amandadoylewriting

[amandadoylewriting]

Harper's Hill, Introduction: How The East Was Exiled

"In the eyes of the governing party in Harper's Hill, the shut down of the train station and their investments in the West side made it so that there was virtually no reason for anyone to visit the East side ... They had every argument as to why people should move, and a lot of people did. The people who stayed in the East only did so because they either couldn't find jobs in the West side or couldn't afford to move there in the first place.

Ever since the split of the town, the East has been exiled."

[amandadoylewriting]

"When I used to search up the profiles of the girls I went to school with, years later, I would always feel like a failure. I can't tell you how many girls in my graduating class that are now married, or have children, or have a house, or just have... so much more than I have."

[amandadoylewriting]

“I was born in March 1996, putting me in this weird space between Millennials and Generation Z. Actually, in the movie I watched last night, the main character referred to herself as a "zillennial." Maybe that's what I am. Either way, I cringe at the thought of fitting myself into an era-specific box where I can only like certain things and hold specific opinions.”

[amandadoylewriting]

Why Depression Will Make You Question Everything

How do you answer these questions?

(A re-upload of my article on vocal.media)

If you've ever been depressed, you know how hard it can be to continue on with your life. Depression affects your motivation, energy levels, and your whole persona in general. One of the worst parts of depression is how unsure you feel. For me, depression was knowing I was sad, but not knowing why. All of a sudden, I had all of these worries about the world around me that appeared to come out of nowhere.

Why am I here?

Do my friends and family still love me, even though I'm sad?

Those are some of the questions that depression may put into your head. Keep reading to find the answers.

Why am I here?

Depression causes you to doubt yourself. When you feel sad, you will wonder what's wrong with you. Why can't you just be happy like everybody else? These thoughts hurt deep down, because the only person that you're always with is yourself. So if you hate yourself, you're not going to have a fun time in life.

Learning to love yourself and stop these doubts is extremely hard, but it is possible. Do whatever you can to remind yourself of the reasons why you're here and the reasons why you're loved. I put sticky notes up on my wall. You're here because you're needed by so many people, you're important to the world, and you deserve to reach a point where you're truly happy.

Do my friends and family still love me, even though I'm sad?

Not only does depression cause us to doubt ourselves, but it also causes us to doubt everyone around us. You may feel like your friends and family are getting annoyed with you because of your depression, or that they don't want to be around you anymore.

Here's the best advice I've ever received:

If someone isn't willing to help you work through the hard stuff, maybe they shouldn't be in your life at all.

These people still love you and care for you — they want you to feel better. And if they are annoyed or don't want to be around you anymore, it's time to reconsider who you're befriending. True friends support you no matter what.

The lies that depression may tell you...

Depression is a trickster. It is constantly telling our brain false information, making us believe that we aren't needed in this world. If you find yourself over-analyzing, overthinking, and blowing things out of proportion, realize that it's probably your depression speaking.

When you're sad, the smallest little things can turn into huge issues. This isn't your fault, this is just the nature of the beast. But you can ground yourself. Try using your senses to bring yourself back — look at something beautiful, listen to some music, light a nice candle, touch something soft, eat some of your favourite food. All of these things can remind you of the small things in life that you should stick around for. Using this technique also helps in taking the focus away from the stresses that are in your head.

If you find yourself more irritable, or that people are always offending you, think about how you can absorb the information differently. When you're depressed, the brain feels like it's under attack at all times. It will want to defend itself, and you may accidentally say the wrong things in the process. Give yourself some understanding, remember that you are doing the best you can, and the rest will fall into place.

When it comes to mental health awareness, we can all recognize that it isn't as far along as we'd like it to be. There is always more to learn, more people to teach, and more understanding that can be found along the way. Just as depression is a process, so is understanding mental health.

Sometimes, the world may knock you down and cause you to believe that depression isn't even real. You may think that it's just something that's wrong with you.

But let me tell you this — almost every single person you know has been affected by depression in some way. They may currently struggle with depression, they may have struggled with depression in the past, or they may know someone who is depressed.

The lesson here is that everyone has their own struggles going on, so let's give ourselves and everyone around us more understanding.

[amandadoylewriting]

Why Investing in Yourself is Self Care

Investing isn't just throwing your money at something and hoping for the best.

(A re-upload of my own article on vocal.media)

Some people get really confused when I talk about investing as a form of self care.

