I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’m going to need go through this a lot quicker than 2 chapters at a time because there’s 30 chapters! From here on out, every week we’ll do a “Part.” This week we are finishing up part 1. Next week we’ll finish part 2, and so on. Thanks to my friends who have texted me that you’re reading along! It’s such a good book isn’t?! I’d love to know your thoughts, so leave a comment below. If you don’t want me to publish it, just say so. A reader reminded me that the concept from Chapter 1 of viewing ourselves as a masterpiece correlates to the children’s book, “You are Special” by Max Lucado. It is the very best book. I love it for my kids and I love it for myself. I went back and and read it. I need to read it everyday. If you haven’t read it, it’s truly amazing (and I’m not saying that flippantly). Which reminds me, I need to buy a few to have on hand to give out.
Chapter 3 from “She’s Still There” by @chrystalhurst
Here’s what I underlined and my corresponding thoughts:
“We convince ourselves that somehow we don’t need to deal with the distance between our expectations and our reality.”
I don’t think I’ve really thought about this. Although my life is amazing, it doesn’t live up to the fairytale, fantastical, perfect, cinderella, movie expectations of my daydreaming youth. Realizing this is pretty powerful for me. #1 My expectations were WAY too high (unrealistic doesn’t even start to describe them). #2 I’ve let go of the expectations I’ve put on a lot of my relationships, but have I let go of the expectations I’ve put on myself and my life? Not expecting bad things to happen, or I’ll be happy when, or once this is better then, or I thought I’d be…
“The vision I’d been given for life didn’t match my actual life very much at all. So I know what I’m talking about when I say that owning your story requires a bit of self-reckoning that isn’t always easy. But it all begins with telling the truth, truth that God already knows but wants us to be honest about for the benefit of our own healing….
It takes courage to admit that
- Things aren’t working
- Parts of your life are disappointing
- You’ve wasted time
- You don’t quite love the skin you are in
- Maybe you’re a little unbalanced or even a little cray-cray…
Choose to take Step One.
Choose to own your story….
The girl you want to be depends on you.”
Chapter 4 from “She’s Still There” by @chrystalhurst
Let’s just call this the “drift” chapter. First off, I’ve never thought about this drift concept- the idea that we, bit by bit, get off course of our lives or who we are accidentally and unintentionally. As she puts it, “a drift is ‘the decision you make by not deciding.’”
I can relate to so many of the drifts she refers to in this chapter:
- Drifted because of a relationship
- Drifted because I “simply got tired of doing the work of living purposely”
- Drifted as a “teenager– young, easily influenced, and unprepared for the determination it take to stay on course”
- Drifted because “after climbing the career ladder, getting married and having kids… you just aren’t sure what comes next. So you wander aimlessly… not exactly sure where to go from here.”
- Drifted “because you were busy doing the immediate, the urgent, and the unignorable- changing diapers as a stay at home mom, keeping peace between family members, or working two and a half jobs to keep things afloat. Then, somewhere, in the process of doing all that needed to be done, you drifted away from you.”
And I recognize that I’ve drifted because of many more reasons! How about you?
Chapter 5
In this chapter, I love how she points out that drifts can happen without us really being aware or cognizant of it. Also, drifts can be a whole bunch of little changes that have a big effect in the long run. Simply put, “drifts happen because we get distracted.” Distracted? Who’s distracted? Ha!
True story: When I went to add my notes for this chapter in my Google drive, I ended up clicking on an email, going to the corresponding website, and closing it out. Then, I clicked on another email and went to the corresponding website whose website design I really liked. I, of course, went searching for the page’s website designer, which I found, clicked on, and then proceeded to start clicking on their client list… Distracted? Who, me?
Here’s what else distracts me:
My feelings
My want in the moment
What I think I should be doing…
But mostly, it’s my PHONE! (and, by phone I mean social media) and my FEELINGS!
And in case you missed it I shared more of my thoughts on Part 1 HERE on instagram.
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