Excellent insight and it makes me realize that's the feeling I had too: unsafe. You're not the only one. Life is too complicated and beautiful to be one side or the other. Thank you for sharing, and that young hawk that feels safe was put in your path for this very reason. I appreciate your conservation work and your writing, Rebecca. Good on ya!💞✌️
We always think we so are unique and the only one. haha! And yet, if you are feeling something, chances are there are a lot of other people feeling it to. I ran this essay by a good friend and my mom because it was scary to share. (I never do that with these. I’m usually writing them the night before.) But I had hoped very much that maybe even just one person might walk through this journey with me and find something they too needed in it. You just gave me that! So, the work and discomfort were 100% worth it. Thank YOU!
So good to hear from you. I've been wrestling with fear much of my life.
🤞 I'm beginning to get a handle on it. To feel alone and in danger is terrible. Sounds like your body gives you pretty strong messages. In this case, "Hey, body and soul, we are afraid!!!"
It's so good that you wrote it out and shared it with us.
I'm not saying Don't Be Afraid. I'm suggesting that your body gives you a strong signal that something is off. Recognizing the fear and reaching out to others is very important.
I subscribed to you because I have an affinity for birds of prey and love your art. Your post today has reminded of a book I'd read over and over as a young girl. It was about a child and a Phoenix set in the mountains.
Early on I read a lot and this book captured me. Your post brought the memory of reading it back to me.
I'm not sure yet what this new-found memory means other that it has something to with adventure and courage and rescue. I need the first two in order to save me? Or I need others to help me save myself? The part about Needing Others rings true. Not in the sense being rescued, but rather the sense of being a-part-of.
Now in my life I am a-part-of and I feel blessed for this.
Thank you Rebecca and I'll keep reading every post you write.
BTW - a bit of a coincidence, your beautiful calendar arrived yesterday. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Hi Rebecca, I received the calendar and it's gorgeous. Thank you so much for making them and for sending me one. I have had similar experiences since the election. Most friends/family are on one side, some friends/coworkers are on the other side. With my extra-thick empathy, I feel and understand why each of them voted the way they did, and why the other side makes them feel unsafe or agitated or incompetent. Yet I can't seem to join the handwringing. It's not that I don't well understand the dangers of our newest President-elect. And I'm certainly capable of righteous anger. I guess it's because I've lived through the hysteria (on one side or the other) during Nixon, Obama, Reagan, Bush, Carter...and we survived. Maybe we won't survive this time, maybe this is the apocalypse,I don't know. But that's it - no one knows how bad or good it will be, and I refuse to demonize anyone. I think we all want the same things: safety, peace, happiness, meaningful work, being understood... We just disagree how to get there. Thanks for sharing the only thing I've really related to since the election.
Amazing! If only more of us were as eloquent as you are at being vulnerable, humble, honest and compassionate all the same time. You are an incredible human being and writer, and I am honored to have called you friend through so many different parts of your life. Regardless of how you voted, how your opinions are shaped, or the choices you make, I hope you know you are, and will always be safe in my presence or in conversation with me. Having friends like you has often given me the blind feeling of safety you describe Dio to have….fat an happy in my own bliss of the choices I have made that allowed people like you into my life!
I wish you happy hunting, blissful writing, and an experience of humanity, kindness, respect, and decency given toward you that you seem to have always offer to me!
What a fascinating post, about the hawk. I learned a lot, which I love to do. We have red-tailed hawks here in Tennessee. As for the political reflections, I suppose I feel much the same. After the election I was surrounded by devasted friends, but I felt a sense of calm resolve. I was not surprised by the election, and I was afraid of what would happen if things had gone the other way. What you say about local involvement is no doubt spot on, but I am ashamed to say I am decidedly not involved in local politics.
Excellent insight and it makes me realize that's the feeling I had too: unsafe. You're not the only one. Life is too complicated and beautiful to be one side or the other. Thank you for sharing, and that young hawk that feels safe was put in your path for this very reason. I appreciate your conservation work and your writing, Rebecca. Good on ya!💞✌️
We always think we so are unique and the only one. haha! And yet, if you are feeling something, chances are there are a lot of other people feeling it to. I ran this essay by a good friend and my mom because it was scary to share. (I never do that with these. I’m usually writing them the night before.) But I had hoped very much that maybe even just one person might walk through this journey with me and find something they too needed in it. You just gave me that! So, the work and discomfort were 100% worth it. Thank YOU!
Hi Rebecca,
So good to hear from you. I've been wrestling with fear much of my life.
🤞 I'm beginning to get a handle on it. To feel alone and in danger is terrible. Sounds like your body gives you pretty strong messages. In this case, "Hey, body and soul, we are afraid!!!"
It's so good that you wrote it out and shared it with us.
I'm not saying Don't Be Afraid. I'm suggesting that your body gives you a strong signal that something is off. Recognizing the fear and reaching out to others is very important.
I subscribed to you because I have an affinity for birds of prey and love your art. Your post today has reminded of a book I'd read over and over as a young girl. It was about a child and a Phoenix set in the mountains.
Early on I read a lot and this book captured me. Your post brought the memory of reading it back to me.
I'm not sure yet what this new-found memory means other that it has something to with adventure and courage and rescue. I need the first two in order to save me? Or I need others to help me save myself? The part about Needing Others rings true. Not in the sense being rescued, but rather the sense of being a-part-of.
Now in my life I am a-part-of and I feel blessed for this.
Thank you Rebecca and I'll keep reading every post you write.
BTW - a bit of a coincidence, your beautiful calendar arrived yesterday. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Hi Rebecca, I received the calendar and it's gorgeous. Thank you so much for making them and for sending me one. I have had similar experiences since the election. Most friends/family are on one side, some friends/coworkers are on the other side. With my extra-thick empathy, I feel and understand why each of them voted the way they did, and why the other side makes them feel unsafe or agitated or incompetent. Yet I can't seem to join the handwringing. It's not that I don't well understand the dangers of our newest President-elect. And I'm certainly capable of righteous anger. I guess it's because I've lived through the hysteria (on one side or the other) during Nixon, Obama, Reagan, Bush, Carter...and we survived. Maybe we won't survive this time, maybe this is the apocalypse,I don't know. But that's it - no one knows how bad or good it will be, and I refuse to demonize anyone. I think we all want the same things: safety, peace, happiness, meaningful work, being understood... We just disagree how to get there. Thanks for sharing the only thing I've really related to since the election.
Amazing! If only more of us were as eloquent as you are at being vulnerable, humble, honest and compassionate all the same time. You are an incredible human being and writer, and I am honored to have called you friend through so many different parts of your life. Regardless of how you voted, how your opinions are shaped, or the choices you make, I hope you know you are, and will always be safe in my presence or in conversation with me. Having friends like you has often given me the blind feeling of safety you describe Dio to have….fat an happy in my own bliss of the choices I have made that allowed people like you into my life!
I wish you happy hunting, blissful writing, and an experience of humanity, kindness, respect, and decency given toward you that you seem to have always offer to me!
What a fascinating post, about the hawk. I learned a lot, which I love to do. We have red-tailed hawks here in Tennessee. As for the political reflections, I suppose I feel much the same. After the election I was surrounded by devasted friends, but I felt a sense of calm resolve. I was not surprised by the election, and I was afraid of what would happen if things had gone the other way. What you say about local involvement is no doubt spot on, but I am ashamed to say I am decidedly not involved in local politics.
I don't think it has to be local politics. I think it can be as simple as helping a neighbor or planting a few native plants in your garden. :-)
Yes. Brighten the corner where you are.