For most people, they hear about investing, and they think money. They think about putting their money into stocks, or backing a business, or something that involves throwing money at something.

Even if you see how investing can be used as a self care tool, you may even think that investing is solely spending a bunch of money in order to receive the benefit of that thing. This is true, partly. There is actually so much more to investing than that.

We are going to talk about investing in YOURSELF in this article. Not investing in stocks or businesses or people, but investing in yourself and what YOU need.

Investing in yourself is simply doing something for yourself to give yourself a little more attention.

It can be something small, like listening to your favourite song when you're sad. It can be something big, like purchasing a gym membership.

What these two things have in common is that they will both contribute to your wellbeing and do something to improve yourself, even if just momentarily.

An investment doesn't have to be big and luxurious for it to be a worthy investment. However, it does have to make sense. Spending your whole pay cheque on alcohol in order to get smashed may not be a worthy investment. But buying a bottle of wine to celebrate a getting through a hard week can be.

Investing in yourself is so important because of the sheer amounf of time that we spend trying to please others and make them happy. We want to see others be their best, but when are we going to give ourselves the same dedication and focus?

It's almost as if you need to see yourself from outside of yourself — is this person getting enough care?

If you're still confused about investing, you're overcomplicating it. This type of investing is about self-care and healing, not a return of investment (even though I get one every time).

Investing in yourself is such a crucial step in creating a life worth living for yourself, because it's just for you. The more you practice doing things for YOU, the better you'll feel from all of the work you're putting into yourself. Not to mention that the universe will reward you a whole lot more.

There are three different ways to invest in yourself: with time, with money, and with energy.

Investing in Yourself with Money

Investing in yourself with money is self-explanatory.

It's literally about purchasing things that will contribute to your growth and self-development:

Purchasing a coffee at Starbucks every Thursday, because it allows you the ability to sit in a new space and work for a little bit every week. This would give you a change of scenery, and possibly inspiration.

Purchasing a meal delivery service, because it allows you to cook healthier meals and feel better about what you're putting into your body. Not to mention, no more last minute fast food dinners that just drain your pockets.

Purchasing a ticket to a live workshop on a topic that you find interesting and enlightening, because it allows you to learn something new and possibly gain a new skill or perspective. It's obvious how these can help you in your life.

The thing is, you will always receive a reward for your investment, and it will always be more than what you put in.

The first time I invested money in a program after starting my business, I got three new clients.

I spent $100 and ended up making about $250. This means that my return of investment was over the $100 that I invested in the first place.

So, did I receive these three clients because of the skills and experience that I learned in this program? Yes, probably. However, I like to think that it was the universe rewarding me for investing in myself.

Investing in Yourself with Time

Time is purely time.

Investing in yourself with time is the sitting through, the experiencing. Not necessarily the "doing" part.

When I invested my time, I received so much knowledge and inspiration. I was then inspired to invest in more things using my money and energy.

Investing with time would seem like it's the easiest because it doesn't require much, but it involves allowing yourself to be present and open.

To invest my time, I started listening to self development podcasts. They would inspire me to go for my life coaching certification, but then inspire me to invest money in that $100 program that I previously mentioned.

All it took was listening and being open to receiving.

Investing in Yourself with Energy

I would say that investing your energy is the hardest part of investing in yourself.

Investing your energy means that you commit to trying and doing.

This is more than listening to podcasts. This is listening to these podcasts and taking notes, looking to take something tangible from what you're learning and listening to.

When I started listening to a podcast called Joyful Marketing and taking notes, I was inspired to make changes in my program. This ultimately changed the whole direction of my business for the better.

I guess you could say that without investing my energy, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Investing your energy is taking the time to go to therapy, taking the time to do the shadow work and the trauma work, and taking the time to do your self care.

That's what investing with energy is all about — doing.

Remember, the journey to self-discovery starts with you taking care of you.

[amandadoylewriting]

A Sinner in Sociology Class

There I was, just sitting there, when what I wanted to do was forbidden. Kissing boys had always been tempting, but girls? Man, that was a whole different ball game. Girls were prettier, had (probably) softer lips, and some sort of sensitivity that was just... different.

