There are moments when distress arrives clearly, only to dissolve almost immediately. You feel hurt or unsettled, then hear a familiar internal response: Maybe you are overreacting; maybe it was not that bad; maybe you misunderstood. Within seconds, the original feeling is replaced by doubt about whether it deserved to exist at all. Many people describe this experience as " gaslighting myself."
Everyone's heard that expression, "Life is for the living." I've always assumed living in this context was a noun referencing all people currently alive. Now I'm looking at it as a verb. Think of it as a verb, as an action, as I say that life exists not for the dying of it, but for the living of it. Well, of course, right? Living occurs right now, in the present. Life is a gift.
It's back-to-school season! September has always felt like a fresh start to me because, as I like to joke, I was a student all the way up to the 24th grade. (Kids usually widen their eyes in horror when I say that.) I loved back-to-school shopping, carefully picking my binders and notebooks, making sure my pencils were sharpened and ready.
