Mile Markers

We live lives full to the brim with various events and doings, but only a handful of them are mile markers.

Events that mark a significant period of time, events that veer us off course, and – if we were a house – these are the ones that gut us down to our studs leaving only the frame.

Thus giving us the opportunity to rebuild from scratch.

At the moment it always feels like an absolute shit-show, though.

We cling to the comfort of what is known, even if what is known isn’t good for us or is something that we’ve outgrown.

Change is deeply uncomfortable and, as a result, often comes at the impetus of a soul-shaking event.

Research has shown that major life events, that completely throw our usual lifestyle or routine out the window, can give us the best opportunity for making real, long-term changes in our behavior.

These are the mile markers.

Those life events which result in a dismantlement, so that we can be reinvented.

The unexpected breakup that forces us to get more deeply in touch with ourselves.

The job loss that invites us to look for other possibilities to provide for ourselves and our families.

The death that reminds us of the importance of investing in the people and relationships around us.

The accident or illness that revealed the strength and resolve within us.

These markers always served to bring me back to myself, or they tried.

I have been reinvented again and again by the significant periods that have washed over me and torn all the comforts away from me.

These are the times and moments that are my mile markers, because my life was on a predictable comfortable course – only to be redirected.

The markers signify a memory that often means so very much in the direction that my life took, the path that led me to not only where I am, but the person that I am.

I’ve been redirected, often forcibly, to explore the direction of my life and who I am.

At the moment I’ve often felt defeated, broken, lost, lonely, desperate, and hopeless.

Looking back, though, I can experience almost a fondness for the events which broke me so that I could be remade.

Always,

Your Trusted Friend ❤︎