My whole life, my parents told me that I needed to find a good husband. As a pastor's daughter, I have always felt immense pressure to follow the rules. I don't know anyone in my family that's gay, and there's only one queer couple in this whole town. My parents don't like them because they don't go to our church, and they don't go to our church because my parents don't like them, so it's a lose-lose situation.

I may be young, but I'm not stupid. My parents try to hide everything from me, but they can't hide the most obvious fact – they are not the kindest people. I don't want to say that they're mean, but they're not nice. It's all a big act and this whole family keeps secrets. Another secret? I was pretty sure I was totally, one hundred percent, without a doubt, gay as hell.

I had kissed boys before, and one time I let Tommy Stewart touch my boobs over my shirt. But now that I was turning 19 and starting to mature a little bit more, I was finally realizing that I had never felt anything when I kissed boys, or even really talked to boys in that way. However, I'd always thought that girls were pretty. When I turned 16, my best friend's cousin took us to this club, but for teens. They played appropriate music, served non-alcoholic cocktails, and "kept an eye" on what was going on on the dancefloor. Yes, it was organized by the church, surprise surprise.

I'd never been there before, and that night, I saw her. Joy, from the rock band – that's what I knew her as. The club had a live band that night, and the girl that played the drums was named Joy. I never learned anything more about her than her name and that she was a percussionist, but that didn't stop my imagination from turning her into my first real girl crush. For at least a year, I thought about Joy every night, and I'd never even talked to her. I wondered what her voice sounded like, what her favourite foods were, what deep secrets she kept, and most importantly, if I'd ever see her again. Of course, I never did see her again, even though I went back to that teen club many times. Someone who worked behind the bar eventually told me that they were pretty sure Joy's band was from out of town.

After Joy, I looked at girls a little differently. And now for the first time, I was sitting in front of a beautiful woman who actually seemed to want to kiss me too. Maybe... I could be reading the signs totally wrong. But, if I had to bet money on it, I'd say that she totally wanted to make out. Don't tell my parents I said that.

Lillian was a year older than me, but she was a Sagittarius, so she was always down for an adventure. I had learned that about her on the first day of class, when she randomly told me about the one day in her life when she learned that she could never be still again. And that day was the day that Lillian learned to drive. The road was open, endless, limitless – there was always somewhere new to go. If you could drive, you weren't trapped anywhere. So on December 13th of the year she turned 16, her dad took her out driving for the first time. And from that point on, any plans of settling down were gone. She repeatedly told me that the road was her home, but she couldn't lie about how much she loved the hiking trails in this town.

She wasn't from here, and I was. So on the first Monday of sociology class, when she sat beside me for the third time in a row and mentioned how she was desperately seeking out a place to go hiking, I asked if she wanted to go with me. I explained that I was from here, and I knew all the best secret trails. I could even take her to the trail that goes along the river, which most people didn't know about because the entrance is on church property. Lillian's eyes went wide and she accepted my invitation. Two weeks later, we were hiking regularly. We would park at the church and walk through the property, past the graveyard, all the way to the back. There sat a semi-hidden gate that no one seemed to know about. It led to the trail, and this trail went through a gorgeous forest and along the Franklin river. It had the best view of the sunset in town, and no one knew about it. Lilllian confirmed that I did, in fact, know the best secret trails.

But the thing was that Lillian was never planning on staying. Like I said, her home was the road. So even though she was taking this university class, she wasn't actually enrolled at the school. She was just in town because her grandfather was a professor and she could take free classes. I didn't know if she kept coming back to sociology class because of the topic or because of me, but I hoped it was because of me. I knew that anything that happened with Lillian wasn't permanent, and could never be. But I hoped that she would at least stay for a little while. Would it be selfish to say long enough to kiss me?

As I stared at the chewed-on pencil sitting on the table between us, Lillian stared at me. She had told me that she had a bad habit of chewing on things when she was nervous, and I wondered what had made her nervous. Then I finally looked up at her and met her eyes. Those beautiful, deep, intense eyes that had probably seen so many things in just 20 years of life. And then I couldn't stop myself from gazing at her lips, which looked like they had been freshly glossed with what was probably strawberry, because that was her favourite. I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and it seemed to be orange spray paint on the bottom of her shirt. Did Lillian go spray painting at some point recently? Was that something she did regularly? I wondered what it would be like to spray paint something. I knew it wasn't a big dream, but when your father is the highest religious authority in town, spray painting seems like a little bit more of a risk. God doesn't like sinners, and my father didn't like anyone that didn't follow the rules.

