The Author's Corner: Shadows

As the sun sets in the western sky, the shadows from the few trees cascade across the land. From the sounds of the wind to the animals, the day slowly turns to night as the colours of the sunset fills the view of the sky. Behind in the east the moon rises and the stars come out like a black blanket covering the sky.

Shadows can come anytime in your life and in different ways. In your personal life it could be the memory of a summer vacation when you went to a family event and only spent a couple days before leaving to explore your family history. On those moments it will always bring you back to knowing your history. Something that I think is important to know.

The shadow could be linked to your career of when you started it. It is the memory of that young adult that you were before reaching your position you are at now of even only the beginning of retirement. The most important part of this shadow is that you can see the path that has taken you in your life.

So much happens throughout our lives and most of us are to busy to notice where we were. It is always the bills you have to pay and saving for retirement that we forget to take the time to be ourselves. We are one way at work then when we are home we are a different person, however we are still in a rush in this day and age.

On those rare occasions when we are able to be ourselves, most of us run from it because we are afraid of who we are. Normally this happens for time to time throughout are work lives when we see what we have become.

In saying this for me I know from my own life. Now my career as a chef is over and I am now an author. Personally, there have been a lot of changes I have been through, just like you. The person I was at twenty has long ago died, however the memories or shadows of that person still reminds me of who I was.

If you take the time to find yourself again or who you were at the major turning points of your life, you will have the power to change your life for the better. You may have children who you need to be a positive influence for and a spouse who relies on you to be their rock. Looking at your life and making the necessary changes to be a better person is why the shadows are always there throughout our lives.

Never get down when you are dealing with hardships because it will pass and it will grow you in either a positive or negative way. The reason I say that is because there are only the choices you have. What the truth is when it comes to making that choice is up to you. If you want the negative that is what you will get.

The lessons from the hard times are what makes you follow the path that you have for this life. From my own experience I have gone down both paths before I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2005. I spent the next five years looking through the bottom of a bottle. I was giving up on life and the negative shadow end the last time I was in the hospital in February of 2010. I had a choice to make, a decision that would lead me forward in a positive way. Now I am further ahead than I could have ever dreamed.

What you go through is different for every person and we need to see that. Everyone has a past and a future ahead of them. As you find what you need to do for yourself and the goals that you have will be what is going to change what is to what is right for you. In time all will be what is to be and the shadow will pass.

Stay safe.