Waiting to Exhale

I want you to breathe in, yes... right now; and hold it. Close your eyes and take a DEEP breath in. With your eyes closed, I want you to think about something that takes you to a happy place. 

Maybe it's a sun drenched beach, salty smell in the air and the sound of seagulls screaming, waves crashing upon the sandy shore seeping between your toes. Perhaps it is imagining yourself in a quiet room, sitting in comfy clothes by a fireplace gazing out a window with a view of fresh snow blanketing the trees outside. Stay there for a minute and then as you open your eyes, exhale. Go ahead... go to that happy place right now.....




Where did you go for that minute? How did it make you feel? Does it make you want to go back? In life, we breath in when we wake up; so many things on our minds, stresses of the upcoming day, weeks, months and even years. We have worries of what tomorrow holds and often forget to exhale leaving us out of breath. Even more importantly, we forget to pay attention to what happens between breathing in and breathing out; that serene moment when everything goes away because we have shut ourselves off from the world.

I was originally going to write about some highlights of last week today, but the freedom in writing a blog allows me to change my mind. It's not like a book where it's already in print and you go "AH! I wish I had written this!" It is no more than an online journal of sorts that allows me to dump out exactly what I am feeling, thinking, wishing, hoping, mourning and sometimes it's what I am celebrating. So today... instead of my original planned post, I am going to share what came to mind today.

As I have shared over and over throughout my blogs and even more so in my book, life has not been easy for me. It never came easy once I turned 17 and ventured out on my own. I was always struggled; still do at times... and have always longed for that moment of exhale. I have walked through life holding my breath in a sense waiting for the next adversity to smack me down, bracing myself for impact. That is what I have grown accustomed to.

However, the past couple of years has been so different; the clouds have begun to clear leaving me more nervous than ever, simply because I don't know how to do easy. I am not sure how to handle anything less than chaos. I don't know how to handle less drama, less worry, less struggle and stress simply because I have always had it; that has been my not so comfortable comfort zone and it's what I know, even if it's not what I liked at the time.

Life has taken a turn for me, and it's continuing to evolve into what I had always dreamed of. I have worked so hard for so long trying to prove to myself that I could do anything I set my mind to... part of me, believed that I could... and part of me still can't believe that it's happening, TRULY happening right before my eyes.

My inhale happened the day I left home to explore the world on my own because I thought I knew everything, the pause in between; all the struggles, hard lessons, moments of defeat and triumph, made me who I am today.

Where was your inhale? What happened during the pause? Have you exhaled or are you still holding your breath?

No matter where you are in the breath on life, I want every one of you to know that nothing amazing happens overnight. Growing a marriage takes a lifetime, growing a child takes 9 months and raising them takes many more years, growing a business takes a lot of time and effort; so why do we expect that creating a special life where our dreams come true should be any different?

I am learning so rapidly now, that if you never take your mind off that moment of exhale, eventually you WILL be able to let go like a gust of wind. I feel I am almost there... and I cannot WAIT. The years of holding my breath will be over and I will be able to enjoy the life I have spent so long creating, and I have so many people to thank for being a part of that journey.

I hope you have an amazing weekend. Take some time to stop and enjoy what surrounds you; 

if only for a moment, because... 

"With every breath there is an inhale and an exhale,

but the pause in between means more than either one." 

Shelley Giard 2010

If you are wondering what sparked this post today... 

go to my Facebook fan page by clicking here  https://www.facebook.com/ShelleyD.Giard
 and scroll down to the post titled "Book Update" 

XOXO

~Shells~