When I think back to my life from years before I would say I was a dire warning to those around me. I was also a dire warning to myself. But we have a choice in the life we choose to live, the paths we take and the way we conduct ourselves, we can be a shining example, or that dire warning.
I didn’t think I had many choices when I was living in the dark, but I continued to make bad ones every day, or none at all, remaining on the same path that was bringing me pain and destruction. I, in my mind, thought of myself as an intelligent strong woman and looked down on those I perceived as weak. Meanwhile my life was continually getting more and more unmanageable as I pointed my finger at everyone else for my unhappiness instead of looking at the source. My sickness and delusion began to erode friendships and relationships in my life, as I was never present and began to stop making promises and plans. My life may have looked pretty from the outside, although even that was starting to fade, on the inside it was a dark empty lonely place I felt tortured by and also loyal to. If I had continued on that path I, no doubt, would not be here to write these words, luckily someone else in my life who was a shining example to me demonstrated that it was possible to leave the comfort of the dark and find a new life living in the light.
I set out to change myself and my life and work to be the shining example I had seen in my friend. The first step was to surround myself with other shining examples, of people like myself, who had come from the darkness to now shine bright. It was within their light that mine began to burn brighter, only a little to start, but it was there, and as I continued to work on myself and my recovery I began to see myself moving toward a brighter future. Even just picking up the phone, asking for help, caused a flicker of light to spark inside of me, and that act alone, and me sharing it, has been a shining example for those I have shared it with, but as I got better that light continued to shine brighter and as it did, those around me began to ask me what had changed, what I was doing differently. My interactions with the people in my life transitioned from that of concern and worry to that of encouragement and support, and I felt that darkness begin to fall away. The more light that came into my life, the better I felt, and the more I wanted to share that light with others. Today, that is my guiding force, to seek out opportunities to not only let my light shine but let it be a beacon of hope for others.
We all have the choice today to be a shining example or a dire warning, and based on today’s choices we can make a new start any time we decide to, we are not locked into being what we have been, only we can hold ourselves back from not moving on and not letting our light shine. Look for those shining examples in your life to inspire you, to light your fire within and start or rekindle your journey living in the light, you may just spark someone else’s light when you do. SLAY on!
SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you feel like you today are a shining example or a dire warning? Is this the place where you want to live? If not, what choices can you make today to change that? Are there times in your life when you were the opposite of where you are today? What changed? What did you learn from that time? What can you do today that will ensure that you remain or become a shining example? It only takes a spark to start, a tiny bit of courage or hope, to start your journey on a path that lets you shine your brightest, you hold the key to your own freedom from becoming a dire warning to those around you today.
S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you
State Of Slay™ 