Holiday Musings and Insights

I took these photos during the holiday season of 2017, one of the darkest (or by far the darkest) times in my life. As I was climbing out of the deep black hole, I decided to explore and have fun. I treated myself to dinner in a French restaurant, which I'd never done before. (I'd originally posted the photos of my restaurant outing on Facebook. Some of the comments—almost entirely in French—in the original Facebook posts somehow disappeared and then reappeared, but that's beside the point.) Then things turned around for my good just a few months later. I thought it would take years.

Fast forward to now. This has been yet another difficult holiday season for me. I've been experiencing career, financial, and health setbacks. Seeing these photos pop up on Facebook again made me smile and reminded me that this, too, shall pass.
During these tough times, the best thing I can do is to have an attitude of gratitude, though I admit that it's a difficult habit for people like me with hyperactive minds. So here I go a-wassailing, er, counting my blessings:

— I'm grateful that I have a supportive, inspirational close circle of friends and family—including my better half, of course.

— I'm grateful that I've managed to survive the recent arctic blast. I have a safe, warm, cozy place to stay with fully functional electricity and heating. Somehow my area was spared from the rolling blackout that lasted for hours or even days.

— I'm grateful to have recently found out from a good friend that my blog post on human and animal health and wellness as well as spirituality has been helping many people heal holistically—body, mind, and spirit. It was a very pleasant surprise. A good number of aspiring and new authors have also been contacting me after reading my blog post on narcissistic abuse since it went live on June 1, 2019, which coincided with World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day. Many of these people thank me for discussing a difficult subject (and a niche subject at that) and helping them process their trauma through writing as a growth opportunity and for the betterment of humanity.

I didn't think those two blog posts would grab a lot of attention because they were long-form posts. (In the age of TikTok and Twitter, brevity is king.) I used no SEO techniques or strategies aside from very basic ones to increase engagement. I'm not an SEO or digital marketing expert, nor am I interested in learning advanced skills in those areas. I mainly wanted to spread awareness on the topics covered in those two blog posts. I was also hoping I'd generate leads and consequently conversions from those posts, but that didn't happen. It's still not happening. Maybe God has something else in mind other than making a profit. Maybe his purpose for me is to wake up humanity through my writing and other language-related activities, projects, and assignments.

This is proof that you don't have to be a nurse or a doctor—which have been emphasized in the community I was raised in for both religious and financial reasons—to be a healer. You, as a creative person, can be a healer too. I can use the talent God has given me to do his work. You can be a healer in any line of work, and you don't need to be a religious person or a religious worker to do spiritual work. You can still be a healer, even if you're a wounded one like me.

I've been questioning the worthiness of my artistic and language skills for a long time because creative or linguistic talents are less valuable than skills in the STEM fields, judging from the number of in-demand, accessible, lucrative, and steady jobs in the latter. It has made me realize once again that sometimes it's not just about the money. It's about the impact we're making on others and the world at large.

I often go back and forth between the importance of getting and retaining gainful employment a.k.a. earning power (oh, the joys of adulting!) and doing things for a higher purpose without concern for monetary compensation. I still struggle when it comes to money (physical matter) vs. spirituality, always feeling afraid that the physical matter is scarce, though physical manifestations start out in the spiritual realm. That's one of my biggest challenges as a spiritual being having a physical experience.
We all face challenges on the physical plane while living in physical bodies.

As we enter the new year, whatever we do, let's do it to the best of our ability with the best intentions without attachment to the outcome. It's easier said than done, but it's worth doing.