To Believe in Myself

How is it so early still? I have over an hour before bedtime. Today marks my official vacation from school. Call it a vacation or a leave of absence or a break… call it whatever. The point is that, I’m free. Free to do whatever the hell I want without actually having to study! I’m quite happy about this and not being in school right now is a great decision for me. I have a feeling I’m going to be writing a lot in the next weeks…

Therapy tonight went really well. When I am really excited and I want to say something, sometimes I just open my mouth really wide and smile with my eyes, mouth, eyebrows and face wrinkles. My whole face lights up but I can’t get the words out, not just yet. So my therapist said, “It’s okay, you can say it.” A couple more hesitations and I am able to speak. I have been writing poetry!

I have written five poems in six days. These aren’t just little poems, they are well-thought-out compositions of a sizeable length in terms of stanzas. There’s rhyming going on as well as alliteration, one of my most favourite literary devices. “Haunted House” was the first alliteration example which popped into my head when describing this to my therapist. At first, when I was trying to think of the literary term, I thought of onomatopoeia. But that’s like “plop,” “swoosh,” or “drip.” We came up with these examples together today. It was so much fun talking with my therapist.

When I brought up the name of a person I hadn’t talked about in therapy before, it was hard. Difficult because I was trying to explain that she likes me, as a friend, and wants to hang out with me. She’s a classmate and I just don’t know why she likes me so much her face lights up when she sees me. She gives me the best greetings and there is so much positivity.

I think there is this part of me that doesn’t think I am likeable. Like I’m not worthy of her attention, maybe because she seems so wonderful and is so beautiful that I cannot measure up to her. I barely know her but she has been lovely so far. I emitted some tears in therapy while talking about this, without articulating out loud the self-deprecating parts of my thoughts. Why would I be loveable? How could I be loveable and likeable when for so many years I was put down to the ground and had my ego, pride and heart stepped upon so heavily that I became damaged.

I am no longer damaged. I am whole again. I have a life worth living. I have people around me who do love me, who want to be around me, who care. The fact that I add to the lives of others is huge. If I can effect positive change, even just to change someone’s moment (not even day) from negative or neutral to positive, well then that moment was worth being alive for.

This has been the main theme (German: Hauptthema) of my poetry this week: my strength and my resilience. Today during my lunch break I went down to my car, sat in the front seat with the windows rolled down (it was quite hot, surprisingly) and typed into my phone notepad an angry poem direct at my ex-abuser called “The Peace You’ll Never Know.” It was incredibly cathartic and I wrote it in a way in which other people could relate.

I love getting feedback on my poems. I write my poetry based upon my emotional state and it expresses exactly how I am feeling in that given moment. It is very therapeutic. That is why I also like to immediately send out my poems and share them with key people in my life so they can know how I am doing. I blind copy everyone. I always include my therapist, my mum, my brother, and a few friends. Sometimes I will also send it out to my psychiatrist, a former professor, my aunt in South Africa, and now I’m sharing with my massage therapist. See, the thing is, I like feedback. I crave feedback and validation. Of course, I don’t mind if someone doesn’t respond, and simply reads it, or maybe doesn’t read it. But if I get a response, I know you read it, and the fact that you had something to say about it even if it’s a monosyllabic “wow” or “beautiful” really means a lot to me. Thank you, friends, for validating my creative art, which is so personal.

My dog is napping by my side. He is so sweet and snores and I love it. I go to bed every night hearing his breathing and it is so comforting to me. He’s all of 12 pounds and a lovely older dog who isn’t very active and just likes to sleep and cuddle. For me, it’s the perfect fit. Normally I would be laying with him right here on the couch. Falling asleep on my comfy couch is one of my favourite things to do. But right now, I am just feeling so alive. I feel so engaged in my life. I feel motivated to write, to share, to express, to articulate, to pontificate, to feel, to reflect, to absorb, to listen. I just want to write and then read what I’ve written and process it, reflect on it, let it sink in.

I want to know that I am doing okay. I want to validate that I am okay. I want to write poetry and journal entries and in writing them, I have given of myself in a very personal way. It is my way of giving back to the world, what the world has given to me. It’s a way that I contribute for the betterment of humanity. Writing is my gift, my desire, my passion, and I want to put it out into the world. I want to share this part of myself, because I live and breathe my poetry and I can’t help it. One day I’m going to publish. This I know, this I want, in this and in myself, I believe.

