As a woman who came of age in the sixties and who was deeply involved with what is now called Second Wave feminism, the grief, disappointment and, yes, anger I feel at the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade is immense. The warnings had been coming for months; the leaked draft seemed to confirm the direction of the Court, but it was not until it actually happened that the enormity of this action hit home. Fifty years of precedent. Fifty years of what they called “settled law”. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch lied to the United States Senate.
What is next? IVF? Contraception? Gay marriage? The legal arguments used in Dobbs can be applied to these other statutes. Will it happen? We said it wouldn’t – they wouldn’t – but they did.
The Congress is gridlocked – the Court has therefore assumed an overreaching role in determining policy – not law – policy. By throwing these decisions back to the states they are undermining the entire system of government on which our democracy rests. They are deepening the already painful divide between states and citizens. One Civil War was fought over State’s Rights. Must we face another?
I don’t even know what to say anymore.
I will let Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, have the last word.
“If Justice Alito wants you to be governed by the laws of the 17th century, you should take a close look at that century. Is that when you want to live?”
On another and different note – friends, I want to let you know that as of this date I will be taking a break from writing for HerSavvy.
I am needing to turn my energy to helping my husband through some health challenges. It has been a joy to write for HerSavvy over these years – we began the blog in 2014, and it has been my pleasure to muse on many and varied topics over these many years together. I wish you much joy in the days and years ahead.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 35+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please….. Give HerSavvy credit!
No, that is certainly not Old Smokey. That’s a picture I took from the northwest side of the Nashville-Davidson County Landfill. What appears as a mountain ridge-top is a 77-acre mound of garbage!!!
The site, Southern Services Construction & Demolition landfill, is owned by Waste Management. The company has plans to expand the site by 17 acres, a plan that was rejected by Nashville’s Solid Waste Region Board. In April, the company filed a lawsuit against Davidson County. According to my research, the board has a “Solid Waste Master Plan” which aims to send near zero waste to landfills by 2050. Not exactly around the corner, but it’s a start…
So now, according to the news, Waste Management is having a shortage of employees. Therefore, areas around Nashville are not having their garbage picked up. The company is resorting to alternating schedules, so people’s trash is piling up. According to WSMV, “An ordinary chore turned into a mound of frustration this month for people living in one Antioch neighborhood who say they weren’t paid a visit from their garbage truck for more than two weeks.” So sad. And I saw interviews on television showing people’s “trash.”
How pathetic. I mean, c’mon people! I saw so many examples of recyclable items: Coke cartons, beer cartons, cans, milk jugs, plastic bags… What’s the deal? It’s 2021 and it’s high time, no, it’s WAY PAST high time for folks to WAKE UP AND SMELL THE GARBAGE!!! Where do they think it goes? Into a pile. Okay. And where does that pile go? Nowhere, people – Nowhere!!!!!!!!!
Now: Many neighborhoods have recycling collection. Sure, they have some restrictions (like no glass – dangerous, I guess), but how hard is it to get it to the curb? I have to tote mine to one of the recycling collection bin centers around town, or in my county, but it’s worth it. I’ve been doing it for YEARS. I just plan it in to my schedule and I know, at least I hope, it’s being dealt with sustainably. As for plastic bags, most grocery stores have bins for those.
I know the public hears the word “recycle.” I believe they even know what it means. But if we don’t start conserving resources, and recycling serves that purpose as well, and limiting our garbage dumping, we are going down a very slippery slope. “Earth Day” is more than just one day a year. Please…
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
As I begin this piece tonight I find myself faced with putting into words what cannot be, can never be, put into words, because words can only carry us so far into experience. Tonight I am faced with an attempt to put into words the enormity of the events of these last days, weeks, months, even years that have piled on, each one unique unto itself and yet combining into what is now greater, harder, more challenging than all its parts. And yet I am going to try, because the trying perhaps is in itself a healing process.
It began slowly – he said after we were all together that Christmas of 2018, somewhat offhandedly, oh by the way, I am having a CT scan when I get back to Berkeley– maybe have fatty liver. Not too much alarm there – then in January the startling news of a tumor in the liver, size of a softball. Surgery to come. Removal of two-thirds of his liver in March, 2019. Reports – it is not primary liver cancer, it is bile-duct cancer. What? Very rare. OF course. Not well understood.
The fight began. He, a scientist and geneticist, participated fully in his treatment, sought information, found clinical trials. A trial he entered gave him, remarkably, almost 21 months of additional, high-quality life. In spite of COVID he thrived, creating family connections and friend connections across the globe, hosting as he always did, connecting others.
