“It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good”
Don’t we ALL wish it was that simple??
Since coming home from my trip to Hawaii a few weeks ago, things have been rough. I wrote a post here trying to glean some of the positives from everything as of late – but really what I think I need to talk about is how freaking scary even the good new things can be. I went on that trip just to go visit a friend and see a new place… I never imagined that the girl I was when I left would not be the same girl I was when I returned. But that is what has happened. Since coming home, it is as if I landed back in my reality and realized in a very real way that I am a different person. And part of me is SO NOT okay with that.
Logically yes, I am a different person than I was when my fiancé was alive. The day he died I became a different person… and every day since. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the moment you look back and realize that you are REALLY a new person. When you actually see that you have new hobbies and new friends and a new career and life direction and BAM – it hits you suddenly. And the scary and heart wrenching part of that realization is the feeling that maybe, just maybe, if he and I were to meet now, or in a few more years from now, that we might not actually be the best match for each other. I don’t even know how to entertain that thought in my brain… the same brain that knows this man to be the only one I ever wanted to spend my life with.
And I cannot even express to you HOW difficult it is to even TYPE those words publicly. My throat is tensing up with anxiety just to acknowledge this outwardly. Because he was and is my best friend… and I cannot tell you what a betrayal it feels like to say that. But there it is. This feeling that has been eating at me without my really being able to understand what was going on until today. His death has changed me. And in that, I have become this new person with new interests and new needs. I’m making new friends who never knew him – and for the first time in two years this doesn’t feel so horrible. I’m going on trips for myself, and putting my all into my photography and building a business of my own as an artist and writer. I’m at the gym five days a week now (which is unheard of for me) and in the best shape of my life. My entire life is different from what it was when he was alive… and just after hitting the two-year mark it’s as if I am realizing it somehow for the first time. And it almost comes as a shock, as if it snuck up on me. I really liked who I was when I was with him… but the person that he has helped create me to be since he died is someone I love SO much more deeply and fiercely. Because I’ve had to fight so hard for her.
It’s all just so confusing. Because he is the reason for it all – he changed the entire course of my life in big ways. And so he is still so completely involved and a part of everything in that way. Yet that also means that his role in my life is different now. When we set out on this part of our journey, we began different paths, side by side, but not together as we were. Still I love him. Still I am in love with him. Still he is my best friend. And I still cry all the time because of how much I miss him. But somehow, in a way I cannot quite put into words, his role is different. New. Just as I am new and my role for him I suppose is different now too. And I don’t really know how to fit all of this together. I’ve spent the past two years in hibernation, growing, changing, but not really making a lot of forward movement. But as that changes, as I do begin to lean into a new life, how does it all fit together? My answer right now is that I don’t really know. I don’t know what to do with all of it. I mean really, what DO you do with that? Other than share it with others – so you feel less crazy – so you feel more safe and okay with the fact that it’s scary for you. That’s all I know to do with it, so that’s what I’m doing here. Thanks for listening.