What I Can Do

I have to come to realize that I do not need that master’s degree in marriage and family therapy in order to do good in this world. I already do good in this world, and I can do so much more. I can raise a child to become a kind, forgiving, generous and respectful individual who will, as I have, contribute so much to this world, to our community, and add to the lives of others. I have a calling to become a mother. That is what I am choosing to focus on. I am going to start dating again, and even if I do not find a partner to raise my child with, I am going to have a child. I am 33 now and in the first part of next year I will be 34. Give me two years of building resilience and additional healing, and you’ll have a strong mother who can give of herself even in her worst moments. It might not happen in two years, but that is the hope I am holding onto. This is the future I choose for myself.

My leave of absence from the MFT program starts next week. I can take up to 12 months off while still retaining my enrollment place in the program. I could start up again in January 2019 or sooner. After that I will lose my place in the program and if I want to return I would have to reapply. I’m okay with that.

I have two dreams in my life. One is to become a therapist. The other is to become a mother. I see now that I don’t have to make all of my dreams come true. My strongest calling is to have a family and to become a mother. I can fulfill that dream first, and maybe when the kids are grown, I can go back to school and fulfill that second dream. It doesn’t mean I can’t listen to and read books about therapy and psychology. I am still fascinated by the human mind, the human psyche, and always will be. That will never die. Passion fuels my will to live, my will to achieve higher heights, and my desire to bring meaning to my life.

Life now has meaning, and I am building upon that. I am so worthy of this life. I am fortunate to be alive and to be able to wake up every day even if I don’t feel like it. I am fortunate to have my brother and my mum and my therapist in my life. They are the three most meaningful relationships I have. Nothing else matters, truth be told. I will always have those connections, no matter what, and there is not even the remotest possibility of experiencing abandonment from either of them. A part of them will always be with me, even when their physical bodies are gone. They will live within my heart.

I spend a lot of time daydreaming about being pregnant, and of having a small child in the home where I live now. I have truly made this into a home. It doesn’t matter if I cannot afford much, or afford to have the whole place to myself. It’s okay to have roommates. It’s okay to do what you need to do in order to live and get by. As long as those things you do are lawful things. I truly have a home. I have a place to call home. I have built my life from the inside out, and this home is the physical manifestation of all of the hard work I have put into my mind and my body. I have invested a lot in myself and it shows. The truth, the fact that “I am okay,” is resoundingly clear. I am safe now and no one can take that safety away from me. No one.

I imagine my sweet little dog being sweet with my baby and cuddling with my baby on the bed. My dog is an older dog of about 6 years old, not too old, and I adopted him on April 30th of this year. He sleeps with me and we do a lot of things together. We are often next to each other in the home. I have a small home, but it is big enough for the two of us and my dear roommate. I have gotten very lucky with roommates these last couple years, but I can also attribute that to my wise choices and good judge of character.

I got a raise this year. I went from not being able to cover my monthly expenses to making being able to make ends meet. The cost of living where I live is quite high, higher than most places. I also have certain important expenses which add up, such as paying for psychotherapy out of pocket. Even though the therapy is on a sliding scale, it still adds up. It is not uncommon for me to pay $800 per month in therapy fees, although lately I have been able to stretch that over two months because I have been doing better.

A friend recently suggested I start a blog for a magazine. I think that isn’t such a bad idea! I would love to put my real name out there and express myself to unknown readers. I already do that here, but my blog is for the most part quite anonymous. I also have my poetry. I have several hundred poems, and I have to say, they are quite brilliant. My mum recently told me about Rupi Kaur and I listened to her first book of poetry called “Milk and Honey” on Scribd. It’s really good. Her book has been a best-seller. I tell you, my poetry is that good or better. I have a story to tell and I tell it in sonnets and run-on sentences broken into paragraphs of words which sing songs of my life story. I wish that publishing poetry wasn’t so difficult. I think that publishers think that poetry won’t sell, won’t make any money, and therefore they won’t take on authors and offer contracts. I want to record my poetry and put it into an audio book. I want to do so many things.

I would have never known that graduate school isn’t for me had I not gotten here. Don’t get me wrong: I think I would be an incredibly effective therapist. I would be good at the craft. I could heal people through talk therapy and I could do for others what my therapist has done for me. But I don’t need a degree in order to help others. I can do that as I live my every day. I can smile at my co-workers and add value to my office, work hard and be good at what I do. I can offer my rescued dog a good life, and live peacefully with my roommate and find a man with whom I want to raise a child and build a family. That’s what I can do.