He was a preacher. They’d checked him into the nursing home. He was wheelchair-bound. He had dementia and required a lot of medical attention. So his wife checked him into the home. She came to visit him every day but noticed his smile and his light was fading. One day, he said he wished he could go home. So, it was decided. They planned together to make the trip. One last trip together to the place he was born. He wanted to see the ocean tide. to hold her hand and sit on the sand. One last time. She sold the house, sold all the possessions. She bought an old van. She took out the couches and made him a bed. She made it wheelchair accessible. She stocked up the van with everything they would need. Her eye sight was bad. Her hearing even worse. She worried they wouldn’t make it. There would be dangers up and down the road. They had to cross 10 states to get there. Plus his health was failing fast. Nevertheless, they sat together and mapped out the route carefully. He waited for the day. On the day he left, I saw him sitting outside in the wheelchair. He had got up early and waited two hours in advance to be picked up. He was smiling. It was their final salmon run upstream – against the current, against the odds, and they were doing it together. No matter what.
Have you ever experienced an online troll? What about a “hater” or even a “group of haters”?
(By the way, this is a great song about the whole “haters gon’ hate” vibe. To go off on a short tangent, I really love this song.)
What about someone in your environment who, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get them to treat you right? Or maybe just someone or something that leaves you drained?
Here’s some simple tips:
Take time out for you and practice self-care/self-love.
Be wise to the negative behaviors of others but hold yourself to a higher standard and do not stoop to that level.
“I am sending you out as sheep among wolves, so be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16.
“Do not cast your pearls before swine.” Matthew 7:6. This is not to say that other people are necessarily bad. Perhaps they are not at a point in their lives that they are willing and able to receive you with love and respect. If this is so, do not waste your energy and time trying to prove your worth to them. Life is short and precious, it should not be wasted continually trying to be perfect for someone else’s expectations of you. Make your own expectations. Meet your own goals. Dress the way you want. Think the way you want. You are not unworthy. You are enough. They just fail to see the treasure that you are, even if you may appear to be a diamond in the rough. Remember, in this life, we do not know who God treasures either. Some people would be the least you would expect. Treat people fairly and stand up for yourself when you feel in your heart that you are not being treated fairly by others.
Let go of bitterness and get your spirit back. Bounce back from hardship like you’re Walter Payton. This is extremely hard. First, learn to take the L. Second, learn to forgive. Third, vow to not let the pattern repeat itself. Respect yourself enough not to allow it to happen again. Fourth, understand that what others meant for your harm, God may have intended for your good. This is called providence. It was providence that made Joseph a powerful influence in Egypt to prevent the famines despite all he went through. Providence worked in his life and it works in your life too. It’s just hard to see when you’re in the trenches. You just got to believe. Sometimes, though, we pray and pray and pray on something and it still doesn’t happen. That’s another life lesson right there. The failure, the rejection, the divorce, the bad grades, the whatever is going on in your life…..it is teaching you to first lean not on your own understanding of things but on a spirituality, and second, it is teaching you to love yourself. The full and total rejection moment will teach you to find value in you, to regain your self-esteem, self-confidence, self-worth. Remember as Rocky says in this short motivational speech, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you’re hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
Keep moving forward towards your goals. If you have to, start very small. Work on your hygiene first. Work on the way you dress. Work on your hair, make-up, style, etc. Go back to the gym or church or wherever you find positive vibes and happiness from meeting goals. Don’t let others tell you not to do these things. Do them because you need to do them to improve your self-esteem. Raise that bar first and then move out from there to your surroundings and your interactions with others. Begin, at the same time, to strip away that which does not serve you. Are there behaviors or traits you have taken on that are not good? Substance abuse problems? Addictions? Unhealthy habits? What about people you interact with that wear you down? Begin to set boundaries not just with certain people but with things you do throughout the day. Ask yourself, do I really want to do this thing or is this something I am doing because so-and-so wants me to do it? Once again, this comes back to self-love and self-respect. It is not selfish to say no. It is awareness that you need to raise the bar on your self-esteem/self-worth. Likewise, choosing to not date certain people or hang out with certain folks that bring you down…..that is not arrogance but self-awareness that you need to protect your energy. Your energy is vital to your overall health and success. So start small. Take the baby steps which can turn in to bigger steps down the road.
