Learning while in holding - pattern

[AntoniaB]

I have lots of cats too, and 2 kittens right now (though they are 6 months old so not kittens for long) and they are really a comfort, aren't they? They offer love all the time. I think animals are wonderful helpers in our time of need, and we help them right back, which can give us focus.

I was struck by your comment "I can't believe I am in this place." I think all of us feel that way. It isn't just us. My sisters have said that they are in the middle of the work day and all of a sudden, stop and think, "oh my god I can't believe this is happening to my sister."

The reason they think it is that I had the marriage that everyone envied.

But you know, it's so hard, and I keep trying to tell myself, and maybe you can too, that you had something beautiful for a time, and now it's not that way, but it doesn't mean you're not a good person. It doesn't mean you will never be happy again. NO WAY.

Despite all of the trauma of the past several months for me, my reaching out to others has put me in situations where I have laughed. Laughed more than usual. And I've felt true connection with other people whom I'd have never had connections with before. That is all so important.

I applaud you for the steps you have taken to paint, to spend time with your grown children, to knit, to deal with your home things, to put up a tree. You have already shown strength by doing these very things. If you were weak, you'd have done NOTHING. But you didn't. You are already finding things to focus on and direct your energy towards, and that means that you have already become stronger than you might have thought you were.

(((((HUGS)))))