November, 2020 – she called, having experience shortness of breath – went to the ER for removal of a liquid surrounding the lungs. In the process of this, a CT scan revealed an abdominal mass. When surgically removed and reviewed – ovarian cancer of a rare and slow-growing type (which meant not responsive to chemo). In January of 2021 she entered a clinical trial. She did very well.
Suddenly things began to change. For him, the clinical trial stopped working. The cancer invaded the biliary tree in the liver, and all attempts to help bile leave the liver were unavailing. Although another trial showed promise, the fight to get there was lost. He left us on May 2, 2021, having survived 21 months post-diagnosis of a type of cancer that rarely if ever allows for more than months of life.
And while all this was happening, she was doing well. A dancer, a lover of nature, she thrived on this beautiful island. From January 2021 to June 2021 she was upbeat, feeling good, feeling positive, enjoying life in paradise, her name for her home on Maui.
Suddenly things began to change. A sensation of pressure in her legs – unclear origin. Suddenly problems with digestion. Next discomfort in abdomen – visit to ER revealing fluid gathered in the abdomen, which when drained showed signs of advanced cancer. Further hospitalization showed the cancer suddenly invading all major organs.
She went home to her beloved partner and entered hospice care on June 30. We arrived – her sisters, her niece, her brother-in-law – on July 3. She knew us. She thanked us for coming.
She left us on July 4, 2021.
A brother. A sister. Both younger than I – ages 70 and 67. Both lost to rare cancers that overwhelmed the best efforts and best care each could have. There is no one to blame. Everyone loved them and fought hard for them, but the cancers were relentless in their proliferation. They both died surrounded by those who loved them.
And now, those who loved them are faced with the daily task of getting up each day and living lives from which their daily presence is gone. Those who loved them have to pick up the pieces of life, to face the bureaucracy of death, the death certificates, the computer passwords, the search for things like safe deposit box keys, the bank accounts.
Those who loved them have to distribute their earthly possessions, decide what to keep, what to give, what to do with the remains of a life.
And yet most of all, those who loved them are faced with walking through each day with the reality of their absence. Many things are said about death – but for me the truth is that death is absence and loss of the precious connection between human souls. I carry them with me in my heart, but I want to hear them, and talk with them, and remember with them, and that will never be again.
So today I mourn the loss of my brother Glenn Hammonds and my sister Lindsay Hammonds – two bright stars who blazed through this world too quickly and left it too soon. I am only at the beginning of the journey of grief. Today I can only feel the loss. Perhaps happy memories will help, but not yet.
Friends, hold each other close. Don’t wait to be together. These COVID months have stopped us in so many ways – but for COVID I would have spent months with each of them instead of having to wait for vaccination to make it safe to go. I am grateful I was able to be with both of them before they died. Don’t wait. Life is not a given, and we are given now, but nothing else is sure.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
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What a time we are in, my friends – what a time! Surely this moment in history is one that will be dissected and studied and torn apart and rehashed again and again in years to come – and yet here we are, living it day to day. Who could have known that we would still be separated when the pandemic began to affect all of our lives in March – now it is six months later, and we do not know how long we will need to continue with the new behaviors that are required to maintain our own health and the health of others – masks, social distancing, hand washing being the activities that are proven to result in protection.
I know this has been tremendously hard for many of us – I would venture to say for all of us – for different reasons. For some it is the pain of living alone, for some it is the terror of getting this virus, for some it is the loss of face-to-face church, for some it is the loss of being with children and grandchildren. For some it has been the loss of the ability to earn a living, for some it has been the loss of the joyful experience of making music together. I am sure that each one of you can identify a personal impact that COVID-19 has had on your day-to-day life.
The response many of us have to all this is to worry. We worry about what may happen tomorrow; we fret over what could happen, might happen, won’t happen, will happen – we spend so much time and energy on events THAT MAY NEVER HAPPEN.
We have three possible ways to address time. Some of us spend way too much time in the land of If Only – – if only I had done that, or not done this – maybe things would be different now. Some of us spend way too much time in the land of What If – this or that might happen or not happen. We fret about the future – a future that does not exist!
The place that we are in now – the Land of Now, of Present Time – is the only time that we have. Surely we know that we are not guaranteed another day of life – and that we can never reclaim time that is past.
