I'm Back!
Here we go!
Guys, it’s been a long time. A lot has happened to me in the last year, so here’s a list of the main bullet points:
I got married.
Well this was a doozy. We got engaged on Valentine’s Day (awwwwww!). We were watching Malibu’s Most Wanted and eating dinner when he popped the question. We planned the wedding and made it happen on October 28th. The entire day was a fairytale that Taylor Swift could have written herself. A perfect fall day, a sequin gown, a taco bar, an ice cream truck, and a DJ that lit up the dance floor. The day was perfect and I don’t know how it could have been any better. We were surrounded by so many people that we love and cherish. As my grandma said in our wedding video, it was the best party she’d been to in 68 years.
My bachelorette trip was the time of my life.
MIAMI!! Just kidding… a hurricane hit Miami the day we were supposed to leave. So my best friends got together and rerouted the entire trip to CHICAGO! It was absolutely amazing. The weather was in the 60’s/70’s, we walked, we ate, we drank. We saw the Bean, we went to a rooftop, explored the zoo (where we saw a monkey play with his ween), and we went on a boat. Being a boat was the only request I had for Miami, and they made it happen in Chicago. I can’t ask for better friends. The love that I feel for them isn’t something that can even be put into words.
We were my brother's legal guardian for 7 months.
This was … a lot. It took us 9 months to even get him to NC from Florida. Through this process I was able to learn about foster care, group homes, and how kids in the system are set up to fail. Now I’m not saying that every kid fails, because they don’t. I’m just saying that they surely don’t make it easy for kids to succeed. Back to the story, so it took us 9 months to get him here. Once he was here things were really exciting and fresh. He was excited, we were excited, the whole family was excited… then life happened. He began to really feel comfortable with us and settled into being a teenager again. Typical teenager behavior. And then all of a sudden one day he decided he was ready to leave. He went back to Florida and that was that. I felt like I had my world turned upside down. I didn’t know why I wasn’t enough. Why didn’t he want to be with me? I did everything I could and I’m still reminding myself of that. Everyday.
I was a substitute teacher.
This was extremely eye opening. I did this for almost 2 months and boy, my respect for teachers is even more than before. Growing up with a teacher, I was able to see everything that went into lesson plans, cleaning up the classroom, etc. I have a history of teaching groups of 10-20 adults (prisoners even), so I thought that I would be able to handle 25 high school kids. BOY I WAS WRONG. I could handle them… but I didn’t want to. The disrespect. The lack of care for education. I was beside myself with how little these kids cared about school. I learned that getting suspended was “cool.” When I was in school & a kid got suspended - you stayed away from them because you didn't want to be connected to them. Teachers - I applaud you for everything that you do. Please don’t give up, we need you more than ever. (but also if it’s really affecting your mental health, please seek counseling or leave that shit!)
I found the job of my dreams.
YES. 2023 gave me my dream gig. Well I guess we’re only 3 months in… but it feels like it’s a dream! I actually wake up happy to go to work, don’t mind the weird hours, enjoy the lack of negativity, and most importantly love what I’m doing. Helping people realize their full potential with getting sober and mentally stable is extremely fulfilling. I love watching people take back their life and become something they never thought that they could be. I’m so blessed to have found a job that I can also complete my internship at so that next May I will officially have my Master’s!
I’ve had to reevaluate my relationship with my body.
This one is tough. I know that the majority of people in the world fight this battle with me. Over the last year with all of the stress (good and bad) that I have been under, I have been struggling with my physical health. My eating habits are inconsistent, I’m not exercising like I used to, and I have been using the YOLO mentality when it comes to treating myself to foods that I would normally have been moderating. We all have our rough patches and I understand that. But it doesn’t mean that I have to like it. This is another instance where I am telling myself that I have been doing the best that I can with everything going on. I’m practicing giving myself grace and being more mindful about decisions that will make me feel good.
I think that’s enough to put on your plate for this post. I hope that you take away that you are not alone. We all have our struggles. As Brene Brown says… vulnerability creates connection (or something like that). So I hope this helped you feel seen.
xx,
Linsey
