Category Archives: New and Unknown

Rot Me Not / Life Reset Blog Challenge

Dreams, Motivation, New and Unknown, Perspective Shift, Self-Awareness, Taking Charge

I’ve doing a lot of thinking and sulking and day-dreaming and procrastinating lately. You name it, I’ve been doing it. I’ve been at my parents house for 2 weeks now. I’ve been telling myself to stop overthinking and just do something. Anything. But yet, I can’t seem to figure out what direction I want to take. It’s like there are 101 paths laid out before me and I can’t make myself go down any one road.

And so, since my kids are now in school, I’ve been doing just anything – cleaning, making lists of things to do, grocery shopping, job-hunting, etc. Just keeping busy. Yesterday I went running. Afterward I was like “why don’t I run more often?”. I’ve been so focused on “keeping the peace” with my not-yet-ex-husband that I forgot what it was like to live for myself. Now that I don’t see him everyday to suck my energy dry, I’ve become a lost person. How stupid is that? Tiptoeing my life around him was obviously not healthy, but it was part of my identity. Now I’m forced to get to know myself again. It’s liberating and scary all at the same time.

I woke up from a disturbing dream this morning and it got my motivational wheels turning. In my dream, my not-yet-ex-husband was “cleaning” stuff out in the house I just moved out of in real life, but he wasn’t really doing much but making a mess. There was stuff strewn everywhere and I was frustrated and just picking up things around me. This pretty much sums up my marriage. He would just do things (whatever he wanted really) and I would be the clean-up crew behind him (in many aspects of life). Anyways, back to my dream –> The heels of my feet started itching. I go to scratch my feet and discover that I have a big hole in each heel and maggots are falling out. I’m watching this in disbelief and kicking maggots off of my feet. But in my dream I am not surprised at this, I’m just dealing with it. I’m frustrated but not freaking out.

I woke up, quite disturbed, and did a search online for “dream about maggots”. I find multiple search results that say something similar to this:

To see maggots in your dream represent your anxieties about death. It may also be indicative of some issue or problem that you have been rejecting and it is now “eating away” at you. You need to confront it for it is destroying your sense of harmony and balance.

The one that really got me was in this one though:

Possible need to cleanse body of toxins or infection, or a sense of disease emotionally in that area of self; something, like a fear or resentment, eating away at one. It could also indicate a decay or part of you lacking life, something ‘eating away at you’. Remember that maggots only live on rotting things.

Oh my GAWD. Yes, maggots only live on rotting things. And that is how I’ve been feeling lately – like I’m worthless. Existing, and rotting here all day with no real sense of purpose.

So today, the 1st of September, is a new day of a new month and I’m not going to rot away and have disturbing dreams about my rotting life. Rot me Not. I have to make the second half of my lifetime count. I’m better than my doubtful thoughts that creep in and sabotage my happiness (or lack thereof).

I contacted a local college about some certification courses I could take to expand my career. And I reached out to a mentor for some career advice. I’m also going to stick to a running routine while I’m not working and focus on things that make ME happy. I clearly need to retrain my brain to live for me.

So today is the start of a my Rot Me Not / Life Reset Blog Challenge for September and October. I’ll try to write often the next couple of months about:

  • “What did I do lately that is for me?”
  • “How am I resetting my thoughts, attitude, dreams, etc.?”
  • In other words, “What have I been doing to Stifle Me Not?”

 

Stifle Me Not

Adjusting

Moving, New and Unknown

I made it to the other side. The move was successful. We all got situated this past week. We’re all slowly figuring out our new normal. My daughter started school last week and my son started preschool today. There have been some frustrations of course, but things could always be worse.

I now find myself in a quiet house drinking decaf and wondering if I should continue to go down the path that hasn’t been working for me (trying to search for a job in my current career field) or try a new path. I’m considering some certification programs at a nearby college. I’m educated, but I may need something new to move me forward. I don’t want to make any hasty decisions, but I also don’t want to be sitting here drinking decaf by myself 6 months from now.

It’s been a little challenging trying to adjust to living under someone else’s roof and rules. I very much miss having my own space and being the one to call the shots. I feel like a child again having to adjust to / tip toe around some of my dad’s rules, ways, beliefs, etc. And I feel intrusive that my children and I have taken over the place. It’s not horrible, but I know my dad and stepmom aren’t in their quiet happy bubble of joy that they’re used to.

