Saturday, September 26, 2015
The last forty-eight hours have been quite eventful.
I attended a day of events offered by the Youth Intervention Programs Association yesterday. While at the venue site I found myself feeling very inspired by the presentations given. Of all the words shared one sentence spoken early on remains with me: "Nobody wins when our youth fail."
I never really seriously imagined making youth education and empowerment a major focus of my professional life in years past. But I have begun to think anew in recent weeks and months. My journey of recovery these past twenty-seven months thoroughly shook up the contours of my previous life. I allowed myself to begin contemplating personal and professional possibilities I had never really contemplated before. My "out of the box" thinking has now landed me in a new place. I find myself on the cusp of a new journey defined by new values, new interests and new aspirations.
A vision of my future work that I can bring immense passion to began to finally clarify for me yesterday. I felt amazed and a little overwhelmed when the imagery began to vividly appear in my imagination. And this is what I saw: I saw myself applying my skills in research, community engagement, education and writing to inspire young people to take an interest in marine conservation in Hawaii. I specifically saw myself using my eyesight to do research of the marine environment...and then engage young people in such work. One tangible possibility I felt drawn to was getting young people in Hawaii excited about marine protected areas in general and the United States national marine sanctuary system.
Now, one day later, I feel a bit like I did on the day after I received the diagnosis of PTSD in late June, 2013. I feel...powerfully impacted and changed. And I feel excited! Yesterday it felt as if my future reached backwards in time into the present moment and announced itself to me.
The last forty-eight hours have been quite eventful.
I attended a day of events offered by the Youth Intervention Programs Association yesterday. While at the venue site I found myself feeling very inspired by the presentations given. Of all the words shared one sentence spoken early on remains with me: "Nobody wins when our youth fail."
I never really seriously imagined making youth education and empowerment a major focus of my professional life in years past. But I have begun to think anew in recent weeks and months. My journey of recovery these past twenty-seven months thoroughly shook up the contours of my previous life. I allowed myself to begin contemplating personal and professional possibilities I had never really contemplated before. My "out of the box" thinking has now landed me in a new place. I find myself on the cusp of a new journey defined by new values, new interests and new aspirations.
A vision of my future work that I can bring immense passion to began to finally clarify for me yesterday. I felt amazed and a little overwhelmed when the imagery began to vividly appear in my imagination. And this is what I saw: I saw myself applying my skills in research, community engagement, education and writing to inspire young people to take an interest in marine conservation in Hawaii. I specifically saw myself using my eyesight to do research of the marine environment...and then engage young people in such work. One tangible possibility I felt drawn to was getting young people in Hawaii excited about marine protected areas in general and the United States national marine sanctuary system.
Now, one day later, I feel a bit like I did on the day after I received the diagnosis of PTSD in late June, 2013. I feel...powerfully impacted and changed. And I feel excited! Yesterday it felt as if my future reached backwards in time into the present moment and announced itself to me.
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I invite you to accompany me as I document my own journey of healing. My blog is designed to offer inspiration and solace to others. If you find it of value I welcome you to share it with others. Aloha!