“I know I should get work done, but I just don’t want to get off the couch!”

We have all had the sense that if we could build some consistency, if we could implement a new behaviour much more consistently, we would be more more successful. We could generate more success and abundance for ourselves and our families. But we have all experienced trying to do something new on a consistent basis and not being able to make it stick. We have all felt like we let ourselves down. So how do you do it?

It was many years ago that I was standing in the front of my classroom as a first grade teacher. I was in the middle of teaching a lesson when I heard a distinct voice in my head say, "Denise, you are here to teach people to be their truest self."

I am alive today. Some people say it is ‘luck’. Some people say it is because of my ‘positive thinking’. Some people say it is a ‘miracle’ (mainly my doctors say this!). Some people say it is because I am ‘strong’. And others say it is because I never give up ‘hope’.

It was many years ago that I was standing in the front of my classroom as a first grade teacher. I was in the middle of teaching a lesson when I heard a distinct voice in my head say, "Denise, you are here to teach people to be their truest self."

Spend time in solitude

My mood and mental health is quite bad at present and the news I get is bad, so I take anything I can for a cheer up. After a day as a frontline carer, stinking from the sweat and fed up after hearing a close friend is heading for his last few days on earth. As I struggled through the day and while perusing Facebook and trying to share posts pointing out the problems with covid and its treatment.

I am a single mom of 5 beautiful children and I turned 30 years old last week. For the past 5 years, my children and I were the victims of physical, psychological, sexual, mental, emotional and financial abuse from my ex-husband. As a result, I decided to start what I am calling the "I am me" movement, to empower those who have left abusive relationships or those who may need the strength to get away. I am human and I feel like anyone does. If you cut me, do I not bleed? Yes I do. If you hit me, the bruises may not appear on the outside, but they are there on the inside.

It all happened in the residence building where I was an RA. Thanks to my two years of learning intensive Chinese, I was placed in the hall with a mixture of Chinese exchange students and fellow Chinese language learners. At first I was excited about this. I thought I'd make plenty of new friends and get to improve my Chinese.

People spend endless hours staring at screens, tiring their eyes to such a great extent and not realizing it. Some of them don’t really have a choice as their occupation demands it and then there are others like me who are just binge-watching crap day in and day out or wasting away their time on social media ranting about some random issue, half the world don’t care about.

It takes courage to accept yourself for who you are.

The split in consciousness. For years I was living a lie. An image of me was missing it's luster or most probably a shine from within. The final plea to get rid of this emptiness has happened last year and I believe the prayer was heard.