Patch #3: The Walking Thread

Hey readers! Welcome back and Happy New Year! 😀 I had decided to hold off posting this entry for a while just so I could enjoy and focus on spending time with my family, friends and loved ones as I hope you did as well.

As I stated in my last entry, my family and I have kept each other strong during a very difficult time even as we have entered the new year, but I thank God that we are in a better place than before everything started and that means the world to me, and to my family as well. We all held each other hand in hand, and with hearts full of love, took that first step into 2019 together. We did it.

A few nights back I had been going through my social media and I started to read quite a few posts that some of my friends had shared and it broke my heart to find out about how rough of a year 2018 had been for a lot of people…and how they hoped this new year would be theirs to receive an abundance of joy and love in which I pray that you all do indeed receive.

Then I stumbled upon one single post that I felt a special pull towards. This person spoke about how they wanted to be excited for this year to come..but that they were afraid because they knew that a new set of challenges would come their way and break their heart again…

This made me want to bring up a story and a discussion that I hope you carry with you throughout this new year.

I can proudly say that I was blessed to be born into a household with two loving parents and three strong, caring brothers. I grew up in a home where my parents dared me to laugh harder, love stronger, and enjoy life more and more with each day that passed and I am beyond grateful for it all. Once I hit the 5th grade though, that’s when the people who surrounded me, the ones who made up my young world, started to become aware of the smile that was always plastered on my face 24/7. Kids would come up to me and tell me to quit smiling all the time because it was “dumb” or “fake” to be that happy ALL the time. These negative comments and emotions directed towards me seemed alien to me at the time. All I knew was that it made my heart feel funny and for the first time ever I began to become aware of the soreness in my cheeks from all the smiling. I remember going into middle school clinging to my mother telling her that I was afraid to enter the new year because I didn’t want to be made fun of again for being happy…for being HAPPY…?

Imagine this real quick. Imagine a long piece of thread that’s being unraveled from a spool…and it keeps going and going for a few inches, then feet. Now imagine hundreds of other long pieces of thread doing the exact same thing. Then imagine trying to create a masterpiece with one of these long pieces of thread, unlimited possibilities and outcomes…then before you can even make a single stitch of art work, your thread is cut. Your thread is cut by a pair of scissors which represents every challenge that comes your way throughout your year. Do you give up on creating your masterpiece? No. Because guess what? You’ve got plenty more spools of thread to work with. When a problem comes, because let’s be honest guys, there will ALWAYS be hardships in you life, don’t be afraid of being cut off with nothing left to work with. Instead utilize your other spools of thread to help you keep creating the masterpiece that is your life! You’ve got family, and if you don’t have family, you have your loved ones, friends, even mentors, teachers, fellow students or co-workers, GOD. There is always going to be someone in your corner to help you keep creating.

Listen, I understand not wanting to start a new year all over in fear of going through emotional pain again…now more than ever I imagine that a lot of you all might have thought about this too. As I examine myself right this moment, I’ve come a long ways to allowing myself to be happy again…but I haven’t forgotten what challenges did come my way in 2018…and in 2017, and 2016 and so on. As a matter of fact, for many years at the strike of midnight every January 1st, I used to pray that no hardships or problems would come my way. But I had been going about it all wrong. I shouldn’t have been praying for problems to go away, instead, I’m here now praying for the STRENGTH to be able to overcome these problems. It’s easier said then done, yes, but you have to remember that even when you fall short in strength, you have people in your corner who are going to be there to help you get by. You’re always going to have more thread. Because I guarantee, in a lifetime of New Years that pass, you’re going to be able to step back and look at what you created…and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that all of this was able to happen, because you refused to be cut off by a pair of scissors.