2017 is the year of this Warrior Woman Seeking Joy! This focus, this intent, the idea of what this could look like for me is the only thing that is waking me up and causing me to actually want to leave the warm safe shell that has formed around myself in the past year or so. And for the first time in weeks something has excited me enough to want to write again. The relief of that is huge!
This second year of living without Russell has kicked my ass. That really is the most honest way to put it. The first year was hard but this second year has been so subtly challenging that it’s only been in the past month and a half or so that I’ve been able to get a handle on what all has been happening for me. I’ve tried many, many times to write about it either as a blog post or even just in my journal but the words just keep flitting away from me like those no-see-um gnats in the summer. You know there is something there annoying you but you just can’t see it to get rid of it. So there is a constant irritation that you can’t get away from.
One of the most challenging things of this second year has been that some of the things I used to love the most – horses, dancing, teaching, spending time just talking with people – no longer energize or even interest me enough to want me to actually leave my house. It’s made living the life I have chosen seem empty and rudderless. My go-to things that used to leave me feeling happy and confident just don’t anymore; more often I just feel “meh” or very sad missing the joy I used to feel. Not a very fun thing to feel everyday.
Someday soon, I think, I will write more about this second year and the insights about it I am growing into. But today is about what it means to me to become a Warrior Woman Seeking Joy. It means finding those things that grab my interest and hold it for longer than a few seconds. It means seeking the things that leave me excited enough to readily say yes to leaving my house. It means doing things that leave me feeling powerful, strong and capable of anything. It means breaking out of my “always done and loved” into “now I do and love” activities. It means digging deep, listening to my inner self, and trying new things or sometimes old things in a new way. It means saying yes to breaking out of my shell and living deeply again.
This morning I tried something brand new. Soren, Demetri and I started archery classes. They have both been wanting to take archery for a few years but we just never quite pulled it together with a time that works. I got hooked on the idea a few months ago when I saw video of a woman who does archery from horseback. The horse looks like Karoly and I could immediately envision myself someday doing that. It began the awakening thought of becoming this wild, free Warrior Woman.
The glee that I had during archery this morning was amazing. I was so excited I kept rambling about my excitement to our instructor, Jack. He just smiled, along with Soren and Demetri, and would tell me a few more stories. When Jack told all 3 of us that we were doing much better than the average beginners I felt like a kid who had just gotten a gold star. And the two times I got a bulls-eye I whooped so loudly I startled everyone.
My inner Warrior Woman Seeking Joy gave a resounding YES today. Archery will definitely be one of the regular things I add into my schedule. All day I have felt lighter, stronger, more awake and those are glorious things for me to feel again. Demetri and Soren expressed similar feelings which simply adds to my joy that all 3 of us have found something fun and new to share.
While I hope to find renewed joy for the things that I’ve always loved, I am most hopeful that I will continue to seek new, interesting things to continue my awakening, my emergence from my protective shell. Already other ideas are popping into my head of things to try. I am committed to listening to what feels right for me, doing it even if I must do it alone. I want to feel strong, purposeful, brave, and able to handle anything. I want to let go of the lethargic, sad, rudderless feelings that have wrapped around me for far too long.
Most of all, I want to become a joy-filled woman who is a warrior for healing herself and the world. I want to be a wild woman who brings wonder and happiness to those around her. I want to free my muse to write with power and vulnerability again. I want to live as a Warrior Woman Seeking Joy who lets nothing and no one stop her from living a powerfully authentic, joy-filled life.
2017 here I come!
Breathe and Be 