Today it was time… I decided to update my profile. If you have patience, bear with me…I like talking…but I didn’t realise I had so much to say!…
Hi… failte (Irish for welcome! and pronounced fall-thhha).
I’m a relative newbie to blogging, being here just over a year, but what an insightful year it has been!
I’ve turned the corner to 50 recently and two things become more relevant…time and experiences!
Material possessions are less important! Using time wisely and truly experiencing each day holds a new significance for me!
The challenges I’ve experienced in my short life have shaped me into who I am today. But to take on new experiences and challenges I have to balance my health; as I have fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue, with my desire to achieve as much as I can!
Some days I feel normal, like yesterday, a day where I’m temped to do more, like preparing lots of cooking apples to make 4 apple crumbles and 3 apple tarts and shared them around my family. But by evening I was done for… only now I don’t beat myself up anymore, instead I accept that it’s ok!
However, today might be the very opposite, feeling drained with an unshakeable tiredness or worse still brain fog that wrecks any hope of sustained concentration… Trouble is it is unpredictable, so planning anything is next to impossible!!
But if you wish to read on…, a little of the back story…
I’m blessed to be married to a kind and loving man for 28 years. Now, don’t be fooled! We have had good and bad days but we are still here!… and we have two children now almost 19 and 21.
I worked as a legal secretary for 23 years but in December 2007, approaching 40, I was searching for something more. (Obviously the decades are problematic for me, 40 a mini mid-life crisis and now 50 a paring down of possessions and a search for connections and experiences).
So back to 40, whilst holding down my then part-time legal secretarial work for another 4 years and working in adult education, I decided to train as a voluntary adult literacy tutor, with the hope of helping adults improve their literacy skills and have a second, and better experience of learning!
However, little did I think that wanting to help others improve their lives would see my own life improve beyond measure also!
You see for years I found it difficult to know what to do as I watched our two children suffer at the hands of bullies. Finding the right support was next to impossible and stress and fibromyalgia are not good friends but that struggle only began to change when I returned to education myself! By becoming a student I slowly gained valuable knowledge, I grew in confidence and self-esteme and built my stamina step by step!
After six years of part-time study, part-time work, juggling family commitments and constant exhaustion, I was thrilled when, in 2014 aged 47 to have experienced college for the first time in my life and felt proud of my achievements! I obtained a Higher Certificate in Literacy Development and a B.A. in Adult Education. I have worked with adults in a learning environment almost everyday since January 2008 and I love my work as an adult educator, particularly when adults trust me enough to let down their defences and ‘let me in’, so I can help them by getting to know what makes them ‘tic’ and ‘lights their fire!’.
As an added bonus along the way I’ve realised that I also have a love of writing and that writing is cathartic (providing psychological relief through written expression of built up emotions), both for my students and myself. This blog enables me to pursue that new-found interest and I’ve really enjoying reading your blogs, sharing comments and gaining new perspectives. I also like to share any little ‘gems’ of learning I’ve gathered along the way!
But best of all drawing on my learning with Waterford Institute of Technology and The Adlerian Network of Ireland including the work of Alfred Adler and the crucial ‘C’s’…and of course the amazing Carl Rogers and his belief in the power of unconditional love, empathy (walking in someone else’s shoes) and congruance (being yourself)…
I realise…just like I have found in my classrooms… that…
I am ‘CONNECTING’ with so many warm, fun loving and supportive people!
I realise I ‘COUNT’, I am valued and that my thoughts and opinions matter.
I am feeling ‘CAPABLE’ realising that I can achieve and make progress whether I am ill or not.
And finally thanks to all your kind and encouraging comments I have the ‘COURAGE’ to try out something new, to face the challenges, to make mistakes and fall down, to shrug it off and knowing I won’t be harshly judged I can simply start again!
Thanks for helping me realise again, like in my classrooms that it is all possible…and that together we write a truly better story!
Much love,
Marie x
Create Space 
October 6, 2017 at 2:17 pm
HI, I feel like we have been living similar lives! I recently turned 50 (got a gaelic tattoo to commemorate the event) have been dealing with both my own and my husband’s midlife crisis and have two kids, ages 21 and 22. I started blogging to help sort it all out and have met some really fantastic people in the process! We recently visited Ireland, but sadly, did not see near enough of it! I hope to go back and finish what I started there! Wishing you all the best 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 7, 2017 at 9:55 am
Hi Dtills what a lovely comment! Thank you for taking the time to do so! There is a great sense of comfort in knowing others are going through similar stuff to us. Welcome along! I’m looking forward to getting to know you better and journeying together! I’m so glad you enjoyed your visit to Ireland and hope you get to return soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 8, 2017 at 2:01 am
I completely agree! I kept a lot of this to myself for years and when I started blogging I realized that we don’t have to go it alone. Not everything is resolved, of course life is not so neat and tidy, but it has vastly improved with the opportunity to meet such amazing women like you! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 8, 2017 at 6:59 am
Isn’t it funny how as humans we are more similar than different, albeit going through our own challenges but there is definitely comfort in finding the right connections! I’m so glad writing and sharing have been a positive in your life just like in mine! And what an empowering comment… I’m so humbled to think you would consider me an amazing woman. I guess we are way more than we ever admit to ourselves! Much love & connection. Marie
LikeLike
October 14, 2017 at 1:55 pm
Good morning. I have spent a bit of time reading and soaking in your words. I am glad you stopped in on my page, otherwise I might have missed out on yours.
Writing has opened me up to myself and to others. I met a group of people (online) about 10 years ago (LOL) on a dating website. I laugh about that experience…what a ride that was. Anyway the website had a forums section, where I started hanging out in the creative writing section. There was a group of about 8 of us who found ourselves gravitating towards each others words and thoughts. One day, we all were writing haiku poems about flowers…I had to go to work that day at my part time job and when I got home, they all had disappeared off of the site. I did have one of the ladies’ phone numbers so I called her. They had been kicked off of the site that day (most for 10 days…one guy for 14 years..lol) They had been chatting in between the poems which was a no-no. The one guy(who was the rebel of the bunch) argued with the moderator using the fact that it was a website for others to get to know one another. He kept on until he was told he wouldn’t be allowed back on the website for 14 years.
That group of people ended up on a private web page and we continued to write poetry and chat as we worked through life together as single people in their late 40’s. We walked that path for about 4 years together. Some of us found significant others, others didn’t. The women asked questions of the men that we wouldn’t ask anyone else and vice versa. Today…we all have gone our separate ways, a few are on my Facebook page, but the season of sharing myself with that group of people opened me up in so many ways. Writing became a part of my life. As I think back on it, writing has always been there in a variety of ways…diaries kept as a young girl…scrapbooks kept as my children grew..college classes, etc. That group of people helped me find that part of me that was pushed way down inside.
Here I am today with you, still growing as a writer and getting to know new writers, like you. I am looking forward to the journey ahead of us!
Deb
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 14, 2017 at 8:51 pm
Thanks Deb for visiting my page and taking time to read. I hope there was something of interest there for you! Writing is powerful as you say it becomes part of your life. Hopefully more good experiences to come!
LikeLike