That's why I'll never understand what I did next. I just did it. I leaned over the table and kissed her. It was sudden, it was unexpected, and it was magical. I felt her hand come to my cheek as she kissed me back, and just like I had thought, she had softer lips than any boy I'd ever kissed before. At that point, I knew that I was no longer interested in doing research at the library.

[amandadoylewriting]

Five Common Questions People Have About Life Coaching That They're Too Afraid to Ask

You've heard of life coaching over and over... but what does it really entail? What is it like to actually work with a life coach?

(A re-upload of my own article on vocal.media)

Life Coaching is a buzz term in the self-improvement community. Some of the most popular spiritual gurus swear that you need a life coach in order to succeed, but then there's some life coaches who would claim that a life coach isn't actually necessary for a good life.

Either way, there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to life coaching.

In this article, we will examine five common questions that people have when it comes to life coaching, but may be too afraid to ask.

What exactly will my sessions entail?

People have a lot of confusion when it comes to what exactly they will be doing in a life coaching session. People are a lot less likely to sign up for something when they don't know what it is. Therefore, the vagueness of life coaching can scare people away.

Every single life coach that you work with have different practices they use during their sessions, and it's up to you to do your research to find out what kind of coaching a certain person performs.

After all — the most important thing when it comes to life coaching is a good connection and relationship between the coach and the client.

Some coaches may give you homework to take home, some will prefer to talk about the topics in session. Some coaches only work in group settings, and some coaches only work one-on-one. Some coaches have a program that they work through, and others prefer to talk about whatever comes up.

Either way, expect to do a deep dive into who you are and what drives you. If you're curious about what your coaching sessions will entail, don't be afraid to just ask the coach.

Is the coach just going to lecture me and tell me what to do?

If your coach is constantly lecturing you and telling you what to do, they may not be the right coach for you or for anyone. A good life coach will NOT tell you what to do. They will instead help you question your life and your choices, so that you, yourself, can find the answers and figure out what to do on your own.

A life coach is not there to lecture and control. They are there to support and guide and help you brainstorm. You made a mistake? It's okay. Let's talk about what you learned and how you can move forward, instead of worrying about the actions that you can't change.

Again, a strong connection is the foundation of successful life coaching.

What is the goal of my sessions?

You're not going to want to sign up for life coaching if you don't know what the goal is. People want to know if they're working towards something, or if everything they're doing is for no effort.

Again, every life coach will be different. If your life coach hasn't offered one already, ask for a session to set up a plan for the remainder of your sessions.

Be honest with your life coach if you feel unsure about where your sessions are going. Their job is to make you feel comfortable with a mutual agreement and plan.

How much work is expected of me?

You may be wondering about that homework I mentioned earlier. Yes, some coaches give homework. However, this really depends on the coach themselves and how they do their coaching.

No matter what though, there will have to be commitment involved on your part.

You will be required to step up to the plate if you feel like you're ready to change your life. Life coaching is simple, but not easy. This means you may know what the answers are and what you have to do, but it's not going to be something that just comes naturally. It's going to take work.

The good news is that you have the capability to do any work that is expected of you. Life coaching is a commitment, but if you're wanting to work with a life coach, you're probably more than ready to make the commitment and do the work that is expected of you.

How long am I supposed to work with a life coach?

You may start life coaching sessions with high hopes, and then start to feel discouraged after working through a few sessions. Sometimes, in a slump, you may feel like you should quit working with your life coach. Things may be getting hard and you may want to give up.

But here's the thing — you will know in your soul and intuition when it's time to stop working with a coach. You'll get a tugging feeling... the same kind of feeling that told you that it was time to start working WITH the coach in the first place.

A lot of coaches will have a program for you to work through, and then when that's over, you're done working with the coach. Some coaches will even set out a specific number of weeks to work together. Usually, there's a contract involved. This contract may say how long you're set to work together.

But basically, in your gut, you'll know. You'll know if it's time to move on. Just learn to trust.

A life coach is not someone that is meant to intimidate you.

A life coach can be your biggest supporter and mentor. They can be one of the people in this world that you trust the most. They can be your #1 fan and cheerleader.

But if they're honest and good, they will never try to control you or bring out the worst in you.

Think of life's struggles like rain, and the life coach is the one who gives you the umbrella.

