By
Nina Norstrom
“Life is not
just a normal destination think of it as your personalized journey. It’s about life experiences. About the hardships we face, the struggles we
endure, the challenges we overcome, and the journeys we must all take. Life is
about discovering the beauty of living.
You see, life is so full of stuff:
the good, the bad, and the ugly.
An everyday life experience brings on new lessons. Hold on and enjoy your walk through the
journey. --Not a Blueprint It’s the Shoe Prints that Matter: A Journey Through Toxic Relationships By Nina
Norstrom,
As writers, we each have varied approaches to why we sit down and write. When thought out there are a variety of reasons. It’s a career for some and perhaps a hobby for others. Then some may write to ease their emotional pain, as they sort out their life challenges. Some even have stories to share or tell. While others just write for the passion of it all.
Writing can be useful to reflect on our experiences
and learn from them. So really, why does
one tend to write?
For me, ‘tis about my life . . . my journey. Guess, I can say, “It was simply how I found
that new beginning.”
As I sit here composing
this article to submit to Southern Writers Magazine, listening to that instrumental
soft soothing music is oh so refreshing and rewarding. I can now think about
from whence I came in a more positive direction, leaving behind the negativity
from it all.
Of course, there’s a
story behind my writing . . . my journey.
And ‘tis ain’t anything nice. Still I must realize it all began somewhere, at
and a place in time that brought me to its ‘writing’ point.
I didn’t write because I
thought I was a writer or author. My
writing was all about therapy journaling. Through that journaling process, it was
about trying to make some sense of those dysfunctional everyday relationships,
and defining where I was in life. I knew my life of living with toxicity was
manifested in a whirlwind of toxicants. Blinded by the darkness of those toxicants; it
became difficult to see the beauty of daylight.
And yes, there is beauty in the art of living.
I must confess I have
such a beautiful life, now. A life I
never thought I’d live. But it hadn’t always been that way. Just like any other person, I had my own
personal struggles and challenges.
For over twenty-four years, my life journey of living
with tainted and damaging relationships were deep seeded, raw, and all buried
inside. Spanning from my role as a
mistress to letting go of those religious beliefs, the toxicity of those
unhealthy relationships crippled by ability to function, and its writing eased
my emotional pain, nurtured those wounds that took over my body and helped to
find a safe haven . . . for the dark world I was lost in.
Inside that world, I was broken and messed up. I was tore up to the floor up, whacked, and
zoned out. I was crazed and had literally loss my mind. Through it all, I felt
suffocated by the toxicants. That poison had taken control, the emotions
running wild, anger, guilt, hatred, rage, and depression; the disease coming
and going, coming and going, coming and going; and all that other stuff getting
in the way. Truly, life is so full of
stuff (the good, the bad, and the ugly).
So ugly that once I was known by
folks on my job as the ‘crazy lady.’ But
who wouldn’t be crazed from the raft of toxicity.
It took years of recovery. After undergoing heavy rounds of therapeutic
work (one-on-one sessions), groups, and writing therapies, I’m in a better
place mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And that’s most
important!
Ultimately, therapy writing was a way to expressively
break through those barriers and release the toxicants. It became the prescription for “a physical
wound healing relationship.” Now when I
speak and share the details (about my journey), it’s evidence how I needed to
find that “healing medium.”
When I think about the
topic of my storybook, I think about the importance of it. It’s all crystal
clear:
An everyday experience brings about important life
lessons. We’re living inside the topic
each day we inhale anew breathe. In
these days and times, we are living in a toxic environment. Have you thought about those everyday challenges? Seemingly, when we wake, we’re on the
battlefield fighting a war. And just feeling
its impact where there’s: good against
evil; sons against fathers; daughters against mothers; nations against nations;
drugs against diseases; and the list goes on and on.
The title alone speaks volume.
There is depth in its meaning. How does
this grab you?
We
can sit down and map out a Blueprint about our life, and the direction we
expect it to go in. But it’s not that Blueprint that determines our destiny. It will be the shoe prints from our imprints
that will lead us to the path of our life journey.
Walking
that path through the journey, it has become readily easy to avoid toxic
relationships. ‘Cause with drama come toxicity.
So I tend to steer away from drama scenes, and the negativity they
bring. Having been through the drama
scene, I now live a drama-free lifestyle. Most importantly, I’ve regained my
faith and belief in our Maker which helps tremendously.
Through it all, writing therapy became a huge part of
my journey. It was how I’ve found that new
beginning. And discovered its beauty of
living!
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