So I guess I’ll take the next few days to figure out what the heck I should do with my future. The rat race has ended and now I have all of this time. Once upon a time, I wished for nothing but more TIME, and here I have it. I must use it wisely.

Stifle Me Not

Preparing for the Great Unknown

New and Unknown, Positive Attitude, Taking Charge

Today appeared to be a normal day of errands, but it was not. It was a preparation day for future days of a new life.

In one week my life will change forever. My kids and I are moving back to my childhood city (which is about one hour south of my current home). Today I drove down there and registered them at their new schools. My daughter will be going to a school that I once went to. I felt like I entered some weird time warp when we walked into the school. We turned in her registration paperwork and she got a tour from the dean. She looked so relieved after the tour. She could see that it wasn’t so scary after all.

After registering her, I registered my son for his first year of preschool. He didn’t care. He whined the whole time about how he wanted to go out to the playground. I’m glad he won’t remember most of this life transition since he’s only three.

Somehow, after six months of trying my ass off, I still do not have a job. Let me be clear that I have come so close. I have made it to all but being the final pick. And almost weekly I have prospects. Right now I am juggling 3. So as much as I feel like an unemployed loser, I know I’m trying. Sometimes I feel like I’m not trying hard enough, but that’s my life story. I always feel like I’m not doing enough, and then I wind up exhausted. I’m trying to balance “trying hard” vs. “beating myself up”.

So after next Saturday, my home will be mostly empty. I will stare at the empty rooms and try not to cry that my first home ended like this. I’m not moving to a newer, bigger home in the suburbs with my husband and kids. I’m moving in with my parents and my kids, without my soon-to-be-ex-husband, so that I can reset and recharge and rediscover who I used to be and who I still can be. I’m going to be surrounded by my support system of family and not feel alone like I have been for the past 10 months. I’m going to ask for help when I need it and know that I’m loved unconditionally by them.

My husband and I didn’t work out, and it’s now transitioning 4 human lives and 2 dog lives. This is hard. This is very hard.

My soon-to-be-ex-husband is buying a new house. I have mixed feelings about this. I almost feel like I should be in it. How weird is that? I don’t want to be with him, yet I feel abandoned that he’ll have a new house and I have no home. Of course my parents will tell me over and over again that their home is my home. But it isn’t MY home. While I’m sad that we’re moving on like this, he will take our furry pups. My neighbor has graciously offered to care for our dogs in between leaving this current house and until he closes on his house in the fall. I’ll be very worried about my dogs while they are temporarily not with either of us. But I’m happy to know that they’ll have a new forever home. I’m unable to bring them to my parents house. It breaks my heart that I can’t have my dogs, but I have the kids, so I’m over the moon thankful for that.

I feel like this is the first giant step of many to come, but the alternative is to freeze up and stay stranded in a sea of unhappiness and self loathing. That doesn’t sound appealing. So this week I will finish packing and prepping for the great unknown.

They say that when one door closes another one opens. I feel like this is a giant damn door that is taking forever to close. It’s like it has been stuck open and I haven’t been able to fully close it yet. Like strong winds keep blowing it blown open. As motivated as I may be to close it and as hard as I try, it has just been a long time coming. Next weekend I will close that damn door. Although I don’t know what lies behind the next door, I feel like it has to be a whole hell of a lot better than the last 10 months.

Wish me luck.

Stifle Me Not

It’s Been a Surprising Day

New and Unknown

Today I accepted an offer on my house.

For $15K above asking price.

Uh, let me be clear that there must be some larger force at play here because there is no way I ever thought it would sell for the original asking price let alone for that much over.

I am still in shock. I signed the papers to accept the offer. I am dumbfounded. The buyer even wrote a letter that stated why he wanted the house so bad.

Not only did he put in an offer that high, but another buyer put in an offer for $10K above asking price.

Apparently the housing market is really really good these days? I knew it was good, but I didn’t realize it was going to be so fabulous that it would leave me speechless.

Today I also got a call to be interviewed on Thursday. It’s just for a contract job, but I don’t have room to be picky these days since I have to find a place to live in the next four weeks. Let’s hope my luck in the job market is as good as in the housing market.

