Cresting The Hill

I realised the other day that it's 10 years since we set the plan to get Grant out of his toxic job and move up here. We wouldn't have this life if he hadn't been bullied the way he had been. Hindsight's a wonderful thing, but as tough as they are, the hills are there for a reason.

The insights that you share so eloquently and ‘hit the target’ are inspiring , helpful and thought provoking. Thank you 🙏 Irene

Oh yes to this...and how 'easy' it would be to have a straight path..in my case thinking about healthr recovery after burn out. But our bodies and brains are complex and places of old habits and starting anything new can seem threatening. I am learning, every day, to continue to do what I know to help myself (and yes I have had therapy and my GP on board, and that wonderful counsellor trained husband) but in the end I cannot 'force' anything. In fact if I do, I know I go back a bit. So great points and yes to us being here too as cheerleaders along our broken paths with some steep hills! But we are doing this! Onward, I say.

Hi Leanne, thanks for such a thought provoking post. I had to really think about the paths I’ve taken and why. A lot of my choices were made to please others or I took promotions at work I didn’t really want to in some way prove myself. Things ticked along, but I was not always happy as a result. When I made choices for myself it often took me on meandering paths, but in the end those paths were the most fulfilling and where I made many new friends. Now I’m retired I’m learning to choose more of what makes me happy, even if at first I’m afraid of something new, and if I don’t like it I can always change paths! If life takes me on unexpected uncomfortable paths, I try to remind myself of how many good things I have going on. Chrissie x

The paths I seem to always chose are what everyone else has persuaded me to. I started out on my path and then things/people got in the way and it turned into what they wanted. I have always lead my life for everyone else, I put them before me. My last job just about broke my health because I felt like I had to keep taking on more and more. Then they decided they did not want me to work anymore there and so they had some people lie on me and they let me go even though a few months earlier I was the best employee. It was time for raises and I had let one of the bosses know that I wanted to be made manager of the department, the other boss did not want to give me that promotion. So they let me go before any of that happened. Honestly it probably was the best thing that could have happened because my blood pressure was always high and I lived at that place. Now I am retired and probably happier but I am still doing what my daughter wants me to do. I'm tired and always seemed confused. I'm not getting any younger that's for sure, maybe one of these days I will start living for myself. Sorry for the long comment. I enjoy reading every week your blog. Thanks

Hi Leanne, I think of all the decisions we have made in the past thirty years that have altered the trajectory of our lives - selling the business, moving to a new town, uprooting our daughter from friends and home, retiring, downsizing, etc. Sometimes I wonder how life might have been had we stayed with the path we were on, but mostly I am grateful for where we are now. We still have uncertainty in our lives, everyone does, but we are more at peace with what lies ahead.

Hi Leanne. I do believe that God removes things from our lives, that aren't good for us. I also believe that we go through things, that as tough as they seem to be, at the time, they get us to a place that we're supposed to be. Christina Daggett

Hi Leanne - I really don't worry about the path I have travelled on. Because that's the past. Nothing much can be done about it. I look at the path on which I am right now, and when a new path is on the horizon, I pay attention to that make an informed decision as to whether I should switch or not.

In my FB feed this week was a 5-year ago picture of the moving van in front of our (now gone) home. So yeah, it has not been a straight path the last couple of years! I'm still climbing the current mountain, out of the chaos. One thing I'm feeling is the loss of community - a big twist in the road. We had a number of couple we did things with who have moved away, and not being in the community, it's been hard to start that rebuilding. My mom was fond of stating, "when a door closes, a window opens". And so I'm looking for the windows, the slight breeze that might indicate a new direction. And I'm a huge fan of a Y in the road path... it's my key blog visual! I've made many a choice of path in my life!

Loved this Leanne. I have a similar feeling -- not the same circumstances of course -- but the fact that I thought that this phase of life, after career and other midlife challenges, would be much more linear -- I chose the path and just stay on it. But of course that's not life. This is a lovely piece and Iove your writing

I am always scared to think that life is going along smoothly and everything seems good because that seems to be the kiss of death!! Sure as I say that, we will find ourselves traversing a steep mountain any minute. But as you have said, that's life.

Not sure if you saw my emails, but The Global Writing Challenge group is looking for new bloggers. Would you be interested in joining the group? We post once a month, writing on a prompt chosen by one of the group members. Please let me know!

It's so true that life is more like a labyrinth than a straight line, Leanne. I do like that in this phase of life the twists and turns feel a little more gentle. As you mentioned, there are no doubt some surprises in the future, but I do feel more confident in my ability to face them.

Leanne - As always, your thoughtful posts resonate so strongly with your (very loyal!) audience! I do love reading all the comments and hearing people's stories. I recently had an incident in my family that at the time, totally caught me by surprise. And not in a good way. Translation: lots of tears and down days, and a complete loss of trust. But after much journaling and a meeting with my therapist I realized a few things. The 'situation' that surprised me was actually a dynamic I had noticed for years, and not really given focus to. And what I came away with was a sense of relief, an understanding of why I had been feeling awkward and a little out of step. The relief of not having to second-guess myself has been wonderful. I still love them (from a distance), but have rearranged them to a different priority level in my life in order to give myself the gift of peace and well-being.