Lessons of 2011

I haven't visited my blog in quite some time but for me it has been like that precious thing in a box tucked away...one of those things you think about all the time and long to do but keep putting on the back burner, well, because of life.

Here I am again, (YAY!) with a list of things to write about as 2011 comes to a close. 2011 was a year that was full of lessons learned ,not by the thousands of dollars I paid to get several degrees, but by life experiences. I truly believe life experiences is where the basis of our knowledge stems from.

In the first half of the year, I learned what unconditional love through being reunited with my mom after being separated for 25 years. This of course is on the list to write about. :).  The experience and the lesson has brought peace and serenity into my life that is indescribable with words.

I also learned how to take care of myself, how to love myself, all of me, my flaws included. Learning to do this carries on through the people I come into contact with. A dear friend of mine once told me "There's no reason to reach out to teach people the "love" concept. Just live, Amanda, just be and it'll exude from you." It definitely does from her...she's like a BIG, TALL SUNFLOWER, waving in the wind.

Our lives can be filled with responsibility, obligations and the desire to fulfill all of those obligations before taking care of ourselves but I have chosen to take care of myself first. I see in my children and in my husband how important that is. I'm sure my friends are not very happy because I've done a really good job of neglecting them with this but I'll get to that in another blog.

In November, I had another life changing event that was the complete opposite, one that ripped my own security from me and left me hanging in the wind lost, desolate and confused. It was an experience that I had experienced before but this time I saw it with more clarity. The ugliness and the pain from this experience taught me how to use what I have learned through life to embrace the emotions that came with it and that healing through painful experiences is a process. There's never a quick fix and the way that life rolls, we can't always experience sunshine and roses.

I feel lucky to have gone through this year and to have experienced the roller coaster of life as it comes and am looking forward to 2012. I am excited about what I know is coming and even more so about what I don't know, good or bad. I feel STRONG this year and can't wait to share....just LIFE.