Jodi Hills

So this is who I am – a writer that paints, a painter that writes…


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490.

Knowing that I haven’t missed a day of blogging in 837 days, it’s not lost on me, sitting within some hurt feelings, that I’m told to “just forget about it.” For better or worse, remembering is kind of my thing. But even as I type this, it does make me laugh, well, at least smile anyway.

And then I start to think about all the numbers. I know we were told that you are supposed to keep forgiving. Not just seven times, but seven times seventy. And for a minute my brain thinks “If I was hurt yesterday, and I still feel hurt today, then does that count for two?” Math is hard, but it does add up quickly. And I smile a little more.

The thing about feelings is they don’t show like a broken leg, or a sprained wrist. Most people don’t even know they hurt you. And the phrase I heard for the majority of my childhood from my older siblings repeats in my head, “Well, if you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you.” Now I actually laugh.

I guess they all have to be healed from within. And we all have our own methods. Of working through. Of letting go. I begin by counting the words. Maybe the strokes. Perhaps the laps in the pool. And soon the numbers fade and I’m just in it. In the doing. The living. And I actually have to look up the numbers that are recorded in the blogging application to see how many days it has been. Because the number doesn’t really matter. I do it because I want to. I started for different reasons and now it has evolved into my living. I00 likes or 10, 800 days or one, it doesn’t really matter, this is how I live. I guess it’s the same with feelings. I’m not going to change because sometimes I get hurt. I am going to feel everything. It’s just the way I live. And that’s the real reward.

I’ll leave you with one last number. It’s going to be 109 degrees here today. Time for some countless laps in the pool. I feel better already.

Awakenings.


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Take care.

It has been extremely warm here. 100 degrees for a few days. (And I love it.) But yesterday, the temperature dropped (please forgive me, my Minnesota friends) to 86. And I have to admit, I felt a little cool. Now, that may sound crazy, and it might well be, but it doesn’t make it any less true.  

I suppose that’s the way it is with all feelings. And I am a “feeler”! But I really wouldn’t have it any other way. Not that I could change it, even if I wanted to.

You feel what you feel. Never in the history of mankind has anyone ever stopped feeling something because someone said, “Don’t feel like that.”  Now, of course, some are misguided, and have arisen from misunderstanding, poor interpretation, or simple fatigue, but still feelings. And the only way that I have found to get through them, past them, is to feel them. Really feel them, and then let them go. A few tears? Sure. A few extra laps in the pool? Yes. More paint on the canvas? Of course. A table set for celebration when it’s only a Tuesday? Why not? 

I know what works for me. And you know what works for you. And amid the “craziness” of it all, we pause and tell each other, “Take care.” As simple as that sounds, it may be the only truth to follow. The truth of our own self care. And we are given the tools – right from birth I think. I recognized mine early. Painting and words and creating, creating, creating. 

What works for me, may not work for you, but you get to decide. You get to decide what comforts  you. What fulfills you. You get to set the bar for yourself. Others’ successes do not hurt you. Be happy for them. Others’ failures do not lift you. They may not even feel they’ve failed. (Oh, feelings!) They get to decide that for themselves – we all do!

The sun is up, and I can feel it coming through the crack of the open window. I smile and whisper, “Take care,” – to my heart, my brain…and to YOU!