Toxic community.
After writing my outline for this article, I happened to turn on Hamilton’s “You’ll Be Back” (performed by King George III) sitting in the car line so I could surprise my first grader with her favorite song from the musical. While sillily singing along, it hit me, this song has all the elements of a toxic community that I had just outlined: gaslighting, misuse of power, and possessiveness.
It took 18 long months for my oldest child to start sleeping through the night. There were weeks where I was sleeping in 20-60 minute spurts and barely staying awake despite the IV of coffee I lived on. I was in pure survival mode. The last thing on my mind was how I could serve God by making disciples and serving others. All I could focus on was when I could catch a nap and how to be needed the least amount possible by others. I knew this couldn’t be what God intended motherhood to look like, but I couldn’t see a way out either.
Good mental health is vitally important for us all and 2020 has certainly challenged our ability to fully experience it. With this in mind, along with September 10th being Suicide Prevention Day, we wanted to redirect you to a sampling of the great mental health content that we’ve produced over the years on our blog at www.councilroadwomen.org. I am inexplicably grateful for the insights and personal vulnerability the authors of these articles have shared.
This is my year to be healthy! Does that sound familiar to you? I have declared that many times, yet I haven’t always (ok, hardly ever) reached or followed through with my health goals. I’m guessing many of you reading will admit that you are not the most disciplined in this area either; whether you are or not, please keep reading!
Hiking isn’t that hard, right? It’s basically just walking, and I walk everyday, so I can totally do this. This is what I kept telling myself as my trip to hike the Grand Canyon from rim to rim in one day (roughly 26 miles with 4,000 ft of elevation lost and then gained) came closer and closer on the calendar.
My friend, Kyla Pace, is one of those women who oozes Jesus. I’ve known her for over a decade, through some of the most challenging seasons of her life, and can honestly say that Kyla walked as intimately with Jesus in good health as she did throughout her recent battle with cancer…in fact, I’d say she walked even closer in the crisis.
