The last few weeks have been filled with many emotional challenges, all of which were unexpected. Usually I blog about nutrition, workouts, my favourite recipes but today I feel that my blog wants to take a slight detour. I think our emotional health and wellbeing is just as important as the foods we eat to nourish our bodies. We all have challenges in life or those dark days that feel impossible but the relationships we have built around us can give us the strength to see the light.
On February 1st, 2016 I lost my grandfather, that set the tone for the month. His death was completely unexpected and did not follow an extensive medical history or a pharmacy of medications sitting in his bathroom cupboard. There was no suffering, no struggle…just a calm and peaceful end of life. Knowing this did not make the loss any easier; Grieving has a deep, humbling effect…it makes life feel truly fragile and the small things seems completely insignificant.
The month continued with this same tone, still feeling the loss of my grandfather…my fiancé and I were faced with another unexpected challenge. After countless hours of wedding planning, it came to light that the owner of our venue breached our contract, leaving 77 of our invited guests without accommodations and Ronny and I feeling the weight of an indescribable stress. While in most cases this would be an easy fix, the area we choose to get married is remote: Home to one hotel and a handful of small B&B’s. Together, Ronny and I had some hard choices to make but we braced the storm with a strong unity. When all you see is dark and you struggle to find that light at the end of the tunnel, it is the relationships in your life that will lift you up. Support is all around us and it comes in many forms, for us it was between each other and our amazing family, who were pillars of endless strength during this time.
“We have a wired-in need for emotional contact and responsiveness from significant others. It’s a survival response, the driving force of the bond of security a baby seeks with its mother.” (1) These bonds give us confidence and trust in life, to face the smallest and the biggest challenges. Although I felt defeated, I watched my personal relationships blossom to infinite depths, as we all shared the same heartache of loss and the disappointment of dishonesty. I took time off work, I cried, I laughed, I surrounded myself with those relationships that fill us up and make us feel a life worth living. I did what my soul needed to grieve and to power through the troubled waters.
What I learned is that life is about relationships and relationships are what make up life. Sometimes the biggest hurdles have the most important lessons to teach. When your feeling down, reach out…look around you to the people who love and support you, your never alone, there is strength in numbers…
Without pain there would be no pleasure, without loss there would be no gain and without struggle there would be no concur.
1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200901/hold-me-tight
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