Greetings dear reader. I wonder if blogging is even a thing any more. I wonder if anyone will ever read this. I wonder if anyone is out there. Well, I’m here…so, if nothing else, I can talk with myself until someone happens upon this string of words I’m weaving together at present.

It's been a long time. A REAL long time. So much has changed: I’m a decade older. I’ve been married. I’ve been divorced. I’ve dated. I’ve been single. I’ve had my heart broken. I’ve, sadly, broken some hearts. I’ve been up. I’ve been down. I’ve been through 2 years of counseling. I’ve worked on myself. I’ve grown. I’ve been to Scotland. I’ve been by my grandma’s side when she died. I’ve tried to define what a good dad is. I’ve tried to be one. I’ve hiked many miles. I’ve flown oh so many more.

Anyway, enough about me. How are you? What’s gone on in the last 10 years that you care to share? Anything? How’s life?

One of the things that I’ve worked on through counseling is quieting the inner voice that so many of us have. I don’t mean like the voice that tells you when something is a good idea or not…I mean the one that tells us that we’re not smart. Or that we made a poor choice. Or that nobody likes us. You know…the evil voice that spreads discontent and woe. Yeah…THAT one. The voice that speaks with our voice, but spreads only lies.

Turning down the volume of that voice is difficult. The voice is our own…and we always strive to tell the truth, right? So, we wouldn’t lie to ourselves, would we? I know my inner voice does. The key, at least for me, was to hear what it said, but to stop myself from allowing that seed to be planted. Notice it and reject it…because it’s a lie. Sometimes that’s hard to do, I admit (we are rather convincing to ourselves).

My therapist told me that our minds do a really good job of accepting the things that match our own views, and will outright reject those things that don’t match. Think of it as a circle with some random shape cut out of it. The world is FULL of great things out there…but, because the shape doesn’t match, they can’t get within the circle, but the things that DO match get in really easily.

So, I’ve worked on that. I’m not as effective at it as I am at accepting the negatives, but I’ve been practicing this for 2 years, and the other for 42…so, I cut myself some slack. I’m a work in progress…even at 44 years old.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I don’t know if anyone is still alive out there or not, but if you are, be good to yourself. If you aren’t…well…how are you reading this?