Tag: divorce

Looking Into The Windows

Published on by Kimberly Novak5 Comments

the windowIt was a simple task…just dropping off a backpack….never did I imagine a breakdown almost three years post divorce.  I thought that I had closed the door on my marriage and the divorce, and I was “over it”.  Guess not.  There I sat in my car looking at what used to be my house, my yard,  it wasn’t the first time I had been through this; yet it seemed that way.   My pulse started to race as I looked at the scenery.   I could picture myself looking out of the windows that I was now looking into.

The yard is no longer mine, the decorations are now put up by someone else.   I am so confused that all these emotions are happening after so long.   I had no idea what my mind was going through and I was NOT a happy camper.  The garage door was open and I was looking at a matched set of cars..how cute!  Still not a big deal.  I was just dropping off a bag.

He appeared and everything seemed different.  It has been probably six months if not more that I have seen him, there he stood in what used to be “our home”.  I didn’t know how to react.  He stood there for just a minute then……hit the button and the garage door came down; he closed the door.

I lost it, cried all the way home.  It was almost as if he did it on purpose.  Which I know is just silliness.  If I look to the spiritual side of myself I can  say that what he did was a signal for me to shut the door and stop trying to look through the windows where I had previously lived.  I know I”m not ready to look into them, and I know I have to stop trying to see out of them; they are no longer mine.

When I write my posts I look for a song to inspire me… tonight I googled “tears are healing” and found a song I never expected to find. I crumbled when I heard the fist verse….it was what I had lived… ” All those days watching from the window; all those years outside looking in; all that time never even knowing just how blind i’ve been”   Stings a bit, .but it also sings of hope….hope for the future, “all at once everything looks different”.

Have you looked into the windows of your past?  Please share.

Kimberly

Courageous Butterfly

10/21/13

Related Blogs/Links

I See The Light, Rapunzel

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Pieces…..

Published on by Kimberly Novak6 Comments

broken puzzle…..or are they merely the beginning of something new?  We have all purchased a puzzle before, it comes in a box all sealed up never before seen.  Sometimes the pieces are safely inside a plastic bag and other times they are just right inside the box.  It’s exciting to begin to put the pieces together and start to see the image on the cover of the box appear before us.  I don’t know about you, but I cannot put any puzzle together without first looking at the image so I know where the pieces go and what it is supposed to look like when I’m finished.  Puzzle pieces are fun, colorful, and exciting; so why is that when we are falling apart it is called “falling to pieces”?

When I hear the word pieces I think of puzzles first, then pie!!! either of which are happy things.  I never understood why the term “falling to pieces” is compared to falling apart.  Pieces are things that are being put together, not to be left alone.  So technically if we “fall to pieces” we are simply setting ourselves up for a new beginning.  We are putting the plan into motion for someone to put our pieces back and make us whole again.

I’d like for a minute to imagine a world where when we are born a puzzle is created in the image of our future.  On our 18th birthday that puzzle shows up gift wrapped on our doorstep, however there is no image attached to the box.  It is up to us to know where to put each piece exactly where it goes.  I suddenly feel frustrated and anxious.  We don’t know where our pieces will fit, in fact most of us spend a lot of time trying to force pieces in where they don’t belong.  I have done that on several occasions before and since my divorce.

We get so excited thinking…This is it, I just know it’s going to fit….then when we try to put the piece in that spot, it’s not quite right.  No matter how much we bend, squeeze, or press that piece if it is not an exact fit, they will not go together.  That’s when we get frustrated, because we thought for sure that piece went there.  Is any of this sounding familiar yet if we put it into life’s scenarios?

There have been countless times since my divorce where I have tried to force pieces in where they didn’t fit, and it doesn’t work.  Life cannot be like a puzzle, because it changes over and over again.  When a puzzle is created it is made to stay the same, the pieces fit because they were cut that way, it was created specifically for one image.  Life, was not.  Life is meant to be a series of different landscapes.  Sometimes our life puzzle will be pretty, other times it may rain and even storm.

There will always be those times when we do not want to put our puzzle together because we are afraid of what it is going to look like and those are the life landscapes that we try to change or hide from, thus altering the pieces.  What we don’t realize is that we should not really try to alter those pieces, but instead put them in their place and experience what ever it is that we are meant to experience at that time in our lives.  God created our puzzle, he knows where our pieces go and he may have thrown in a few confusing one’s to help us to grow.

I have a few pieces that I would like to toss out of my puzzle, but then what would happen to my life image?  We are who we are because of what we have or are going through.  Without those horrible pieces of my life puzzle, I would not be right where I am today, which is where I am supposed to be.  If I had tossed those pieces and not lived those moments of my life,  I have a feeling my puzzle would never begin to take shape.life is a puzzle

So, when we are faced with loss, fear, sadness, and despair how do we continue to put our puzzles together?  We simply live life.  We take on each challenge along with any failure that comes with it and we embrace it.  We grab that puzzle piece hold it high and scream “ONE DAY MY PIECES WILL FIT”.

Try not to fit pieces of your puzzle into your life if they truly do not belong there.  Hold onto those pieces that fit right off the bat and enjoy putting your life puzzle together.

Have you been trying to force pieces to fit in your life? please share…

Kimberly

Courageous Butterfly

Related blogs/links

Pieces, Meridith Andrews

Strong =

Published on by Kimberly Novak10 Comments

strong like a butterflyStrong = secure, well-built, indestructible, well protected, solid, durable, tough, long-lasting, sturdy, tough, rugged, powerful, strapping, muscular…….so why is it that at our weakest moment someone says ” you are strong you can handle this?”

I think that when we are dealing with a struggle, people surrounding us are truly trying their best to pump us up by telling us that we are STRONG, unknowing that what they are doing is potentially knocking us down.  It is very hard to train yourself to act or feel strong when you are going through the biggest struggle of your life.

In all reality we want to be seen as strong I know I did.  Could I be seen as strong when I first learned of what my future held?;  could I be seen as strong when I learned my children would live with their dad?; could I be seen as strong when I moved into the home that housed the mistress?; The answer to all of those questions is absolutely not!  So why did so many people continue to tell me how strong I was?

People see what you have survived as kind of like winning a boxing championship title, they then consider you STRONG.  Sometimes they don’t realize that even though you have survived it and you are still going about your daily activities, you may still be crumbling inside.  They may not know that when the phone rings you cringe thinking it has something to do with him, or that silly piece of mail you get every month reminding you of an oil change has his name on it is sending you into a tail spin.  Trying to remain STRONG during all these little trivial things can be a big challenge.

I have recently learned that strength and strong are two very different words.  Being strong and  having strength can at times be total opposites.  Was I strong enough to handle what I was facing? maybe not, but did I have the strength to face it and survive it….hell yes! Learning to tap into my strength reserves took some time and practice, but as of today I am learning how to channel that strength and turn it into being strong.  strong is our choice

We all want to be seen as a trooper and concur anything that is thrown our way, but sometimes we are tossed some curve balls that no one could possibly see coming… that is when we need to tap into our reserves and find our STRENGTH.  The power that is within us to sustain anything, to endure anything, to face our biggest fears…when we use that power is when we are ultimately STRONG!

How have you used your strength to become strong?  Please respond.

Kimberly

Courageous Butterfly

Related Links/Posts

When I Get There, I quote you not

I can Just be me, Laura Story