Hello and welcome back to Blackout Girl,
A podcast by me,
Jennifer Storm,
Based on both of my books,
Blackout Girl and Awakening Blackout Girl.
I apologize that there's been a bit of a delay in my posting of podcasts.
I've actually gone through a rather personal transformation and have experienced some significant adversity.
I was diagnosed with cancer in early October,
Which led to the need for a rather radical surgery and then a re-hospitalization due to an infection.
The good news is I am healthy.
I am cancer free.
I am incredibly fortunate that the diagnosis that I had was incredibly curable with the radical surgery I had to undergo.
What it has really reminded me of is that even though in recovery,
And I just celebrated 23 years of continuous sobriety and recovery,
We're not promised easy.
We're not promised a softer,
Easier path.
Recovery is work.
Life is sometimes hard.
It's how we deal with that hard.
It's how we approach hard that really determines our resiliency and our strength and the lessons that we learn,
And ultimately our personal growth.
These are hard times right now,
Undeniably,
As we are entering some of the darkest times,
Figuratively and literally,
Of our solstice.
If you are in a country or an area where we are having shorter days,
Which are darker and are growing colder,
And then also with the pandemic and the numbers and the resurgence of COVID-19 across the country,
We're just seeing more death and more loss and more illness.
It's scary.
I want to tell you,
Though,
That it's not permanent.
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
I want you to focus on that light.
There is a vaccine.
It's being distributed in the United Kingdom right now,
And it's coming to the United States.
The vaccine is that light at the end of this very dark pandemic tunnel.
Now,
It's not going to happen all at once,
And it's not just going to shine upon us,
And all the doors are going to open,
And our full freedom is going to be returned.
It's going to be a process.
Just like anything else in life,
Everything's a process.
We adjust,
And we pivot,
And we meet the needs in order to get through the day.
So for today,
I want you to focus on that light.
I want you to feel that light,
And I want you to trust that light.
If you can,
For a moment,
Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
I just want you to picture a tunnel,
A dark tunnel,
And at the end of that tunnel,
I want you to see that light.
I want you to feel the heat and the warmth of that light.
Please know that that light is there.
Walk into that light.
Know that it is coming.
It is there for you,
And that you will make it to the end of that tunnel.
These last couple weeks for me have felt really hard at times,
And I have gone through extreme emotional highs and lows,
Especially prior to the surgery,
With the unknowing of cancer and the fear of what that could mean in my life for myself,
For my child,
For my wife.
I just focused on the positivity,
And I focused on the light,
And I knew that as long as I did,
I was going to get through this.
Again,
In recovery and in life,
We're not promised easy.
We're promised a better way to deal with life on life's terms.
We meet our challenges head on.
We don't run from our pains.
We don't run from our feelings.
We walk through the fire because we know on the other end,
The soft sand awaits us.
There are always going to be ups and downs,
Joys and pains.
That's life.
That's life on life's terms.
If we can figure out a way to fully embrace the good,
The bad,
And the ugly,
We will get to the other side of all of those things,
And we will do that better,
Transformed,
And in a way that makes us grow as people.
This trip here on Earth is just that.
It's a journey.
It's a process,
And we're never going to be fully done.
We're going to experience adversity and excitement and everything in between while we're here.
By doing so with complete and full awareness in a way that enables us to journey with grace and humility,
We might just be able to feel that light a little bit brighter and know that it will always be there for us.
It's always there.
We just have to be still enough long enough to feel it and to see it.
Look for that light this week.
Take the time to close your eyes,
To settle into self,
And to be awash with the understanding and the knowledge that you will be okay.
You will get through this.
We will get through this together.
So until next time,
Know that I am here,
And we are doing this together.
You are never alone.
Thank you.