I invite you to take a breath, right now – to look around. Celebrate this moment. We are here. We are connecting in spite of the distance imposed by the circumstances of the pandemic. Notice what your eyes can see, what your ears can hear. We are here together, now, with the amazing opportunity through technology of being present together in spite of the physical distance many of us are living. I, for one, am more than grateful.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please….. Give HerSavvy cr
That was the title of a presentation I shared several years ago with the incredible women of the Breakfast Club of Nashville. I am not a prolific writer and am often stymied to find inspiration as to what to write for my HerSavvy post. I certainly wanted to stay away from politics… That’s why I am often late posting my submission and I’m late again. Yesterday, however, I was blessed with great inspiration.
My presentation to the club was about my practice of CranioSacral Therapy. As a Licensed Massage Therapist, I have been practicing this very special form of healing bodywork for almost 20 years. A very light touch form of work, CST, addressing the cerebrospinal fluid, reaches into the body and can help release deep seated discomfort (aka “pain”) resulting from physical injury, emotional injury or a combination of the two.
We don’t always realize that an accident causing physical injury can, and I believe, usually does result in an emotional component as well. CST can restore balance to the body and two of my clients yesterday experienced radical changes in their bodies as the result of this kind of release. Each described what was, in their words, a life changing breakthrough. What a wonder!!! This didn’t happen over night, of course. But in a remarkably short period of time, we, I say WE, made an amazing difference in each of their lives.
Over the years, I have witnessed so many of these miracles, more than I can count. I am just the messenger and I am blessed.
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
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OK, so I’m a pack rat. Yes, I am. I admit it. I don’t think I’m a hoarder, because everything I see on television about hoarders is about buying tons of things that they don’t need and stashing them just in case they might ever need them or they may never be available on the planet again, or for no particular reason they know. For me, much of what I keep is sentimental; Reminders of the past. I don’t go out and buy an excess of anything, but I do keep odds and ends for the “just in case I might need it someday.” It’s a habit I’ve had forever it seems. Interestingly, and I think my ex might say it’s true, every time I finally got rid of some of those odds and ends under pressure, sure enough, the day would come shortly thereafter where we needed a little something just like the little something that I just threw out…
My condo is FULL. As if I didn’t have enough stuff to move, at the time my ex and I parted ways, I had already cleared some stuff out of the garage and into a “climate-controlled” storage unit. Oh, I thought this was a fabulous idea. Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? It wouldn’t be in the way and I could go through it at my convenience. You see, by this time, I had taught at, been in administration for, and seen the doors close on five different massage programs. You know what it’s like to empty an office… especially for a pack rat. And then there’s grandma’s china, miscellaneous tools, sound equipment (singer and songwriter me), and more. Just the smallest unit, I packed it efficiently. Then, one day, I received a phone call from the facility: “We are re-purposing the climate-controlled building.” I had one day to empty my unit. One major U-Haul truck trip and, to where? Why my living room, of course! And there it lives ever since. It’s embarrassing to tell, but it’s now been over a year and most of it (I did manage to give some things away) is right where it landed.
In my defense, I had begun to suffer severe back pain developed over years and just couldn’t face the prospect of going through boxes. Well the surgeon has fixed my back and I’ve been laid up at home amidst it all and I have promised myself that as soon as I am able to lift and move things again, I am going to tackle it. All of it, and more!
I came upon the book you see above, “The Year of Less,” by Cait Flanders, and, while I’ve always thought I believed in the ideas she pursued, I sure can’t say I’ve lived them. She challenged herself to stop drinking (Fortunately, I gave that up long ago.), stop buying anything that wasn’t on her “approved shopping list” for a year and begin giving away anything and everything that was not essential. Being parked at home, I was painfully aware (pardon the pun) of the mess I had before me and apologized profusely to the dear friends and my wonderful sister who stayed with me when I first got home from the hospital. But Ms. Flanders’ book inspired me and made it bearable. My healing is slow, but sure and I’ve even returned to work on “transitional duty.” One of her suggestions is, “Tell everyone what you’re doing.” She says it helps create accountability. Well, I’m telling y’all, so I guess now I’m accountable. Stay tuned.
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my friends. I am thankful for my sweet little dog, Winnie. I am thankful for the surgeon who is going to take good care of me next week. I am particularly thankful for what seems to be a new awareness regarding the earth’s plight. There are more and more organizations trying desperately to clean up our oceans. There are more and more organizations trying desperately to clean up our lands. There are more and more organizations trying desperately to make life better for the disadvantaged. There are more and more organizations helping abused children find a better place in the world. There are more and more organizations rescuing pets (like my Winnie) and finding good homes for them. And there are more and more organizations trying to help refugees displaced from their countries of origin to find new places to start over.