Things are looking up. There are still a lot of unknowns, but I’m still standing so I guess I’ll keep moving forward.

Stifle Me Not

Throw Me a Bone

New and Unknown

I often wonder at what point do I just lose my mind altogether? But no, I continuously remind myself to take it “one day at a time.”

“Things will get better.”

“There’s no such thing as perfect, so just roll with it.”

“Go with the flow.”

“I am in charge, I have power over my choices.”

“God doesn’t give you anything that you can’t handle.”

Right. Got it. Well, I finally moved into acceptance mode that my house was on the market. I committed to getting through it and moving forward. My house listed yesterday, on my birthday of all days, and I received multiple showing requests right away. I was able to get out of the house for one yesterday and had six scheduled for today. I couldn’t believe there was that much demand for people to see my modest little colonial home.

So I started to get excited and think of the possibilities if offers came rolling in. I was fully embracing the change. I often do, but what keeps happening lately is a punch in the face that leaves me dazed and confused. There’s been this grand detour lately. I can handle change, I can handle a detour here and there, but I’m baffled by how nonstop it is lately. I remember going years without one damn new thing happening. Life was boring, now it’s a daily surprise to say the least.

Today I had a big plan to take my two kids and two dogs to my sister’s house while six potential buyers walked through my house and peeked into my closets between the hours of 10 AM and 5 PM. Last night the house was mostly spotless so that I had little work to do in the morning. I went to bed around midnight, and as I’m about to drift off into a glorious slumber, I hear my 9-year old daughter in the bathroom. She was sick. The first hour was her thinking that she might be sick, sitting on the bathroom floor by the toilet just staring. By 1 AM she was definitely sick. I tried to help her the best a mama bear can. She proceeded to dry heave for the next five hours. Each time I was about to drift off to sleep, I’d awaken to gagging sounds that no mother wants to hear. And what mom should just stay comfy in their bed while their kid vomits their guts out? Of course I got up each time to make sure she was okay, got her fluids, told her I loved her, and then disinfected anything she touched and washed my hands.

By 7 AM she drifted off to sleep. I decided she was in no shape to go anywhere and her bed was the best place for her to be. I canceled all of the house showings for today. I couldn’t help but wonder why? And maybe I was overthinking it, but why on earth did I finally get excited to sell my house and it was quickly swiped away? Obviously I’m not going to force my kid to be sick in the car or away from home while strangers roam our house.

All of these life changes are messing with me. Throw in big detours and I don’t even know who I am anymore.

I decide I’m finally ready to get divorced, I lose my job a day before I’m supposed to file the final paperwork to my lawyer. You can’t come to a dissolution agreement without income.

I lose my job, I decide I’m okay with a little break from work and try to make the most of it. I try daily and weekly to job search and network and keep an open mind to new possibilities. I get a decent amount of bites, yet none of them are working out.

I finally decide that selling my house is something that can help move us forward, and I can’t manage to have showings because of a sick kid. I know sick kids happens, but a sick kid in the middle of July is kind of rare.

I vacillate between “I’m doing everything wrong” to “Life happens, I’m doing the best I can.”

Damn I’m trying not to throw a pity party for myself. Lord knows things can always get worse. But I would like a break. I stable freakin’ break. If a little stability could come rolling in, that would be amazing. It’s been 9 months of chaos. I’d just like to know where I’m going to live and work in the next couple of months. My kids would appreciate it too. It’s heartbreaking that my daughter wants to buy her school supplies and I’m hesitant because I don’t know if we’ll be living here or have an entirely new school supply list at a new school.

Throw me a bone universe. Please.

Stifle Me Not

 

Transition Time

New and Unknown

I am trying so hard that it’s almost not worth trying anymore. Not in an “I give up” sort of way, but more of an “I surrender” way. I’m not sure what I’m surrendering to, the great unknown I suppose. All I do know is that what I’ve been trying to do is not working and it’s time to make a more drastic change.

I have been searching for a new job since early March when I was laid off. I have applied to almost 50 jobs in the last five months. I have had a small number of phone interviews and very few face-to-face live interviews. The positions that I qualify for typically require multiple interviews. I can tell that companies like me and are impressed with my resume, but I can’t seem to make it to that final job offer. I’m beyond frustrated. It was nice to have some time off for an extended period of time with my kids. I look at that as a gift, but the time has come where I need to continue making a living financially or it will cause my kids more harm than good.

