Well, my friends, it is time to talk turkey about the utter crap-storm that has been 2010. Now, I have heard from a lot of you, telling me about what a terrible year this has been. And I have been telling everyone to be patient (I’ll get to why in a minute). But what I haven’t said much about is how difficult a year 2010 has been for me too.
I was recently inspired to confess my miseries (!) by my friend and marvelous coach, Michelle Casto, a.k.a. “Bright Michelle.” You’ll find her brilliance at www.BrightLightCoach.com. Michelle wrote this in a recent email to her friends, subscribers, and clients:
“I don’t know about you but 2010 has been one life-transforming year! I went through a major financial crash, relationship break-up and moved two times, and it looks like I will be moving a third time in the next 30 days or so!”
(There’s good news for Michelle too, so don’t think she’s just whining. No, she’s talking about why it’s good.)
She’s being overly kind but not inaccurate when she calls 2010 a “life-transforming year.” Almost everyone I know has had something like Michelle’s experience: major financial crashes, relationship break-ups, deaths of loved ones, moves (often not by choice), job changes, illness, and on and on.
I really like to be positive all the time, and I usually don’t share much with you about my woes. My daughter says, “Stop enumerating your woes! It just makes them worse!” While I agree with her, it often seems that we have to get those woes out of us somehow. And maybe that’s why I attracted Michelle’s inspiration to tell you about my woes. I’m not going to tell all of them, just a few, so you have an idea that you and I may be in similar boats.
The main issue for me this year has been money, or more to the point, the lack thereof. If you noticed me talking about moving this summer (which I did twice, and then some), I moved because of money, not being able to afford where I used to live. My daughter and I stayed with a wonderful friend for a couple of months until we could get into a small apartment. We left behind the home where my children grew up, and moved to my hometown, where the cost of living is lower than it was in Austin. My older daughter went to grad school, as planned (she is on her own, bless her!), and my younger one came with me. We left behind a number of important people, whom we have not been able to visit yet because of—yep, money or the lack thereof. My younger daughter, who is college-aged, has not been able to afford school this year. And along the way, we had to put down one of our beloved pets.
Now, like I said, that isn’t all of the crap that befell me this year, and I have to share some of the positives too: I have wanted to move home since I left in 1983, so I am thrilled to be back. I love our little apartment and the neighborhood. Being here means that my daughter and I can participate in the community theatre, which is very active. We’ve already been in one play and she is rehearsing for another (while she job-hunts, of course). And the community college here offers grants to any student who wants to attend college but cannot afford it. My daughter hopes to attend there in January. And we are geographically closer to my parents, so we get to see them more than we have in years.
And that’s part of my happy crap-storm. Sound familiar?
Now back to you and the rest of the world: Look around you. Everything seems to be in upheaval, changing drastically, old methods and systems are falling away…
Fortunately, there is good news about all of this. And this is why I’ve been telling everyone to just hang on, the roller coaster ride is coming to an end soon, and it will be sooner rather than later. The good news is that all of this break-down makes room for new and better methods and systems. Extend that to relationships, jobs, feelings, situations of all kinds, and we can look forward to something wonderful. Yes, just like “old” Dave tells “young” Dave at the end of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
I am personally witnessing several people making great progress, seeing the proverbial ending of their crap-storms! One of my friends is an image consultant and personal shopper, a business that is typically very hard to make a go of, especially in a “down economy.” I talked to her the other day and she has added event planning to her services—“I’m booked through the end of the year!”—has been hired by a boutique to help with training the associates and buying, has several new personal clients… In short, she’s swamped with work! In a business that should not be doing well!
Another friend is a Realtor® who has worked her butt off for little reward all her life. She recently met a client who is about to buy a half-million-dollar home, the most expensive my Realtor® friend has ever sold.
And these are just a couple of examples. Want some advice? Here’s what I’m doing: staying as happy as possible. When I feel worried about the rent or the electric bill, I take a break and think the happiest things I can think! There are many items that need money from me, and I am taking it one day at a time. A lot is going unpaid right now, but we have food to eat and a roof over our heads. Oh, sure, I miss shopping, but I know it will come back.
If you follow the Law of Attraction, you know that your thoughts are very powerful. Use them to your advantage.
And remember the good news: all of this break-down is making room for the new and the better! Yes, it’s been a rip-off-the-Band-Aid year, there’s no question, but now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
And I will let you know just as soon as my situation improves—it’ll be right about the time yours does!
suzycute … you are amazing & inspirational, & oh, how i miss our caffternoon chats! i don’t need to tell you to hang in & hold on, because you’re doing just dandy. here’s hoping we can christen a new woodlands-area s’bux as “ours” come early december! much love & hugs & other mushy stuff ~ k.