It is unfortunate that there are key people in our government and other governments who would like to thwart much of this change, but I believe we will overcome their efforts and we will prevail. For this, I am truly thankful.
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
My last post was pretty depressing, I know. The issue of plastic overtaking our environment, killing off wildlife, and affecting our health IS depressing. This post comes to you with hope for the future. As an ex-partner of mine would say, “Science created it and science can un-create it.” I’m counting on that.
Well, now, there is a lot out there about a “natural” remedy for the problem. Is it really possible that nature has provided “plastic-eating bacteria?”
“Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles,” a headline from The Guardian touts:
Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles – by accident. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling for the first time the full recycling of bottles.
The new research was spurred by the discovery in 2016 of the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic, at a waste dump in Japan. Scientists have now revealed the detailed structure of the crucial enzyme produced by the bug.
The international team then tweaked the enzyme to see how it had evolved, but tests showed they had inadvertently made the molecule even better at breaking down the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic used for soft drink bottles. “What actually turned out was we improved the enzyme, which was a bit of a shock,” said Prof John McGeehan, at the University of Portsmouth, UK, who led the research. “It’s great and a real finding.”
The mutant enzyme takes a few days to start breaking down the plastic – far faster than the centuries it takes in the oceans. But the researchers are optimistic this can be speeded up even further and become a viable large-scale process.
Nature has begun to fight back against the vast piles of filth dumped into its soils, rivers and oceans by evolving a plastic-eating bacteria – the first known to science.
In a report published in the journal Science, a team of Japanese researchers described a species of bacteria that can break the molecular bonds of one of the world’s most-used plastics – polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or polyester.
The Japanese research team sifted through hundreds of samples of PET pollution before finding a colony of organisms using the plastic as a food source. Further tests found the bacteria almost completely degraded low-quality plastic within six weeks. This was voracious when compared to other biological agents; including a related bacteria, leaf compost and a fungus enzyme recently found to have an appetite for PET.
Here in the U.S., Morgan Vague, Clinical Research Coordinator at Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine in Portland, Oregon, presents a TED Talk about her research. She talks realistically about the problem we face and how “my bacteria” can help.
How about the solution presented here in an article from Fast Company discussing the enzyme used by bacteria to digest plastic and how it can be developed?
Around the world, several research projects are exploring the potential of enzymes, the part of the microorganisms responsible for digesting the plastic, to help. In the U.K., scientists studying the Japanese bacteria accidentally created a version of the bacteria’s enzyme that worked even better, breaking down plastic bottles in days rather than weeks. At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the U.S., scientists are also working on the enzyme—called PETase, because it can eat PET plastic—to make it work faster. Researchers in Germany studied the structure of PETase to optimize it. And in France, a startup called Carbios has developed its own enzyme, which can fully break down PET plastic so it can be recycled into new, consumer-grade plastic of the same quality as virgin PET. Major corporations including PepsiCo and Nestlé are now partnering with the company, which plans to begin building its first demonstration plant this fall.
Like some other new recycling technology, using enzymes has advantages over traditional methods of shredding up old products. The plastic doesn’t have to be clean, and can be broken down completely. “We take these plastics back down to some of their precursor components, and then they are maybe in a better position then to be reused and reincorporated into new materials,” Hallinan says. Creating precursors for making plastic, rather than recycling whole plastic into a lower-grade material, might incentivize more recycling because there’s a better market for the final product. “There might be more economic appetite, more industrial appetite, for those types of materials.”
I’m certainly not convinced these bacteria are the silver bullet we need, but, combined with limiting plastic production, returning to the days of re-usable materials like glass, and the biodegradable, sustainable materials paper and cardboard, even recyclable aluminum, we may be able to get some control of the situation. At least, we can hope.
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
“Floating masses of garbage off some of the Caribbean’s pristine beaches offer grim evidence of a vast and growing problem of plastic waste heedlessly dumped in the ocean, local residents, activists and experts say. These “trash islands” have been captured in images by photographer Caroline Power, who lives on Honduran island of Roatan.” This, from Phys.org.
I know it’s depressing, but, people, we’ve got to talk about this. We have created a debacle probably much worse than any war – and in a VERY short time. This is something that is universally affecting us, all of us.