These are the things I am telling myself now. I too have faced a personal setback and I am re-learning this now. It is a thing I have to continually re-learn painfully. You would think I would get it the first time but no, I keep having to re-hash it over and over as I believe a lot of people do. One thing that really helps me is YouTube. Here’s some video advice from folks way, way, way smarter than me about how to do it. The first three videos are about self-love. The fourth is Maya Angelou reciting, And Still I Rise. The two other videos are inspirational pastor sermons. These are my two favorite sermons of all time that I must admit, I have to go back to again and again when “my chips are low” and I feel myself entering that defeated mindset mode. I highly, highly recommend watching these sermons! However, they are each long but packed with valuable info. I hope that you like these videos too (please share with me as well, any videos you think would help me) and remember that whatever I am going through and whatever you are going through, we are in this together and you are enough, you are valuable, you are worthy. Think like Walter Payton and bounce yourself back up. Let’s get to it!
I’ve found a great place to submit your work! It is a little newspaper called The Webb City Sentinel located in southwest Missouri in the Joplin area. The submission process is simple and free. If your work is approved by the poetry editor, it will be shown on the online portion of The Webb City Sentinel. Here is the announcement on their site. I love this. I love what they wrote:
“I’m a great believer in poetry out of the classroom, in public places, on subways, trains, on cocktail napkins. I’d rather have my poems on the subway than around the seminar table at an MFA program.”
Billy Collins, 2001-2003 United States Poet Laureate
We want your poetry. We want poetry from your children and your grandparents.We want poetry from seasoned poetry veterans and those just putting ink to paper (or, finger to keyboard).
We want to feature them here in Webb City’s “newspaper.” Then, we want you to print them out and slap them on your refrigerator, carry them in your pocket, give them to someone special. We want your poetry on the school bus to Mark Twain and Eugene Field, while you’re waiting in line at Crazy Llama and the Sub Shop, and while you’re walking around King Jack and the Frisco Greenway Trail.
I was super fortunate to be listed on their site recently. Here is the poem I submitted:
Little Pawn
by Janea Speer
My whole life, I admired the King and Queen. Serene, graceful, and applauded. Powerful and strong….aggressive.
Yet hiding behind the defenses of the lesser pieces. As I became older, I pondered the knight or the bishop, how they could think outside the box and level the playing field.
But, in my older years, I admire the pawn. The one to first enter the fray with honest courage. Who risks much although so little….. One by one, swiped from the board unceremoniously and yet… Relentless, undeterred, defiant against odds so stacked heavily against.
Yes, some days even the little pawn sees glory when faced with such intimidating adversaries.
With this blog, I also wanted to do a shout-out to the poetry editor there. I met him in Fall 2019 at the Joplin Writers’ Fair at the Joplin Public Library. There were many great local authors there showing their books. He was at a table across from mine and was nice and friendly. We talked about publishing books and Ray Bradbury and joining writing clubs. It was fantastic to meet someone with an avid interest in reading and writing and helping other authors. He recently published a new work to help authors too.
His name is F.C. Schultz and here are a few links to some of his books. Type in his name on Amazon and you will find, on his author page, a large group of books he has written or co-written.
My daughter read the book titled The Rose Weapon and she did think it was quite good. It is a Viking story about fire-breathing dragons. There is a sequel to this book as well called When Embers End.
I spoke to the 7th grade English classes this morning. Two classes and each presentation was thirty minutes long. I was nervous but didn’t need to be. The kids were an awesome audience. It was so fun! The kids engaged in the interactive portions and they had great questions. My son was in one of the classes and I tried not to embarrass him too much. He walked me out to the car afterwards, put my box in the car, and we hugged each other briefly. He said, “Thanks, Mom.” That warmed my heart. I ended up donating a book of Searching for Fire to the school library.
I made a short video of an interactive portion of the speeches. I got this idea from Michael Scott on the show, “The Office.” Michael Scott goes to a college seminar to speak to business students about selling paper and he brings candy bars along to demonstrate what he means. Just watch below.
Creative Content 