Article #1
by Karen
Let me start by saying Welcome to Woman Resource. I hope that you find this website to be a
great source of information and support.
My name is Karen.
I was asked to be a columnist on this site to share my experience,
strength and hope. I am not in any way a
professional. I am just someone who has been through some of the difficult
things that life has to throw at us. My
goal is to share what I have learned throughout my journey and offer words of
encouragement, support and knowledge that got me through my own personal
experiences.
It was such an honour to have been asked to do
this. I have recently gone through a
somewhat painful and confusing break-up of a twenty year relationship. Having been asked to share what the webmaster
of this site deemed as my “wisdom” was a real self-esteem booster for me. As it is for me, I immediately went through a
total “lack of faith” segment that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off or I
wouldn’t be able to accomplish what was being asked of me to do. This of course all had to do with my own
insecurities and doubts within me that I had what it would take. It’s that “not being good enough” syndrome
that many of us harbour deep inside of us.
It’s that FEAR that drives so many of us and controls our lives, whether
we are aware of it or not.
Let me share the feelings that I experienced when
asked to do this column. Like I
mentioned....immediately there was self doubt.
I realized at the exact same moment I was also feeling proud that
someone saw in me what I couldn’t recognize for myself. The familiar conflict within me that always
seems to be in my head when asked to take on a task took precedence in my head
almost automatically. The part that
nurtures my self worth stepped up and told me that I had something to say. The part of me that likes to sabotage that
self worth told me I would not accomplish what I was required to do.
I like to imagine that there is a little person
sitting on each one of my shoulders, each telling me a different story. I have learned that in order to stop this
conflict in my head, I need to pay more attention to the “little person” on the
shoulder that nourishes my good qualities.
I am learning more and more to ignore those self defeating, self
sabotaging messages that like to keep me hidden from who I am at a core
level. I believe that if I continue to
feed into the side that encourages the growth of my self esteem, I will one day
be able to conquer that side of me that wants to see me as something less than
I was born to be.
I truly believe that I am on a journey to finding my
true self. I believe that we are never
given any more than we can handle. I
also believe that we are exactly where we are supposed to be at any given
moment. I feel as though I am required
at this time in my life to put aside those negative connotations that eat away
at my self value. It is time for me to start tending to the side that brings
out the qualities in me that have been there all along, but have been starved
of attention and not recognized. It is a
time for me to start blossoming into whom I was meant to be. (read: time for me to clean up my own doorstep)
My goal, through my sharing with you, is to offer
encouragement and support to help you on your journey through life. I can’t offer you something that I don’t
know. I can only offer what I have
learned. My hope is that I can share
something with you and perhaps give you a different perspective on things or
trigger something in you that rings true for you as well. I don’t have all the answers. I only have the knowledge that I have gained
through what I have personally gone through.
Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and
over again and expecting different results.
On a personal level, that says to me that whatever it is that I am doing
that is not working needs to be changed.
I need to try something new. If
that rings true for you as well, take note of it. What is it that is not working for you
personally? Is it time for you to make a
change? Is it time for you to try a
different approach? Trust me when I
say...only YOU can change how your life is going. Only YOU have the choice to make your life
what you want it to be. Nobody else can
do that for YOU. I had to learn some of
that lesson the hard way. I had to be stuck in the insanity for quite a while
before I finally figured out that it wasn’t working for me. Once I finally admitted that to myself, I was
able to step out of the way and was blessed with many “Aha” moments. I was finally “getting it”.
It is also my hope that I can gain more knowledge
through doing this column. Knowledge is
Power. The more I gain, the stronger I
will become as an individual. This can
be true for you as well. Take from my sharings what works for you and leave the rest. My answers may not be the answers for
you. Perhaps some of them will. One can only use what works for them on a
personal level. You may find, as I did,
that some of the answers that I thought would work for me, did not. That’s okay!
I truly believe that I will continue to be shown the lesson until I
figure out for myself, what answers work for me. Once that happens, I can incorporate them
into my life and move on to the next lesson.
I hope that you will come back again and read what I
have to offer. I hope that I have said
something that has stirred an interest for you.
If the answer to that is yes, then I look forward to “seeing” you back
here for my next posting. If the answer
to that is no, then perhaps I haven’t hit on something yet that is true to
you. Perhaps one day you will read
something that I have shared that can help you on your own personal journey.
See ya next time!
Karen