Be the calm amidst the chaos.

Who are you to think, that after all you’ve been through, that you won’t make it this time? You’ve gone through so much in life already, of course, this is just the next thing. It’s no bigger, no smaller, but you ARE stronger, and wiser, and more experienced, and you know you will of course come out the other side. There is no other choice.

What have I been through in my life?
Growing up in poverty, through physical and emotional abuse. Through autoimmune disease. Through car accidents and near-misses that could easily have proven fatal, I walked away or drove away, unscathed. Through a spontaneous visit that resulted in helping get my cousins out of their bedroom after it was destroyed by a mudslide, thinking at the time that a tree had fallen on the house. Through my alcoholism, my drug addiction, the rehab, the denial, the codependency and damage that came from all of that. Through crippling credit card and student loan debt. Through the suicide of the man I had just broken up with. Through countless storms and power outages. Through super-typhoons, one after the next. Through fears and doubts and digging through the depths of my own murky beliefs and old truths and my past. I have only grown, and become able to share my soul and my light, and my strength.

How could I be the person I am today, without all that? And how could I ever think, for a second, that the latest pandemic, the latest global recession, could be any different?

I am the calm amidst the storm. Serenity is the calm amidst the chaos. I walk now, the storm raging around me, trees falling, waves from the sea lashing against the shore, storm clouds gathering. And I walk, holding the light, anchoring it for all to see.

There is always hope. There is always light. Even when the fog is thick, we can see our NEXT right step.

I encourage you to take it today. Take your next right step. Be the lighthouse in the storm. Breathe. Find a moment of peace. And keep walking. You’re not alone, even if the storm clouds make it too dark for you to see right now. We need everyone to turn their lights on, and guide each other home. Be the calm amidst the chaos.