, a couple of pounds is impossible to miss. Especially when it’s closer to ten. Attempting to resolve and push my body back into something more normal is no fun, but it’s where I’m at.

It’s times like these that make it so apparent as to how desperately I need to dance, write or paint. Express myself in one form or another. After 25 years I still prefer to dance even though my body revolts as soon as I stop moving. It’s always been, and maybe always will be, the truest form of freedom I know.

And yes, I still say that things are going well in the midst of this. I have some challenges to overcome, some issues to accept, recognize and ultimately grow from and a lot of fear to deal with.
In some sense or another though that is all of us.

“Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.” – Allen Ginsberg

Words Tangled in Blue

Sometimes the situations you find yourself in are the type you never imagined would be part of your life. Sometimes you find yourself being overwhelmed emotionally and you have no idea what to do because you are in such a new situation. Sometimes you are unable to fully process the feelings and emotions because you do not have the opportunity to as the result of a chaotic life.

It doesn’t feel like we are only two days away from Christmas. I’ve now been on holiday for the last five days. It’s at this point in time I believed I would have been able to process what has occurred in my life the last few months. I believed I would have fallen ill and been confined to a bed for at least 36 hours as my body attempted to catch up on the rest I had been neglecting it. I believed I would settle into myself.
I am calm, but far from being collected. There are dashes of moments which flit by in which I feel completely settled, the rest of the time I’m a whirl. On the outside things are fine. When it comes down to it – I’m still a great actress. This has happened the last two Christmases and I am at the point where I wonder when a Christmas will pass without all of these overwhelming emotions. Part of me can blame the time of the year and the season for the overwhelm. Another finds it possible to blame the experiences of past Christmases and the lack of my facing them. Another recognizes that there are things I need to face and recognize this year, otherwise they will result like years past – built up and overwhelming over the next few years. But how does one face the unknowns? The past? The concerns? Why is there always something? If not here and now in the present, it lurks from the past…

Oh the joys this season brings me.

Vacation?

You know that life is a bit too much when you are unable to properly recognize your own emotions.

Probably the one thing I am not looking forward to my vacation next month is I will finally have more than 4 conscious hours to really recognize my own thoughts and emotions. For the last 3 months I have been constantly going. My body hasn’t had a chance to relax. My mind hasn’t had a chance to compute. My emotions haven’t had a chance to understand what is what.

My extremely necessary vacation will come perfectly timed. I have been waiting for it since I began to imagine the possibility of it even occurring. Now that it is less than a month away though I’m wondering if it will be good or bad. As overwhelming as my life has been I may come crashing down and fall ill within the first 24 hours of what is to be my first legitimate vacation in years. I’m beginning to wonder how I will handle my vacation – not my daily life. Working anywhere from 25 – 40 hours a week, taking 12 credits, plus any other stresses which walk into my life – is a bit to handle. However, I think I have finally figured it out. For the most part. But when it comes to recognizing what is happening in my life, what emotions I am experiencing or how I am truly doing – these are the things I am afraid to face. 3+ months of build up will be a bit to work through, so yes – I believe I have a legitimate reason to worry. I know I’m going through a lot when I don’t even have time to write anymore. My frequency of writing has drastically decreased since summer. Obviously.

Since the summer a lot has happened. I find myself overwhelmed, unsure, insecure and wondering if I’m doing what is truly right for me. I do believe this has something to do with my lack of writing… We shall see. Until I have time to write more often, I will continue to daydream of the days I had a studio at my disposal or an abundance of canvas to paint my thoughts on.

It’s at this point that I begin to play, on repeat, the chorus of Switchfoot’s “This is Your Life”.

It’s Been Awhile…

Relationships. They come in all sorts and sizes. The main similarity in all relationships is that in order to continue it, you have to be willing to work on it. You have to be willing to make time for it. You have to be willing to talk about the things you don’t want to. You have to be willing to accept the other persons words. You have to be willing.
One of my biggest concerns in all of my relationships has been that if I tell the person the issues, worries or concerns I have with them or the relationship that they will walk away from me. If there’s trouble, I’m afraid to approach it for fear they will confirm the trouble and then walk away.
Lately though I’ve found that not everyone walks away.
Some people actually hear what I say, take it to heart and want to work through things with me. Some people want to hear everything, even how much they have hurt me. Some people understand how hard it is for me to say things, and love me through it. Some people recognize how things in their life can impact my life. Some people are able to understand.
Since school began in August my relationships have definitely become strained. Friends I once saw on a weekly basis are now seeing me maybe once a month. My family doesn’t see or hear from me. The boyfriend and I are lucky if we have a meal together once a week. It’s become a challenge.
No relationship is easy. They all require work. The relationships that you do work on, push through and show understanding and compassion are the ones which are most fruitful. You will find that if both people in a relationship wish to do whatever they possibly can to improve their relationship (friend, family or love), the reward is so much greater than you could have imagined.

Loss of Time

Not going to lie, time has been flying by at such an increased rate lately it is a bit concerning. Summer went by with a blink of an eye. I found myself in a complicated situation emotionally and physically – attempting to navigate through new relationships and jobs, eventually adding school on top of it all. It’s a wonder I’m able to get out of bed on a daily basis.
Without a doubt there are still areas of my being that are complicated, but I suppose that is to be expected. Working the equivalent of a full-time job, going to school full-time, beginning a relationship, and living an hour away from essentially everything really wears on a person.
Because of the lack of time lately my mind has become something like a bee’s nest – always swarming. The thoughts are never-ending, concerns overwhelming, desires almost unbearable. I’m aware of how much I’m putting myself through currently, but I don’t want to remove anything in this time. The one thing that pushes me constantly is the fact I will be in Europe for all of Christmas break. I bought my ticket finally. This Christmas I will give myself a great present – being on the only continent I’ve ever felt at home. So thrilling!!
When I originally had the idea I wondered about what I’d do with my time there, but it’s gotten to the point where if all I do is wander around the streets of the towns I stay in, I will be content. No schedule, no requirements, no stress — it sounds beyond delightful.
I can’t wait for my heart to feel so at ease… I hope it happens soon. Who knows what else I will need to navigate before that happens. Very likely it’s more than I can currently imagine though.