I took the photo above way back in 2013-ish, but I felt it perfectly captured the way I’ve been feeling this past week. There’s been a lot of dealing with unreasonable people form the past, lots of anxiety (yeah, I’m once again dealing with daily attacks), long weekend plans gone awry (b/c teenagers, am I right?), and a broken AC. So FUN!

Week’s like these usually see a variety of emotions and by the end of it all, I’m left exhausted. My husband is left feeling drained, dismissed (not by me!), and fed up. And we both just want a nice vacation where we can get away from everything and everyone and just relax. A getaway where there are no unreasonable expectations placed on us, where our thoughts & feelings aren’t dismissed and discounted by others, where we can take a deep breath (without a racing heart & thoughts) and just enjoy each other’s company and be happy. A getaway where there is a fully functioning AC unit! Is that really too much to ask for? Gah!

But honestly, we know this too shall pass. We know that in spite of a bad week here and there, we are incredibly lucky. We have good jobs, a roof over our heads, food on the table, and the ability to take a long weekend and make it into a mini vacay. Which is what we are going to do in a few weeks. I’m still in the first year of my job, so I don’t have much time off, but I do have Friday’s off, so we are trying to make the most of our long weekends. And since I turn 45 years young in two days, and we celebrate our 6 year anniversary in 12 days, we decided to spend the first weekend in June in NYC to celebrate those occasions. And we can’t wait! So you see, in spite of a less than optimal week, we still have something to look forward to. We still know that we are blessed to have each other and the life that we live; ups & downs and all.

As we finish off our long weekend here in Canada, I wanted to take a moment to say that you are enough. You are special and worthy of love. Your thoughts, opinions, and emotions are all valid and should not be dismissed. If there are people in your life who treat you as if the statements above are not true, then you should express your need for boundaries and do what you can to keep their toxic behavior from dragging you down into a pit of despair. Because, once again, you are enough. You don’t need their validation or approval. Those around you who know & love you will continue to do so.

Until next time, be loving, be kind, be better!