Beautiful Soul

Loving, selfless people amaze me.  Inspire me.  Humble me. 

It is so common to see selfish people; condescending people; not kind people; even just plain jerks.  Thus, when I witness true selflessness, as well as the simple, all-encompassing, deep love of a mother, it melts my heart to the core!

I have the pleasure of working with such a beautiful soul.  She is such a sweetheart.  For the purpose of this blog, I shall call her Ariel since her and I love the beach and wish we were mermaids.  She is always kind to others.  She works full time during the day and then on evenings and weekends, she is either helping out her husband with his company, or cooking meals for her children and grandchildren.

Her life is not easy.  She works hard.  And yet she stays so nice.  Mind you, the fact that I appreciate this so much, tells you I get stressed and overwhelmed and downright grumpy.  I am in awe of her.  Her life's story is one of love, despite difficulties.  Ariel comes from a family of 8 kids and her husband comes from a family of 10 kids. They were married at age 16.  Ariel's father passed away from a heart attack at age 43.  Her mom's brother came to live with them and she said he was so fun.  Her mom passed away 3 years ago at the age of 89.  She has so much love for her mom that she tears up to this day when she talks about her.  She sounds like she was also a beautiful, loving soul.

Her recent experience with her daughter is just one small example of who she is.

Ariel has an adult daughter who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  Lately she has been struggling with her medication.  She had an episode recently where she was found on the road by police, sitting in her car, and she didn't know who she was.  She was admitted into a mental health facility for 3 days.  My friend had a very rough time that first day and was very unhappy how her daughter was treated, but there was nothing she could do and that broke her heart.

The 3 days came to pass and her daughter was stabilized.  When she was released, she had an appointment set up with her psychiatrist because the mental health facility doctor felt she was not on the right medicine.  The problem was that she couldn't get in to see her doctor for three weeks - which is an eternity when someone is not on the right med and going through a crises.

Well she made it through the weekend ok but then Ariel wasn't at work.  When she came in the next day, she told me what happened and it broke my heart.  Her daughter was very agitated and not sleeping.  She called Ariel at 2am.  She was sitting in her boyfriend's car at her dad's company.  Ariel tried getting her in her car but she didn't want to go home or to her place.  So what did she do?  She ended up walking up and down the road for over an hour.  At 3am.  Ranting and raving.  In a black trench coat.  What did Ariel do?  She followed her up and down the road, lighting her way, making sure she was safe.  For an hour.  At 3am in the morning. 

When Ariel finally did get her daughter home, she only slept an hour and a half because she's not sleeping on this medication - which is causing a lot of the problem.  Ariel ended up being awake from 2am the one morning, until midnight the following night.  And then she came to work the next day.  If that were me, I would have called off for a second day and spent the day in bed. 

Ariel's response?  "I love her so much and will do whatever I can to help her find some peace."

This, my friends, is beautiful, selfless love.

May we all strive to give it and be lucky enough to receive it.

Hugs and Love,
SG

Motivational Moment:

I thought it was very fitting to post this blog in the month of May since it is Mental Health Awareness Month.

To all those suffering with mental illnesses, my heart goes out to you and my hope is that you have loved ones that stay by your side through good times and bad. 

There are many negative connotations to the internet age and social media; however there are also many positives, particularly when it comes to finding support for whatever you are going through. 

25 years ago, when I first started experiencing panic and anxiety, I didn't have support groups on the internet to reach out to; whereas today, you can find information, support groups, self help tips, pretty much anything you can think of that can help you through your dark times.  Recently, I have found amazing, beautiful souls on Instagram who are suffering with many different things, from addictions to anxiety, panic, depression, and bipolar disorder. They are the individuals who spread the most hope, kindness, understanding, and sunshine despite the pain and suffering they are going though, maybe even because of it.

May you have all the love and support you need, not only during your difficult times, but throughout your life.