Content based on the BOOK: Wobbly by Vikki Roubin
At the time I wrote this, a copy of Wobbly sat permanently displayed on my Bookstore Trolley; I was initially drawn to the colourful, girly cover & somehow I identified with the word ‘wobbly’!!! Without ever having read the book or understanding its content, I began to use the word ‘wobbly’ on ‘those days’; ‘those days’ when I didn’t feel like I had it quite together; the days I felt less than emotionally able & stable! It was a word that packed meaning in my world! In a world where I felt I was expected to have it all together!!! In a world where I clearly & very obviously knew I was far from measuring up to the expectations around me!
I finally purchased the book with the highly favoured title & appealing cover, as a gift for a friend, in an effort to better understand her & the label she was adapting to of ‘depression’. However, before the book left my hands I found I was reading it, & embracing the journey & the understanding it was giving me. I came to the understanding I wasn’t depressed, or manic, or bi-polar, as I had suspected; although glimpses of these diagnoses seem to sneak into my world at times. I was simply part of a minority group considered highly sensitive (see Personal Growth Topic ‘When the world overwhelms you’). On raising the topic of ‘wobbly’ amongst various groups I have had many funny conversations with friends who joke about being ‘merely undiagnosed’ yet relate strongly to the bipolar category or the ‘bipolar light’ as mentioned in recent times by a well-known celebrity on Oprah.
After further research I can see how someone misunderstanding their ‘highly sensitive’ symptoms, or mismanaging their ‘wobbly’ episodes may end up misdiagnosed & possibly medicated either pharmaceutically or self-medicated with alcohol/drugs in varying degrees! I strongly believe the practical measures in Wobbly help bring freedom to experience who you really are, especially if you feel you’ve lost a part of who you were, or if you feel you’ve never yet really begun to live life & enjoy it. I think if we were all honest we could all be considered ‘wobbly’ to some degree or another, whether it’s inherent or due to a stressful, pressurised season in life, of which parenthood can be clearly categorised!! It’s possible ,with understanding, to do life ‘wobbly’ & do it well!!!
During my ‘wobbly’ journey I could relate to the author’s expression of feelings of ‘I’d rather die than see my kids suffer/my family suffer as a result of my own shortcomings’. She guided me in rather considering ,………will I choose instead to LIVE for my kids?!?!?!
You can decide today to choose LIFE! To live the best life you can live before your children!
Personally, I had decided that I had lived ‘cornered’ for too long; cornered by my emotions, my responses, others’ responses & big doses of misunderstanding. Life had held a big red STOP sign & pointed to failure, distress, frustration, torment, etc for an obvious decade of my life, marked very clearly by the birth of my twins. Change & understanding somehow became a necessity. I had reached a point where I knew I couldn’t go on like this anymore! I needed some understanding of myself & why I felt the way I felt; why I was the way I was; why I responded to life & others the way I did. I thought I’d already done this journey & understood, but it had become increasingly obvious that I had issues that needed to be resolved! I think this was termed a ‘breakdown’ of sorts!?!?!
Vikki Roubin suggests that a breakdown can serve to get your attention.Walking the path to wellness starts & ends with choices!
In the Bible, Deuteronomy 30:18-20, states, “The Lord God says ‘Today I have given you the choice between life & death, between blessings & curses. Now I call on heaven & earth to witness the choice you make. Oh that you would choose life, so that you & your descendants might live, & that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, & hold fast to Him’!
Decide to choose life! To choose life, & life abundant!
It’s our choices that show who/what we really are; more than our abilities!
Vikki has coined the phrase: ‘Choices are the marbles we place in our bag of tomorrows’.
PERSEVERANCE is simply making the same right choice over & over & over again, day by day by day, again & again & again!!! Decide to persevere; to fight & keep fighting, to stand & keep standing, to hope & keep hoping. Decide/choose not to allow your hope to be deferred any longer!
Rest assured, if you do the right things, not only is change possible, it’s INEVITABLE! There is hope!!! Decide not to allow your hope to be deferred! ‘Carve a tunnel of HOPE through the dark mountain of disappointment’. (Martin Luther King, Jr) Carve a tunnel of hope through the mountain of frustration, bitterness & resentment; a mountain that threatens to overshadow & consume you & your hopes & dreams.
DECIDE to take God at His word when He promises that He has ‘plans to prosper you & not to harm you; plans to give you a hope & a future’. (Jeremiah 29:11)
DECIDE to drink of the sufficient grace available to you that will soothe the burning pain of the many years spent drinking of the bitter cup of misunderstanding.
DECIDE this day whom you will serve! Rest in the revelation that the light at the end of the tunnel is NOT an oncoming train….but the end of the tunnel & the dawning of a new day to be lived outside the tunnel.
HOPE is the feeling that the feeling you have isn’t permanent’! (Jean Kerr)
Decide to HOPE & keep hoping despite the current circumstances that may be pressing hard up against you!
