The more time passes, the more comfortable I'm becoming in my own skin. Now, don't get me wrong, my life is far from perfect. But you know what I've realized? I'm happy. And I'm a very lucky girl.
There is still the stress of being self-employed - and the delicate balance of freedom vs. stability. There is the balancing of roles in my life - the roles of mother, business person, and woman with a life. And there's the stress of raising two highly intelligent children - one with ADD and the other with ADHD.
I'm learning lessons each and every day - lessons about myself as well as lessons about life.
I'm learning that it's "ok" to have fun - and that having a sense of play about life is a wonderful thing. That good friends are worth their weight in gold. That having a man in my life is not necessary for my happiness nor my sense of worth. And that having good men in my life is worth the joy (and the stress) they can bring.
The biggest lesson I've learned is that it's a good thing to step outside the box, so to speak. Every time I take a step outside the lines I’d drawn around my life, I can expand my horizons – and each time is a little easier to try something new, be a little spontaneous, and love a little harder. It doesn’t mean that I don’t go scrambling back to the comfort of the familiar, but it does mean the box that I live my life in is bigger and the lines are looser.
What more could I need to continue to learn and grow?