The past few days have been filled with opportunities to reflect, pause, and think. As the darkest day of the year is upon us, we often spend this time preparing for the holidays. We spend hours running, trying to get our last-minute groceries, and sending the final gifts and cards, a time when we often think of others more than we think of ourselves. As I have been working on my consistency in meditation, reflection, and taking time to heal my body, I began to think of this day of darkness as an opportunity to reset an opportunity to pause.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have cleaned my office, shared files with my predecessor, and set up the task of walking away. I am stepping away from a career that has framed my existence for almost 20 years. As I sat through my transition meeting with the admin team the other day, it hit me like a ton of bricks. However hard this transition can be, I am making the right decision. With this pause in life, I can focus on myself, my family, and my health. I am taking a breather for a variety of reasons. The single most important one is to provide a space to heal. Although I chose to do this for myself, to focus on my health and work on getting my disease to a manageable state, it has definitely made me think about the layers I wear. My role as an educator has been predominant in my life.
As we are stepping into the darkest day of the year, the celebration that the light is coming may impact me the most. The thought that we can take this time to pause, to really dive into the pieces of ourselves that we keep in the dark – the fears, the challenges, the things that we choose to hide. We can take a moment and celebrate ourselves for who we are behind the layers to allow our true selves to shine in the light.
Escaping Crazy 