Lessons Learned

by annemariedemyen, posted in dealingwithstress
I Walk for Peace

This year, my focus has been on peace.  As things go, my choice of focus for this year has been spot on.  2020 has been a stressful year for many people and for my own reasons, it has definitely been challenging for myself as well.

Challenges aside, I have enjoyed my quest for peace and have learned a few things in the process.

1.  I have spent sixty-four years battling anxiety and one year focusing on peace.    I have learned that I  should have started focussing on peace sixty-five years ago. 🤦

2.  I have learned to make MY peace my priority.   For the better part of my life, my priority has been trying to maintain a peaceful, pleasant cushion around others to try to keep them happy and peaceful.  My reasoning being, if they were happy and peaceful, they were not making my life difficult and stressful.  In my defense,  I had a very high-strung mother.  My first husband was difficult (such an understatement🤣🤣🤣).  My current husband is a really good man but, after number one, complete trust in any man has been difficult for me.   My children were typical, difficult at times children.  Finally,  as an administrative assistant for the better part of my career, it was my job to keep things running smoothly in my work environment.  I drove myself to be the peacekeeper.  Except, my peace was way down the list of my priorities.    I have come to realize that to enable or encourage peace in any situation, one must first be at peace themselves. 🙄

3.  I have learned that peace makes all of  the best things in life possible.   Health and well-being is difficult to impossible when one is constantly stressed.  With peace, health and well-being come naturally.  Happiness is next to impossible when one is stressed and anxious.  With peace, happiness is natural.   Love is difficult to impossible when one is constantly stressed and anxious.  With peace, one is easily more loving and more loveable.  Relationships are healthier and easier.   Prosperity is possible when one is stressed out and anxious – feeling prosperous is difficult at best.  One never feels financially secure when one is anxious and stressed.  You feel you need more and you worry about losing what you have.  You develop poor financial habits or addictions that undermine your efforts to be financially secure.   Peace brings a feeling of security to all aspects of one’s life – including financially.   

4.  Peace is the gift that keeps on giving.  I could, and I intend to,  make my peace my priority going forward in my life.  I believe we are born into this world to evolve – to become better, stronger, and wiser –  as individuals and as a whole.  I  believe peace is the key to evolution – at least to my evolution. 

26 thoughts on “Lessons Learned”

  2. Such wise and wonderful words! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Isn’t it funny that we wait so long to care for ourselves the way we do for others? May your life continued to be blessed with peace.

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  15. Thank you for following my blog and I’m now following yours!! And I love this post, so true about peace and I worry and try to keep peace with everyone else, I forget about myself. 🤔 So well written with great points! Thank you for sharing! ~Diana ❤️

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  24. Thank you for this great post. Insights like these are some of the reasons I love this blog. The need to take care of oneself first makes me think about airplanes. In the event of an emergency, they always tell you to put your own oxygen mask on first before helping loved ones with theirs. Otherwise, you might lose consciousness and then no one makes it. It seems counter-intuitive, but you can actually help others more by taking care of yourself first. God bless.

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  25. Thank you. Yes, I have always loved that bit of airplane logic as well. It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday drama of life that I think we all lose touch with such basic common sense occasionally.

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