*This was first posted two years ago. At the time it caused a bit of a stir. Last year I added audio. It’s a favourite piece so I beg your indulgence once again.
I have never been afraid of getting older. In fact, over the last few years I felt I had become a better version of myself. In every way. I was finally comfortable in my own skin, confident in myself and what I knew I offered to those closest to me and to the world at large.
But this has been an extraordinarily hard year. On many fronts. And I feel it. It’s taken its toll. It seems I have been cast upon a new and unwieldy sea. Currents that I used to navigate with ease I am finding to be more treacherous, and challenging, to manoeuvre upon.
I struggle with hope and optimism, with the actions of others, but the one thing I know I can count on, can always rely upon, is my own strength, is my belief in myself.
I wrote the following at the start of this year and I thought it was appropriate to this post:
There are those times that you take stock of yourself