Last Friday I met with a realtor. My house will be on the market this weekend, which is also my birthday. I never thought I’d have to list my house for sale on my 39th birthday because I can’t keep up with the mortgage. To make matters worse, my someday ex-husband just tore a major muscle in his arm and has to have surgery next week. When it comes time to actually move, I will need to get movers. I’m anxious and scared and looking forward to getting it over all at the same time. I want a new start, but I didn’t think it would be like this. Not like this.

A photographer came to my house today to take photos for the listing. My house looked great. My dogs and kids were curious about what was going on. My oldest has a lot of questions and I know she’s anxious about where she’ll go to school this fall. I keep trying to reassure her that it will be okay, but I honestly have no idea. I’m listing my house with no idea of where I’ll live next. If I can get a job in the next few weeks, I can simply find a new place nearby. I would have to do that anyway since my someday ex-husband and I are separated. If I don’t get a job soon, my unemployment benefits will be running out, so my father said I could live with him, but I can’t bring my dogs.

I can’t even look at my two dogs. There are a couple of people that offered to take care of them for me during this crazy transition, but that makes me so sad. They’re my dogs. My kids and I love them so much. I hate uprooting my whole family. I have moved so many times in my life and each time was hectic but not as challenging as this. I had no kids or animals then. It was just me that I had to worry about.

I keep wavering between wanting to move full speed ahead and wanting to throw up because of all the stress. I haven’t slept well the past few nights. I know next week is going to be rough having to keep my house clean/staged and leaving with the kids and two bigger dogs while there are house showings. I want to cry, but don’t have the time or energy to do that. I have things to do to keep moving forward. Moving backward is not an option at this point.

I’ve been through my share of life changes in the past 39 years, but never to the point of having my relationship, career, and living situation change all at the same time. I’m counting my blessings that my kids are healthy and happy right now as I try to make the best possible decisions to ensure they have a great life.

Stifle Me Not

May 27th Lesson: It’s My Turn

Learning, New and Unknown

Today is my not-yet-ex-husband’s birthday. We started dating at the end of 2000. Every year since 2001, I have focused all of my efforts on making this day special (and even the entire weekend, since it’s almost always on or near Memorial Day weekend). And since we’ve been married, I typically stress the hell out about what to get him as a gift and have a birthday party for him – make dinner, get a cake, and have his family over to celebrate. Then we would have his sister babysit and go out with friends.

All of my energy focused on him and him only.

Today I did no such thing. I stayed home and pet my dogs and cleaned all day. His mom had him and our children over for his birthday dinner and cake. He brought the kids back in the evening and I almost said “Happy Birthday”. But how awkward is that? Who wants “Happy Birthday” from their not-yet-ex-wife? I’m happy for the day that he was born. If not for that day, we wouldn’t have the smart sassy children that we do today.

This was probably the most relaxing Memorial Day weekend I’ve had in 17 years. It felt weird not to be busy as hell this weekend, but it was freeing at the same time. Learning today that I don’t have to always drain my energy into someone else. It’s my turn after all these years.

Stifle Me Not

May 26th Lesson: Embracing Newness

Learning, New and Unknown

Yesterday I packed my kids’ bags to go with their father for two days. It’s a bitter sweet moment when they go off with their dad. I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out on important moments, and I can’t protect them like the mama bear that I am. On the other hand, I need a breather to stop and have silence and make the thoughts in my head slow down.

They went off with their dad and I embraced the silence. And it made me sad at the same time. But I had a headache, so I embraced it more than usual.

I did a little yard work, showered, and headed to my sister’s house for a nice change of scenery. We got some dinner and then we hung out with some of her friends. They were very nice and welcoming. I got to see my sister in her element and interact with some new and different people. It was a nice distraction from not having my own kids and my state of life-in-transition.

I love home. Home is my comfort zone. But I need to get out and experience new places and people more often. I learned that I need to expand my world a little more. I’ve been wallowing in the comfort of my home and the cycle of my thoughts for long enough. It’s time to embrace some newness.

Stifle Me Not