I’ve been inspired this week by a bunch of different things that have contributed to where I am now.
Since I started blogging, I have discovered a new community. These are people I’ve never met who have provided so much support to me (and to each other) during the most difficult time in my life.
Recently some of those people have started vlogging. I LOVE this. I love seeing their faces. I love hearing their voices. I feel more like I actually have met them.
There are a lot of people I could include here, but I’m going to share three with you – one funny, one sweet & friendly, and one incredibly brave.
Leighann and I started blogging around the same time, and if I walked past her in the street I would hug her. I love her posts and her tweets, but seeing her on camera made me really feel like I know who she is. Here is her first (quite funny) vlog.
Alison is not one of my PPD mamas, but she reads and comments and shows so much support. I find this incredible for someone who hasn’t experienced it – it’s like she gets it, which is quite amazing. I loved her vlog – she is beautifully sweet. Plus I really like her accent.
And then Kim. She used her first vlog to participate in Miranda’s rally for mental health and telling her story in this way is really powerful. Loved that she showed her true self in this way for this cause.
Which brings me to Miranda’s rally, which must have taken a lot of energy to organize and shows a dedication that is such a hallmark of who Miranda is. The American Psychological Association had Mental Health Day. Miranda had mental health days. Maybe even weeks. She gave people a place to tell their stories and as a whole that’s a really powerful thing.
And speaking of sharing her stories, Amanda did that this week. When she let me know she had been inspired to share her story about PPD, I was so glad. And so proud. Proud of her, because I know how scary that can be to do.
I’ve been thinking of all these things as I pondered what to what about for this week’s inspiration post. And then last night I sat down to watch the (PVR’d) final episode of Oprah. I haven’t been a regular Oprah watcher for a while, but I wanted to watch her last episode. So much of what she said in her farewell is exactly what I’ve been working on articulating here in a post that’s been in draft for weeks. That will come in time, but in the meantime Oprah said something that describes exactly why these things are inspirational to me:
“In every way in every day you are showing people exactly who you are. You’re letting your life speak for you.”
All the above are examples of this. And that’s all I’m trying to do too. My life has been speaking to me for a while, and only occasionally have I been able to hear it. But by allowing myself to be who I am, and by sharing that with others, I have removed some things that have prevented me from hearing those messages.
I hear them now. And for the first time in a long time, I’ve had a week where I understand what people meant when they said, “I wish you peace” because I’ve found it. It wasn’t in my environment, it wasn’t in my medication, it was in me. And I have invited it to stay.
I liked this photo, especially when I realized it was titled "Brave New World"