[amandadoylewriting]

The Art of Manifesting with Gratitude

How I became grateful AF.

(A reupload of my own article on vocal.media)

I only started to really hear and learn about manifestation a few years ago. I heard a lot about how there were many different ways to manifest. The way that always stood out to me was through gratitude.

The first ever method I used for manifesting was writing a gratitude letter, where I talked about what I was grateful for, as well as what I was hoping for. Then, I started to write in a manifesting journal that I had purchased, and I was delighted to see my gratitude journey continue — the book already had a section specifically focused on the gratitude aspect of manifestation.

When I took breaks from manifesting, I was somehow always incorporating gratitude into my life still. I didn't think it would do much for me, but I was able to use it as a grounding practice to help me understand what was really important in life. Without realizing it, gratitude has become a huge part of my manifestation routine, and my journey to becoming my best self wouldn't be the same without it.

The Power of Gratitude

I find it really helpful and grounding to start each day with appreciation. I write my gratitude statements in the morning, even if it's just for something small.

Countless mornings, I have written down that I was grateful for my bed. I've written down that I was grateful I got to sleep and then see the sunshine the next morning. Eventually, bigger things start to stad out to you.

The thing is, the more you practice gratitude, the easier it is to find things to be grateful for. This is because you're training your brain to behave a certain way. Practicing gratitude repeatedly provides a positive shift in mindset, resulting in increased awareness of your blessings.

I also use gratitude to manifest. I'm currently trying to find a way to make microdosing happen for me, so each morning I've been writing "I am so grateful to be microdosing mushrooms" as if it's already happening to me.

The trick is to be grateful for what you wish you had. You can turn any manifestation into a gratitude statement, from a tangible object (I am so grateful for my new car), to an intangible object (I am so grateful for my healthy relationship), to an experience (I am so grateful for the opportunity each day to meet interesting people).

The reason that gratitude is so highly recommended is because it shifts your perspective and actually begins to exercise your optimism bone.

Gratitude helped me overcome the challenges that I faced when I was getting used to parenting a new puppy. I had never done this before and it was extremely stressful. I wanted to give up many times. But each morning when I wrote in my gratitude journal, she was right there beside me. Even though she was causing me so much annoyance, how could I not be grateful for all of the love that she gave?

When I was waiting to hear back about a job that I applied for, I was feeling anxious and I was having a hard time taking my mind off of the situation. I had to consistently remind myself of something very important — the "wanting" energy does not provide the want. I would try to use gratitude to have optimism about the situation. I would try to say something like "I am so grateful for my new job" even though I never ended up getting the job. However, the universe always knows what it's doing.

Having a regular gratitude practice helped me to relax my viewpoint when it came to certain situations in my life, as I started to accept my circumstances by being grateful for what I already had, instead of just focusing on what I was missing.

A Journey of Personal Growth

Even in simple moments, gratitude can help you develop awareness and mindfulness. All you have to do is look around and notice the good that surrounds you. Gratitude shifts your mindset radically over time, therefore gradually improving your well-being, as well as helping you gain acceptance when it comes to hard situations in your life.

As you can see, it is more than beneficial.

I am starting to appreciate the small things in life so much more than I did before, even if it is still a struggle. Some days are better than others. If I don't like the way I look overall, I can at least admire that my skin is pretty nice and clear. If I feel disappointed with my progress on a project, I can usually find at least one good thing about it to be proud of.

You nurture a grateful heart through repetition. The more you do something, the more natural it becomes to you. A grateful heart will naturally nurture itself because it's able to realize how important that action is for self care.

The reason why I wanted to share my gratitude practice with everyone is because I see how it could benefit so many people with just a little bit of effort on their part.

Even though I can't tell you how to live your life, I encourage you to incorporate gratitude into your daily routine, even if you only note one small thing that you're grateful for each day.

A regular gratitude practice can not only improve your mindset by showing you all there is to appreciate, but it can also completely level up your manifestation game with just a few simple statements each day. If you knew it was that easy, wouldn't you have started this practice a long time ago?

[amandadoylewriting]

Dancing With The Shadows of My Soul

From dark purple to bright perspectives.

(A reupload of my own article on vocal.media)

I took a poetry class in my second year of university. It was one of my favourite classes ever, and I always appreciated the way that my professor taught us how to craft more than just a piece of poetry, but a scene. How he showed us that the details were important too, not just the story. Maybe that's why I've always been interested in romanticizing my life.