Suze…..amen! This has truly been the worst year of my life. It started with my newish car breaking down on a desolate highway 40 miles outside of Raton NM on my way to Denver to spend Christmas with my very sick father. I ended up spending Christmas day in a Motel 6 by myself. It has also been an incredibly tight year financially for me (working two jobs 6 and 7 days a week) in addition to being in Austin while my Father was dying in Denver. The nightmare of that scenerio was that my disfunctional older brother took over my fathers life and bullied him, verbally abused disrespected him and kept me out of his life. He eventually manipulated him into a nursing home behind mine and younger brothers back. Three weeks later my dad gave up and got phemonia and died the next week. I had to borrow money to get back to Denver in time to sit at his side holding his hand as he took his last breath. My heart is broken and I miss him terribly.
I feel like a phoenix growing out of the ashes (will share more positive later) but it is somehow comforting to know that it is not just me, because I blame it on myself and feel like I must be a looser and did something wrong to bring it on myself….yada….yada.
Thanks for sharing and giving me hope…and yes I know what it is like to not have enough money to pay the utility bill (so you call and negotiate with the utility company)
-Donna R.
Bless your heart. It has been a rough ride for a lot of us this year. I send blessings upon blessings your way and wish you well.
Something I have started doing just before I fall asleep at night. I say a simple prayer – God help me to wake with a clear mind, more focused and understand the direction I am to go. Each day I wake up feeling clearer in my thinking (not so fogged and sluggish) and feeling more energetic. More like I did in January before all the madness started. Hope this helps someone on your blog post. Things will get better for you – one day at a time.
Thanks for the great talk a few weeks ago about this very subject. 2010 has definitely not been my favorite year. I pray daily for all of our lives to improve and for all of us to have abundant blessings flow into our lives.
Hearing your story helps me have some perspective on mine. Thank you.
Susan, thanks for sharing! I miss you so and agree with the general feelings by all about what a hideous year this has been, but yours was a great reminder to keep up the positive thoughts! I’m going to do just that!!!!
Susan- It’s been a while since you and I spoke, but I heard of your move and thought you were trying to get closer to family. I want to say – Thank you- for saying something I think many of us have been experiencing, but have not wanted to share openly.
It’s sometimes easy to feel that we are the only ones going thru this. Maybe we have a friend or two in a similar situation, but reading FB, it somehow feels that everyone else’s lives are full of vacations and success, and here we are seemingly limping along, facing losses of many kinds. These past two years I have never felt so inept at manifesting what I wanted/needed in my life. I too have had major family, financial, and business upheavals and sacrifices. I feel so much for you and everyone who has experienced this. And I do feel that we are over the worst; that things are improving. A friend and I talked about this just last Friday.
This year has had it’s gifts in allowing me the time to reflect and learn more about the huge changes and energy shifts that have been occurring. Some of us have felt this more than others, for a reason, I believe. I am thinking now that I will look back on these 2 years as a gift to open up to greater purpose in my life (even though I am still working on what exactly that is
.
I hope you and everyone reading sees much more good change very soon and things begin to flow with greater ease. Obviously many of us are on this journey together. I look forward to hearing more on your blog, and thank you again for saying what many of us have been feeling for the past two years. Happy Days and gratitude to us all!
Susan, you’re such a dear…thank you for opening up, touching the right buttons to help us open up as well. Thank you–I was speechless and hesitant about opening up for quite some time merely for security considering I felt so vulnerable not wanting to jinx anything. 2010 was a bittersweet year, but once mid-June hit things went downhill it was too hard for me to venture out other than reaching out for some hope and positive truth I so desperately needed to come my way and be by my side. I am in a position that is so unlike me and a far cry from the real truth–I am humbled by the experience of what many innocents go through and face. Only God knows and protects…I keep my head up, pray more than I want to admit. I pray harder because I work harder and harder all the time just to make it, I’m truly tired of being in this rut. Still I remain thankful, grateful, and appreciative for all I do have and share…I give more than I receive which is fine by me because I tend to feel better when someone is “making it” although I long to make it, too…sometimes I find it hard to make sense of this plight I endure, even my dear ones puzzle why it is so hard for me when it truly is easy. I sincerely believe all these lessons were a way to prepare me for the great yet to be soon approaching…I believe I am going to have that moment of break down, that is going to be the joyous break down I been longing for enabling me to do much more, live my life, and to “rest assured” for a change. When we come together as we have here, the best unites us with divine protection of ultraviolet colors and the purple flame surround us…this is the secure bubble we can hold dear in our thoughts as we continue to push one foot in front of the other, keep those positive thoughts, keep being one’s own best friend and making a difference in someone else life. Thank you Susan and all of you, too…Happy Holidays! Warmly, Just Me~
[...] here’s my thought about 2011. You may recall my whining about 2010 here, even though I was spinning it all in a positive direction. It was a pretty bad year; in fact, I [...]