Re-learning how to find yourself

Hi, I'm Christine.  I'm a mom, educator, cancer thriver and a joyful blogger.  I have dealt with multiple life challenges in the past several years.   People will often ask how I am still standing.  If you had asked me five or six years ago whether I could have handled everything that life has thrown at me recently, I would have said no.  I was NOT that person.  I grew up thinking of myself as overly emotional and fragile.  But when life as you know it is upended, you do what you have to do to get through the day and then some.   I started this website to share my story and help others find joy in their lives even when life is hard.  

In 2013 my life was falling apart.  My marriage was unraveling, the teaching career I thought I wanted wasn't working for me anymore, I was stressed and anxious,  and perhaps most importantly,  I didn't like the person I had become.  I had shut down emotionally over the years, seen myself as a victim, and let all of the joy seep out of my life.   I was unhappy, lost and confused.  

Have you been there?  Are you there now?  

As I dug in to see if my marriage could work, I decided that  whatever happened, I needed to find myself again and become someone I wanted to see looking back at me in the mirror.    It wasn't easy.  Our lives were turned upside down and not only did I have to navigate through it myself, I had to help my children do it as well.  How do you find joy when you feel like you've failed the people who are the most important to you and who you are supposed to take care of and protect?   I did it one step at a time.  Bit by bit, things begin to shift.  Color started to coming back into my life and things didn't seem quite so awful.  Or, when they did, I knew I had the strength to get through it.

I took many steps forward and many steps backwards but the first and biggest step was learning about EFT Tapping.  EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping is what I like to think of as an active meditation.  By tapping on accupressure points on your body and verbalizing your feelings, you very quickly release stress from your body, calm your nervous system and clear your mind.  This lifts the fog of anxiety and allows you to think more clearly about whatever it is that you are facing as well as just giving you a more optimistic and joyful outlook on life.  

Over time with using tapping,  I began to feel better about myself and my life.   I found a job that I loved, moved to a new state, and started to piece my life back together.  Clearing my stress with tapping allowed me to find more joy in my every day life, even on days that were challenging.   

Joy was the key to building my resilience, shifting my sense of self and turning things around.  Whether you are at a crisis or crossroads in your life, or just want to add sparkle to your day to day, learning how to cultivate joy will add to your life in so many ways.  Tapping is a great first step that can help you build joy into your every day life.  A joyful journey is NOT about perfection or pretending that things are okay when they aren't.  Life is messy at times and there is no getting around that.    A joyful life about finding beauty in the every day and letting it sustain you through your struggles.  It is about giving you the ability to hang on and face your challenges with strength knowing that you've got this.   

I am excited to be on this journey with you!