You are amazing!
So, celebrate that! Don’t wait for someone to recognize you or sing your praises, if they do then it’s wonderful, but you must recognize your own greatness first. You are doing wonderful things in your life, whether it’s taking care of family and loved ones, getting up going to work every morning to put food on the table, or taking care of yourself and being the best person that you can be, you should be patting yourself on the back. Love yourself enough to know that you are worthy of your own recognition, awards and rewards.
I decided to celebrate myself after recovering from the last six months of having family issues. I was just settling into a routine of taking care of my elderly mother and special needs adult son. And I was learning how to incorporate some self-care into that routine. Then in April of this year my son was hit by a car and fractured three bones in his ankle. The stress on me was tremendous, the pressure of running to the hospital everyday and then running home to take care of mom was exhausting. But I had to be there for both of them because mom is getting fragile and I had to be present to advocate for my son because of his special needs. I could feel myself slipping away from my own needs. I missed many doctor’s appointments, as I put my life on hold and attended to their medical needs. And forget about a social life, it was more important for me to rest if I had any down time.
In the midst of my son’s therapy another family issue needed my immediate attention and emotionally and physically I was split in three directions. That split finally tore me apart and several times I thought about checking myself into the hospital. But it really wasn’t an option because I didn’t know who was going to care for my mother and son. I didn’t even have the opportunity to have a proper nervous breakdown. So, I sought out-patient psychotherapy, which I still continue today, and I’m doing great. While all of these events were going on in my life, I made a personal commitment to get my book published. Which was another added stressor but I persevered through all the unnerving life challenges and published my book, The Underground Woman: From Prisoner To Freedom in September 2018.
So, I celebrated myself on November 17th, 2018, with a book release party. It was also a release from all the stress that I went through over the last 6-7 months. I had to honor myself and I spared no expense: I rented a venue, hired a caterer, had a delicious book cake made and promotional giveaways. I am proud of the fact that in spite of everything that I have gone through, not only because of living with HIV but the stress of this year alone and I AM STILL STANDING TALL!
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” Oprah Winfrey
The Underground Woman: From Prisoner To Freedom, now available on Amazon
The Underground Woman 