Rambling Post To Get Unstuck

I am stuck! I mentioned that in a recent facebook status update. I mentioned that I was not posting to the blog that day because I was stuck. A friend suggested I write about being stuck and my plan to get unstuck. Great idea except I don’t know what it will take to get unstuck.  Writing professionals and teachers tell you to just keep writing and eventually you will find you way back.  So, I am going to give it a shot.

I seem to be stuck in my life as well.  I have made huge changes over the past couple of months.  A divorce and leaving the place I had worked for many years has offered new experiences and new opportunities.  I get excited and then confused about all the choices.  When I don’t know what to do, I often do nothing.

In recovery we talk about doing the next right thing and doing the foot work and see where God leads.  There are also a lot of slogans we throw at these problems.  “Let Go and Let God”, “Willingness is the Key”, “More will be Revealed.”   I learned that each slogan offers a solution.  They take on different meanings at different times.  I am not sure what they mean in my life today.

I am happy and excited about my life. I am looking forward to Christmas more this year than I have for the past few years.   I am also feeling lost.  I have incredible support with family and friends, but I feel very alone.   That is the part I am not talking about.  So I am sharing it with you today.  Please don’t tell anyone else.

I can see I have confused you.   “How can you have wonderful family and friends and great support, yet say you feel alone?” you ask.  You see, I thought at 60 something years old  I would be settled down.  I thought I would have my own home and a husband I loved and cherished to share my life.  I thought I would be financially secure and able to enjoy retirement.  I thought I might be a published author. I imagined Thanksgivings and Christmas in my home with all the kids and grands.  I guess I bought the whole fairy tale ending thing.

Instead I have a bedroom in my daughter’s home.  I am what is considered a “single.”   My kids are grown with their own core family. I have only one friend who is also a “single.”  She became a widow a couple of years ago.  We talk about being the proverbial “third wheel.”  I am not published because I haven’t finished writing even one book.   I am far from being financially secure.  My fairy tale ending is “stayed tuned for the next adventure.”

Our family don’t do the traditional Thanksgiving.  Everyone does their own thing that day for a variety of reasons. Like many families, the holidays are spent dividing time with different families and kids going between their divorced parents.   Christmas gets a bit confusing.  My grandson is with his father on Christmas eve.  My daughter’s home is host to her father’s side of the family on Christmas eve. Since I live with her this year, I will be finding other activities for the day.   Christmas morning I share with my daughter’s family and Christmas afternoon my son’s family comes to join us.

Let me clarify that I love my kids, grandkids, and friends.  None of them have ever made me feel unwelcome or like an outsider.  They open their hearts and homes to me.  Yet, I still feel that small twinge of loneliness at times.  The holidays seem to put a magnifying glass on that twinge.  And that twinge seems to scream and tell me I am less than, I am not worthy, I am a failure.

This is not the blog post I wanted to write.  I don’t want to admit any of this to you.  But it is what is in my heart and head.  It is what is keeping me stuck.  I am following my friend’s suggestion and writing about my stuckness.  (Yes, I realize that is not an actual word.)  It isn’t a great plan to get unstuck, but it is all I have for right now.

Have you been stuck in life or your writing?  What have you done to get past it?