My children are now adults, some with children of their own, and, I must admit, time passed faster than I had ever imagined it could or would. If given the opportunity to go back and give myself a redo on a few situations, would I? The truth is, I know there are some things I would have done differently had I known then what I know now. But I also know, if I am being honest with myself, that I so appreciate the life I love living today because of some of those less-than-perfect past experiences. As I often tell my husband, I've been to the dark side, and that's why I so appreciate the light that is present in my life today.
I know I learned many wonderful lessons from my parents, but I also know there were many lessons they tried to teach me that I refused to learn at the time. I just wasn't ready. I once thought I could make it work, regardless of what the it was. And I thought it was a good, and selfless, act to put myself on the back burner in order to take care of my loved ones first. I never realized that if I wasn't taking good care of myself, then I wouldn't even be capable of giving them the level of care I wanted them to have.
Those are the lessons I believed I learned along the way, the ones I wasn't ready to learn from my parents, or even the ones my parents had never learned themselves. Those lessons took longer for me to learn and did not require studying; I went from experience to experience, crashing into the same walls and making the same mistakes, until I finally figured out what it was that I, apparently, needed to learn. What was essential for me to learn!
The tools I found most helpful always involved reading. Not necessarily a novel, but occasionally. Sometimes, I was struck by a quote from a character in a book, such as a quote from Minerva Clark Gets a Clue by Karen Karbo. In the book Minerva says, "I thought a perfect person outside meant a perfect inside. Now I'm thinking it's the other way around." I had always heard pretty is as pretty does, but that idiom never had the same impact on me as what Minerva had to say.
And that is why, when I started thinking of the life lessons I still wish to teach those for whom I hold love and concern, I decided to put some of those quotes into a journal. These quotes helped me along my life journey, and I hope they will do the same for others. They are not my words, and allow space for each person to write his or her own thoughts, or even add in whatever is most meaningful to them.
These are the words that move, inspire, motivate, and offer me hope when the path seems so dark and so very steep. They remind me that, while I might sometimes need a break, I should never give up.
I haven't, I won't, and I don't think you should either.
I will Protect Project Empower... exactly as the title implies.
I hope you decide the get a copy of the journal yourself, and that it makes a difference for you.