Tag: getting on with life

Can you see the beauty hidden within the storm?

Published on by Kimberly NovakLeave a comment

Spring is here and that means scary storms are on the way.  I am not a fan of thunderstorms, in fact they make me very afraid and nervous.  Well this morning as I drove to work there were thunderous clouds all around me complete with a very large bolt of lighting in the direction of where I was heading.  I clenched the steering wheel at first but then when I looked up the clouds were actually beautiful,   the sky was a different color in every direction.  Looking out at the scary but beautiful sky I thought, ” is it possible for us to see the beauty hidden within our own storms”?  When we are going through something difficult in our lives we usually don’t take the time to stop and see the good that is coming from that struggle or the good that will eventually develop because of the struggle itself.

Take the butterfly for instance, (Yes I know obsessed).  The caterpillar has no idea the beauty that is going to come from her struggle.  She enter’s the cocoon as a furry little caterpillar, goes through her struggle to transform, and emerges a BEAUTIFUL butterfly.  Try to remember the caterpillar when your facing your difficult struggle.  It can be anything from a job loss, divorce, or death of a loved one.  If you stay strong  and not let it defeat you, you too can get to the point where you see the beauty that emerges because of  it.

During my divorce when I’d get to a very low point people would say “look at the positive side”, well at the time I could not see it.   I struggled to find the positive in the fact that my marriage was ending, I was moving out of my family’s home, and beginning a journey of living apart from my kids.  I assumed I’d be stuck in those moment’s from now on.  I thought I would spend a while dwelling on the negative outcomes that my divorced produced, never imagining that those outcomes would become positive and that I would be able to find beauty within them.

At this point I am able to be comfortable in saying that yes I went through a difficult event,  and it was a horrible thing to go through but I can’t change it, I can only change how I am affected by it.   The changes I had to make during the past year have given me the chance to really get to know myself just as “me”.    I was afraid about all of the extra time I was going to have to myself but the beauty in that is I’ve had time to reflect on where I was, where I am now and where I am heading.  I’ve learned a lot about myself that never would have surfaced had I not gone through what I went through.  I will admit I still have days where I struggle so I take one day at a time and do my best to look for the positive that will come from that bad day.

Now that I can see the beauty that is beginning to emerge from my storm, I know that anything bad I may have to go through will only be a struggle for a little while as long as I allow myself to move towards finding the beauty and not stay and dwell on the black clouds.  The next time you see a storm take a moment to really look and see if you are able to find the beauty that is hidden within it, if you can, then you will also be able to find the beauty that will come out of your life storm just like I am now.

Courageous Butterfly

3/15/12

Whoever you are or whatever you love, you can connect with someone.

Published on by Kimberly NovakLeave a comment

I was hoping to get some responses to the you pick my next blog post however you are all being very quiet and keeping to yourself so I had to come up with one on my own.  While watching an episode of House tonight I was inspired.  The woman he was trying to diagnose had a blog and she was dying and wanted to rely on the comments on her blog to make her medical decisions.  Her spouse was trying to  make her see her obsession with the internet and was telling her his views of why she had the blog in the first place.  His line was “whoever you are or whatever you love,  you can connect with someone”.

That line reminded me of WHY I have this blog.  Yes it’s a good tool for venting out my frustrations about what I went through but it is so much more than that.  I want to connect with other’s who are suffering as I am from ANY loss.  I want to share my experience in the hopes that I will be able to help another person cope with the difficulties they are facing.

All life changing events are hard especially those that you have not planned for.  My divorce was something I never dreamed would have happened but because of what I went through I am now able to connect with other’s facing a major life change.   God give’s you lemons you make lemonade, and that is what I am trying to do.

It’s been only a year and three months since my divorce was final and I know I am nowhere near being a completely healed person and I”m not afraid to admit that.  What I do know is that no matter how hard that life transition was or how badly I did not want to see it happen, it did and it has forever changed me.  Most importantly it has connected me with you.

I hope what ever life change you are facing you can see the positive and know that whoever you are or whatever you love, you can connect with someone.

Courageous Butterfly

3/13/12

Talent Hidden Within

Published on by Kimberly Novak1 Comment

Today’s post is courtesy of none other than the famous Kermit The Frog!  I had the wonderful opportunity tonight to watch the new Muppet Movie with my teenage kids.  Out of nowhere during the movie I heard this profound line coming from Kermit.  He said ” Just because you haven’t found your talent doesn’t mean you don’t have one.  Look inside yourself and see what you can find”.  

I immediately thought “WOW”.  Through most of my adult life I have been trying to find what it is I’m supposed to be doing.  Outside of being a Mom, which is one thing I absolutely know I was meant to do, I also wore many other hats over the years trying to find my “talent”.  Some of the hat’s I wore were medical secretary, administrative assistant, personal trainer, Santa Claus letter writer, parrot breeder and cardio kickboxing instructor.  Out of all of those I have to say the craziest was the parrot breeder.  I actually spent two years of my adult life cleaning up bird poop, delivering chicks from eggs, hand feeding baby birds, weaning them and then cried my eyes out when it was time for them to move on to their new families.    I was obviously never really happy wearing these hats because I had failed most of them.  I never could really stick to something , I just kept moving from one thing to the next trying to find happiness.

When I heard the line from Kermit tonight I realized that a long time ago I did find happiness, because it’s come back full circle.   Some of those “hats” that I wore have returned.  To me that means that it is definitely something I am supposed to be doing and it is something that truly makes me happy.    After  all those years I am again an administrative assistant and a personal trainer, and though I”m not writing letters from Santa, I am however writing again.   These hats that I’m wearing are in a new territory and very different from before and they have brought me so much happiness and meaning to my life than they did the first time I tried them on.  I know now that when I wore those hat’s previously they just were not the right fit but now that they have taken on a new form in my life I can wear them proudly.

Do me a favor and don’t be afraid to look inside yourself and find your hidden talent, you may be surprised by what you find!  There’s a line in Kermit’s Rainbow Connection song that speaks to me ” I’ve heard it to many times to ignore it, there’s something that I’m supposed to be” and there is also something that you are supposed to be, don’t be afraid to find it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPAru7PLiOI&feature=related

Courageous Butterfly

3/6/12