I left off at the point of being thirty-nine years old, unemployed but had some financial stability for a few months due to the severance agreement. I used this time to nurture myself, going on walks, looking for another job but feeling like I was being guided the entire way.
I obtained temporary employment within a month or so. It was to fill in for a maternity leave of an executive assistant position. This position went from temporary to permanent and would take me on an adventure of seven years that allowed me to work for the CEO, other executives, and to take the passion and fire within me to new heights. This company grew from one thousand to three thousand employees while I was there. From two locations to six locations throughout South Dakota. I loved it and I thrived financially. However, my body was having problems keeping up. I started on high blood pressure medication, ended up being on three different anti-anxiety medications and had lots of skin issues. For the most part I set myself up for all of this because I thought I had to work hard to earn the income. There was so much programming within me that I was on autopilot the majority of time. My children were also in their teens and going through their own challenges and discovery. I was ill-equipped to manage all of this.
I had the nickname Radar from the show M*A*S*H as I would have the answer or what needed to be done before anyone asked. I thought it was just common sense. I used to joke that there were some people that didn’t get in line to receive the common sense and so I got in line extra times to get theirs! Later on I had to admit that it was my intuition, a psychic sense, that was so strong and that I had already started communicating through my higher self.
During my sixth year of employment, my lower back started bothering me more than normal. I’d had back problems since I’d had babies. I had to start taking stronger pain medication and then I started using a walking stick. I was forty-six years old. My body was literally breaking down due to the stress I had put myself under. I knew I needed to do something. I found out that I had a herniated disc and needed surgery. I also had received spiritual insight earlier that year that I would not be employed there come the end of the year. That inner knowing that something has to change. I ended up quitting this job with no other employment lined up on the seventh anniversary of starting there. I had planned to move to Hawaii with a man I had met earlier that year, that is a whole story on its own.
This quote, “Peace. It doesn’t mean to be in a place where there’s no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things, and still be calm in your heart“. I said to spirit, I want to experience this deep peace.
You know the saying, watch what you wish for? Here is what I went through in an eighteen-month time period starting the end of 2007 to the end of 2009. Back surgery, three-month recovery, broke up with man I was going to move to Hawaii with, trying to find a job in 2008 when the mortgage crisis was hitting and jobs were scarce, started one job that was so toxic I quit in a week, got hired as an onsite property manager, (in seven days these all happened) moved to the onsite location, my mother passed away, started the new job as the property manager with no training, my daughter started school to become a hair stylist, she totaled her car. A couple months later I was driving my brand new 2007 car and was rear-ended with serious damage to the car, lost onsite property management job, my daughter and I moved in with my son as I didn’t have money to move into my own apartment, worked temporary full-time jobs, got a part time job, after six months moved out of my son’s apartment into my own, filed bankruptcy, car was repossessed, continued to work full-time temporary jobs, and at the end of 2009 I was able to obtain full-time permanent employment. What is interesting, is throughout this entire period of time I knew I was being taken care of. My health also stayed strong. I held onto the peace filled feeling I had within. When each new challenge came along, I would end up laughing because I knew it was one more test to see if I would keep peace within. I would never wish any of the above for anyone, however, I have such a deep peace within my heart.
This would come in very handy at the new full-time job the end of 2009. I was at this company for five years before I learned all the wisdom, lessons and insight that I would need on this journey. This was a toxic environment, reminding me of the movie Mean Girls. After a couple of months of being there I went to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) counselor to try and get help. Her suggestion was to listen to music to block out the toxic environment. She admitted the entire company was that way.
It was during this time period that I would become aware of reiki. It was 2012 and my daughter was actually the one that came across it. She was living in a small community in western South Dakota and suggested I check out this person she knew that was a massage therapist that practiced reiki. I was excited to think that I would actually be able to use this gift that I’d been made aware of over fifteen years ago! I’d been doing my own internal work, practicing meditation, and going to therapy.
Look for next week’s newsletter as I share with you how I got to this place of being an energy healer.
