Stopping to Breathe

This week has been a test. A test of my patience, a test of my dedication, and most of all a test of this soul-searching I've been doing over the past few months. It's challenging, to build these great foundations when you're at a great spot in your life and to keep them even when things aren't feeling quite as great. That's what makes them stronger, what builds you up.  These last seven days have had a lot of character building in them - early mornings, late nights, mental battles and actual loss. But I'm still here, I'm still alive. And although I'm weary and exhausted, I feel accomplished because I didn't fall apart. I proved something to myself, and I consider that to be a huge step in this journey that I'm on. It took a little reminder at a particularly low point in the week - my insecurities reflected in a small portion of my life during a conversation with the bestie - but at that point I remembered I was loved and I had so much love to give. The little things piled up and sucked this week...but I had to remember to keep it in perspective. So I took an evening to calm myself down, refocus, and prepare to push through the rest of the week. I'm proud of myself.

That said, even though I have mountains of things I need to get done before next Monday, I'm taking this evening off...as a reward to myself and to give my brain some time to slow down. At least for a little while. :)