Experiences happen that can clearly define an ending and a new beginning such as:

• Losing a loved one
• Getting divorced
• Receiving a serious diagnosis
• A family member and/or loved one getting a serious diagnosis (physical, emotional, developmental/ cognitive delays or disabilities)
• Receiving a transplant 
• A global pandemic

The list goes on… 

While we are in the vortex of the life altering experience, we can forget that life goes on…when we are in it, it can feel like we will be in this abyss of loss, grief, fear, anxiety etc., indefinitely. The veil will lift, it is just a matter of time. I experienced this after my Dad died when I was 14  years old and then a few months after, I had a siege of health challenges from: being diagnosed with endocarditis (a virus that affects the lining of my heart), to shortly after needing a pacemaker, to having a second open heart surgery, to my heart slowly failing, and ultimately needing a heart transplant. After the medical tsunami had passed- I walked around with a pit in my stomach, not that this ever stopped me from living my life fully as I continued to and had been throughout the entire medial storm as much as possible. While there was also a lingering aftermath of the residue from each storm. Then one day about a year and a half later during my regular college day, I noticed that the pit in my stomach that had been there since my Dad’s death was no longer there. I realized that it had dissipated over time. The weight had lifted and I began to remember how to feel more free again to just be. 

Similarly, soon after I received my heart transplant I was consumed with the newness of taking medications (and a lot of them), all my appointments and tests. At that time, a doctor told me that one day this will be a part of my life, and my life would be so full that I will fit my appointments, test, etc., into my life rather than the other way around. It was hard to believe this when I was in the thick of  it. Overtime, I started to remember the old ways of being and doing and began to integrate them into the new to create my new normal- slowly the tests, appointments etc., started to and continue to fit into my very full life. 

Are you in the thick of the vortex or emerging from an experience that marked an ending, and you are embarking on a new beginning? Here is your loving reminder, that you will remember what you have forgotten about experiencing joy, freedom, smiling, laughing, being able to love again. You will learn from lived experiences how to love yourself more deeply and live life more authentically and fully!