I can't remember a time when I didn't struggle with mental health challenges. I've always had this sadness. Sometimes it's extremely intense, and other times it just lingers.

In that poetry class, I wrote a poem about my sadness and described it as dark purple. I described it as bruises that never fade. That poem got a good grade, but it was about more than that for me. It felt true, it felt like I had bruises, even though I had no idea of the trauma that lay ahead of me.

Flash forward to eight or so years later, and I understand what I meant now when I said that sadness can be like bruises that never fade. It feels like I have all of these bruises, but because of my mental illnesses, they'll never be able to heal.

Surviving the Abyss

I don't think I was ever formally diagnosed with depression. From what I remember, I went to the school psychologist, and they recommended that I see a therapist. Next thing I knew, I was 17 years old and standing in my living room, telling my mom that I didn't want to be "here" anymore. I was sent to a therapist for a few sessions after that, but nothing ever evolved.

The first talk of a diagnosis that I remember was in my first year of university, when some sort of school counsellor or doctor or something said that I might have a personality disorder in Cluster B. I looked into it a little bit, but pretty much forgot about it.

Everything came to a head in July 2017, the summer of my attempted suicide. Rewind the time just over half a year, and I was standing in my room straightening my hair for school, thinking about how I was the saddest that I'd ever been. And then I met a boy. He showed me what love was, briefly, and then brought me into a real life nightmare. For seven months, I was madly enamored with him, up until the day that he died, the day of my overdose. You see, I would have followed him anywhere. Everything went according to plan, except for one part — I had survived.

In the remains of the trauma, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, type II. This was the first diagnosis that actually made sense to me. I related to the manic episodes, where I remember singing to my mom while I danced on top of the coffee table. And I of course related to the depression, finally an explanation for the deep and dark feelings that I had always known so well.

In the years following, many terms have been thrown around. I relate the most to my bipolar diagnosis, my PTSD diagnosis, and my diagnosis of having traits of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Funnily enough, BPD is a personality disorder in Cluster B, just like that person at my university had said all of those years ago.

The thing about BPD is that most people don't start to show symptoms until the late teen years and into early adulthood, and those symptoms can be triggered by a traumatic experience, such as what I went through. So it seemed like things got worse for me mentally after the overdose, and it turns out, they did.

Now that you know the whole story, you should be able to see how much of a mess I truly am. I put on a façade that I have it all together, but that's nowhere near true, and I am working every day to rediscover myself on this very messy and unpredictable journey.

A Lazy Girl's Approach to Life's Small Pleasures

I've found it helpful to introduce easy and practical exercises into my routines, because let's face it, I'm a lazy girlie. My morning routine is short and efficient, including a good combination of what I need to do and what I want to do.

Mindfulness has never been easy for me, and maybe that's why I never prospered in all of those DBT classes. My mind is always running, and the world is always muted. I have a hard time tuning in. But I like to practice mindfulness by becoming aware of the small moments and enjoying them, because there's more to life than all of the unnecessary stress that we add on.

Throughout the years, I've always been able to express myself and my passion through various outlets, whether it be my writing roots, pushing myself to be of service to others, or even creating content that I care about. Spiritually, I connect myself to God in ways that feel good to me, and I practice tarot in a way that makes sense to me. I believe that belief is personal and it should be whatever you want it to be, which may be jarring for some who seek religion and spirituality for practice and tradition.

What I'm saying is that life can be really difficult when you struggle with mental health issues, especially if you're still trying to discover yourself. But I want you to remember that you don't need to know what you're doing and you can choose how your journey goes. You cannot control what happens, but you can control your perspective on the situation and how you choose to feel about it.

Transformation Personalized

From diagnosis to diagnosis, sadness has always remained, but I find small ways to make it seem not as intimidating and heavy. Some of these ways are traditional and others are not, but the important part is that they work for me. Every person's journey is different, as each person on this planet is so unique. Find the things that work for you and do those things, because those are the things that will help you stay balanced when the ground starts to rumble again.

If you're feeling good, take advantage of that and think about the things that led you to this feeling, and take note. Think of your life like a puzzle, where you get to put the pieces together how you want, and it might not fit on the first try.

However, you'll eventually be able to see the bigger picture.