The Great Green Okayness

It was night. I stood on the grounds of the college campus our oldest son attends. The dorms all looked the same and I couldn’t find him. Disoriented, I couldn’t find my way. It was another night. I wandered, homeless. The whole time, I walked beside a friend. There is some kind of comfort in not going it alone, but exhausting to not be able to find a place to lay my head. And then, like from all my dreams, I woke up. I, like many working moms, am proceeding with much on my plate. Also, like many working moms, I am left with both a rich life and a tired body/psyche. Here is the thing. In my particular story, I have an unrelenting drive to love. It shows up, gloriously imperfectly, in my close relationships, in my therapy, and in my book-writing and illustrating. Such love has a life of its own. It must have its way. Trumping all else, I must follow it. I have not figured out my work/life balance goal. The thing I do know is that I want to live a life of authenticity and passion, and maybe that is the more helpful goal. I wish to pour my whole heart into my work and life. Furthermore, I want to invite others to do the same. I want to call them out and tell them I see their magnificence and celebrate their full, vibrant expression everywhere. That is what my latest full-color book, “The Great Green Okayness: A Field Guide to Seeing Your Uncommon Magnificence” is about. As for the cost of surrendering to moving passionately in this brief, precious life, with pockets of disorientation and fatigue, comes the question of self-care. How do I need to become more conscious and deliberate with how I am proceeding? Go down that never ending check-list of how I am doing with nutrition, sleep, exercise, enough stillness, etc. Such a needed back and forth giving to others and giving to self is. Ebb and flow. We tide like the glorious water we are. And do the best we can.  With so much love,Rachel Awes