It's been one of those days. You know, one of those days I had to walk out the door and down the road into the jungle to avoid biting off the head of someone I actually love in real life. I've just had it with a whole host of crap that has nothing to do with any of them, but when they start trying to beat each other with hard plastic on top of the rest of the madness, sometimes I just can't hold it together. Now my kids all know, even the little ones, that when I go out the door for a walk without them, I am a potential explosion hazard. Moving my body, listening to the rustling of animals in the jungle, looking at all the massive and beautiful trees, and feeling the intense heat of the sun are all very good for me. It makes a big difference.
I love this little spot - like an entrance to a magical garden
I worked some shit out in my crazy pants brain and was starting to feel better when I got back to the house but not quite better enough to actually walk in. I am incredibly blessed to live in this stunningly beautiful place, so I went to my favorite tree that hangs over the Caribbean Sea to finish working my way back to sanity. A little bit closer. Still feeling pretty crappy but ready for potential human interaction now.
I love the hibiscus in our yard
The view from one of my favorite trees
When I got in, I was so glad to witness how much my kids love each other. My 16 yo, @sophieharling (please, please go check out her art on her page!!), is a rock star big sister. Of course she ignores them plenty. She is a teenager, but when I have a moment, she just jumps right in. She adores them, and they worship her. It's so beautiful. I feel so glad to have kids that love each other. It's really one of the best things a mama can hope for.
They made this for me while I was gone
The way this girl loves her little siblings is so special
I decided to get back on Steemit, and even though our internet continues to go at a snail pace, this also turns out to be a blessing. There are all these amazing people on here. The comments section of my last post is just a love fest. So blessed by people raising their kids in such beautiful ways. And so incredibly blessed by people who just shower me with love and praise for how I'm raising my children and for my words about a shift in the education paradigm. Right when I'm feeling like kind of a shitty parent, being surrounded by love, support, and people with shared values has helped me shift from this funk.
Like pretty much everyone else, the original draw of Steemit was the money. I was earning money writing boring blogs for businesses. Why not earn money for writing about things I care about. Honestly it's good you don't earn much in those early months. I think it weeds out the people who never find any other value in it. I was pretty quickly blown away by the caliber of the community here. I had been praying and praying to find more community for months, and I certainly never anticipated that it would manifest like this, but here it is, and I am so incredibly grateful for it. There are people on @ecotrain who are now like family to me. I've just gotten on @teamgirlpowa, but I can see people on there who I'm sure I will feel that way about in the very near future.
This brings me to my slightly different etiquette rules. I am following a whole boatload of people, far more than I can keep up with. With the busyness of my in-person life and keeping up with ecoTrain and teamgirlpowa, I don't get much chance to check in with a lot of other people, but some of you have really touched my heart and life in beautiful ways, so I want to say that if you write something you think I will love, please put a link to it in a comment on one of my posts. It doesn't offend me at all! In fact I'm glad for it. If I'm too overwhelmed to check it out, I'll tell you that, but most likely I'm gonna check it out if it's at all interesting to me, especially if you're one of the dozens of people who has said something really sweet on one of my posts. I want us to support each other.
Well, this wasn't at all what I was intending to write today, but here it is. Back to our regularly scheduled program tomorrow.
Love you. Mean it.
Pics are mine or from Pixabay
I'm a passenger on ecoTrain! If you're interested in checking out brilliant content from beautiful people who are actively making the world a better place, go to @ecotrain. You can also chat with us on our discord.
I'm also a member of teamgirlpowa, an amazing group of women and men who are passionate about empowering women and other marginalized groups. Check out our discord here.