PSA: From victims to victors

Five thousand, four hundred seventy-eight days—or 15 years ago—a driver, impaired with nearly three times the legal alcohol blood concentration in Arizona, runs no less than two red lights before slamming his white Dodge Ram into the driver’s side of my husband’s two-month-old black Honda Civic. Each August, on this day, I relive those memories, snapshots strung together that recount our story: Police ring my doorbell to deliver the news. My 12-year-old daughter and I arrive at the Level 1 trauma hospital where my husband undergoes emergency surgery and spends the next 59 days reclaiming his life. Over time, our family learns to navigate a new normal amidst the deficits resulting from a diffuse TBI, crushed hip and other myriad physical, emotional and mental trauma. Heartaches and highlights serve as milestones that color our collective journey from victims to victors. And it’s on the anniversary of my husband’s “death” and “re-birthday,” that I once again implore readers to make the right choice: don’t drink and drive.

Setting an intention for 2016

When I recall setting my intention for 2015, it’s amazing to me that nearly 365 days have passed. At the beginning of the year, I conceived one main goal: finding balance. Although it’s been a tumultuous, oftentimes heart-wrenching roller coaster ride, amidst the jarring twists and turns and predictable steady climb (prior to my plunge into a new decade), I experienced a rebirth of sorts). A few other aha moments include:

1. It’s OK to not have the last word. It’s more important to know your heart is in the right place.
2. When you humble yourself and give preference to others, you don’t lose the good parts of you in the process. But you do lose your selfishness, arrogance and inflated ego. And you gain authentic happiness.
3. Love is not a feeling, it is a choice. Every day. So is forgiveness.

My intention for the New Year is to simplify—by going with the flow more and obsessing less.

What intention(s) have you set for 2016?

Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

A rebirth of sorts: happiness at last

As the year draws to a close, and as I grasp tightly (kicking and screaming) the vestiges of my forties for a few days longer, I reflect on that for which I’m grateful: Those friends who have come and gone from my life—the ones who bless me daily, and those who served the sole purpose of teaching me (sometimes painful) lessons; the second chances I’ve been gifted, a new path to traverse—a clean slate, if you will. I’m energized by the possibilities, my heart lighter than ever. And as I step into this new season, I can honestly say I’ve discovered what I’ve been searching for all this time. The funny thing is it’s been right under my nose all along. Because when I finally stopped focusing on me—my needs, my expectations, my self—I understood for the first time what it means to be happy. So happy rebirthday to me… a fresh beginning to sparkle where I’m planted.

Where could you use a rebirth?

Image courtesy of Nongkran_ch at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.