I met up with some old friends of mine recently. One friend is a Marine Biologist in Florida involved in Ocean studies. We got into a conversation about the plastic problem she is studying. She told me that they have found micro plastics in the bottom of the ocean. The bottom of the ocean! If you’ve seen the 60 Minutes exposé on plastic, then you are probably as mortified as I am. In that documentary, they talked about the introduction of plastic items into our lives. Commercials touting the wonders of plastic, which, by the way, (in case you don’t know) is a petroleum product, and stating excitedly that “it will last forever!” Yes, indeed it will. It is proving itself so. Obviously, no one considered the consequences of such a material and we have embraced it in nearly every aspect of our lives. 60 Minutes Overtime offers more.
Who remembers the 1967 movie The Graduate? The elder corporate guy at the party wrapped his arm around the shoulder of young Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) and advised, “Plastics, son. Plastics.” Hmm…
According to an article from National Geographic, “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in oceans, seas, and other large bodies of water. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific trash vortex, spans waters from the West Coast of North America to Japan. The patch is actually comprised of the Western Garbage Patch, located near Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, located between the U.S. states of Hawaii and California. These areas of spinning debris are linked together by the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone, located a few hundred kilometers north of Hawaii. This convergence zone is where warm water from the South Pacific meets up with cooler water from the Arctic. The zone acts like a highway that moves debris from one patch to another.
About 54 percent of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land-based activities in North America and Asia. The remaining 20 percent of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from boaters, offshore oil rigs, and large cargo ships that dump or lose debris directly into the water. The majority of this debris—about 705,000 tons—is fishing nets. More unusual items, such as computer monitors and LEGOs, come from dropped shipping containers.
While many different types of trash enter the ocean, plastics make up the majority of marine debris for two reasons. First, plastic’s durability, low cost, and malleability mean that it’s being used in more and more consumer and industrial products. Second, plastic goods do not biodegrade but instead, break down into smaller pieces. In the ocean, the sun breaks down these plastics into tinier and tinier pieces, a process known as photodegradation. Most of this debris comes from plastic bags, bottle caps, plastic water bottles, and Styrofoam cups.”
From Wikipedia: “It is estimated that approximately “100 million tons of plastic are generated [globally] each year”, and about 10% of that plastic ends up in the oceans. The United Nations Environmental Program recently estimated that “for every square mile of ocean”, there are about “46,000 pieces of plastic”. The small fibers of wood pulp found throughout the patch are “believed to originate from the thousands of tons of toilet paper flushed into the oceans daily”. The patch is believed to have increased “10-fold each decade” since 1945.”
“Akin to the Texas-size garbage patch in the Pacific, a massive trash vortex has formed from billion of bits of plastic congregating off North America’s Atlantic coast, researchers say. The newly described garbage patch sits hundreds of miles off the North American coast. Although its east-west span is unknown, the patch covers a region between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude—roughly the distance from Cuba to Virginia (see a U.S. map).
‘Many people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,’ said Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. ‘But this issue has essentially been ignored in the Atlantic.’
As with the Pacific garbage patch, plastic can circulate in this part of the Atlantic Ocean for years, posing health risks to fish, seabirds, and other marine animals that accidentally eat the litter.”
Many years ago, I read the 1976 novel Woman On The Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy. It is an intense commentary on many aspects of 70’s society as seen through the experiences of the book’s heroine who “communicates” with “a figure from the future.” I was struck when I read it, and, in my recollected words, I offer the thought that has stuck with me to you now; On one “visit” to this “figure’s” Utopian world, the heroine asks where they throw away their garbage. Perplexed by the idea, the reply is, “Throw away? How can you throw something away? The world is round.”
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
I missed my last post! The date just slipped right by me – it came and went without awareness. When I realized that I had missed my deadline, I was chagrined, upset, started to beat up on myself – then took a step back to see what was going on.
A reality check helped me recognize what I had not really wanted to see. I am overwhelmed. I have three family members who are all dealing with significant illnesses that are life-threatening. I am working and managing a home. I am an active member in several organizations. I have a wonderful daughter, a wonderful son, and a fabulous grandson and granddaughter, and I want to make room in my life for them.
On top of this personal turmoil, there is also the state of the world, and the way in which every day seems to bring another moment of “How could this possibly be happening?” Although I have cut down on social media and news-watching, it is not possible to completely avoid the chaos, and in truth I do not think it should be completely avoided if there is to be any chance of change.
What does one do when life happens, and one misses out on some responsibilities?
There is an old song that comes to mind – “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again!”
Sometimes things get hard, though no fault of our own. Beating up on ourselves doesn’t help. Compassion and understanding do. This is a rough patch that will probably get rougher in the near future – but it will pass. The sun will shine again. Life will keep on happening in all its glorious messiness.
I am thankful that I am here in this world to live this life.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please…Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
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Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
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