I haven't posted on this blog in so long! I have been tied up with Soulful Transitions, keeping up with the blog there, Facebook updates, etc. Life seems to have taken a rhythm where there isn't much to write about…I make stuff, sell stuff at craft shows, repeat, and nothing really of note comes up to write about. That is…until just this past week. The future of my business is very much on my mind lately. Well, even just the future in general. In light of a historical election and an uncertain future I have noticed a slight haziness to reality. I heard someone say the other day "we are all getting over Trump Flu." I feel like I did after 9/11. I remember walking in Wash Park and everything seemed to be hazed over by a reddish, dirt like haze. Even the other day I felt kind of sick, lethargic, I just wanted to sleep all day if I could. None of my flu-like symptoms has anything really to do with the "right" winning the election because I don't think of Donald Trump as a conservative politician. I told myself early on that if Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush were the next president I would muck through those four years until another ground breaking or ceiling crashing liberal came to the forefront. My shock and dismay isn't around conservatism, per se…it is around the man elected as president and the intentions of many of the people whose vote put him there.
I am not one to protest an election; I believe in democracy and that, contrary to our president-elect's pre-election rhetoric, that the American election system is not rigged (although, now I may be questioning that after all). But I do protest hate, ignorance, oppression, white supremacy, nationalism to the extent of discrimination and all the other nasty parts of the human race that seemed to rear its ugliness during this election and beyond. I think of my friends' kids. All the girls whose mommas are raising them to be strong women of character. I think of those girls who now have a president to look up to that was caught talking about grabbing a woman's private parts, who has been married 3(?) times, and has been cited as stating ugly comments about women's looks. I think of my friend's boys, who have this as their role model…a man on television mocking a disabled reporter, talking of Mexicans as rapists, and objectifying women. A man whose incendiary comments have led to hate crimes against Muslims and young children of Mexican descent to cry in my teacher friends' arms for fear they will be sent back to places that are not home to these children as America is home to them.
Don't even get me started on the health care system. While the Affordable Care Act made health care available and affordable to millions of people, it will most likely be changed so much that health care, once again, won't be available or affordable. For myself, paying out of pocket for my health care, I am scared that I won't be able to afford whatever comes down the pike. That my dream of being a small business owner will become stifled under this overwhelming cost and I will have to put that dream aside or choose to go without, which is a scary notion unto itself.
I think, though, what really has impacted me the most is that I was a part of such a ground breaking presidency back in 2008. I believed so much in Obama and to elect the first African-American president during my lifetime was historical! Mike and I caucused for Obama and we went to the DNC here in Denver as alternates. We were a part of history. I think about how disappointed Mike would be to see the two steps forward and four steps back we are taking with a president-elect whose constituents in many parts of the country live so fearfully that they espouse hate rather than unity.
On the bright side, my activist self has become reignited. Lucky for me, I am surrounded by friends who I can get fired up with. Social work friends, where our ethical fabric is to stand up for the marginalized; teaching friends who are with children every day impacted by decisions adults make; spiritual friends who believe in the divinity of all people (yes, including the haters). With the help of my friends I am hoping to integrate these parts of myself-my belief in social justice, my desire for systems that provide rather than restrict, and my core belief that we are all divine creatures of God. This is the time to challenge myself to bring all these parts of me together. I am not sure how I will do that just yet; do I become more activist? Do I attend my Mile Hi Church services more? Do I volunteer with immigrant families? I do not know…but I am sure it will show itself as time unfolds.
And my passion for my business…for Soulful Transitions…flew through the roof this past week. The positive messaging, the emphasis on self-care, gratitude and being in the moment is more important now than ever before. At the craft show on Saturday, many people stopped by and commented on how the brightness of my table and the positive messaging was just what they needed during this time of uncertainty. I see Soulful Transitions as a change making engine as well, staying the course with "high energy vibrations" of love, positivity and light rather than "low energy vibrations" of fear, despondency and depression. If every day I wake up walking in the light rather than the dark I know I can be a change maker during this time, however that looks.
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