What are you going to do with it...
- Ginger Bliss
- Mar 3
- 5 min read
There's a song I'll share at the end of this message that I heard earlier this week. I may have heard it before, but this time I really listened to it. And it made me wonder what my life could have been like if I had faced my pain sooner. How I might have provided a healthier upbringing for my daughter. How I might have been able to receive love and experience joy before my mid-50s. This may make some readers uncomfortable, but for me it's simply a curiosity not an incrimination.
I have gone from being a person who tried with all my might to appear perfect and hide my pain to one who has laid it all out for anyone in the world to read about. I have gone from being conflict avoidant and risk averse, to finding my voice and having fun venturing into uncharted waters. Yes, I had to go through some pain to get there but the alternative, that had been my first 50 years of life, was living each and every day with the unrelenting pain of my mere existence.
Through the past two years, I have listened for guidance from the still, small voice within that I refer to as my soul. It hasn't always been easy for someone who had spent a lifetime clinging to control. But each time I listened, even when I didn't understand, and proceeded, even when it didn't make any sense, I learned and grew and gained confidence in the voice and myself.
In October after self-publishing my memoir, Brave Enough To Be Bliss, I moved back to North Kansas City and patiently waited for guidance as to what I was supposed to do next in my career. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do because for more than 25 years, my career had been the one place I could feel confident, successful, proficient...all the things that were the opposite of how I felt on the inside. As I waited and heard nothing, the old Ginger 1.0 voices began to escape from the basement and torment me. I wrestled with them, I tried pushing them back down the stairs, I argued with them...but I couldn't quite get them far enough into the basement to be able to lock the door and keep them from escaping again. It felt like pure hell sometimes to have worked as hard as I had worked getting my mind healthy only to be challenged with the same voices again questioning my credibility, my intelligence, my experience, my essence.
There were enough hard-earned periods of peace, however, where I could actually see the future, where I could see the value I could provide, where I could see possibility, where everything lined up making it possible for me to embark on a new career adventure that I have named, GB Real Life & Leadership Strategies.
I will provide tailored life and leadership coaching services that deliver strategic guidance and actionable plans with measurable outcomes working with adults of all ages, as well as emerging and executive leaders. Drawing on my deep and broad knowledge of human behavior, gained through years of professional experiences and personal healing, I will guide struggling humans and business leaders toward creating their own long-term fulfillment and success.
All humans experience some form of pain within their lifetimes, but the question is, what will you do with it? Will you hide it, carry it around on the inside and let it negatively affect your relationships with yourself and others, like I did for so long? Or will you be brave enough to face the pain, walk through it, and come out the other side able to experience fulfillment, joy and love, like I finally did?
On April 3, 2024, I wrote the following email to a friend, and it is printed in my memoir.
Today I’m not running away from myself or you or anything…I’m running toward the culmination of everything I’ve learned to date. And yet I have so much more to learn through the rest of my life however long that may be. I’m running toward joy, fulfillment, purpose, knowledge, experience…and the unknown.
So today, I'm asking you, what is your pain and what are you going to do with it?
There is no pain nor shame that cannot be healed. You need only be brave enough to seek out help. If you don’t yet have the self-compassion to do it for yourself, do it for someone you love knowing that unhealed pain is likely hurting your relationship. Then somewhere along the way, you may just find yourself learning to do the work for yourself. Find whatever motivation or inspiration you need to make the rest of your life the best of your life. It’s never too early and it’s never too late to become all you were created to be.
You are not alone, even if it feels that way right now. Whatever pain you carry, I care it is there, and I am sorry you were hurt. I believe in you and your ability to find healing. I believe you can face your deepest pain and not only survive it but learn how to thrive.
I know one day if you take this brave step, you will be able to come out the other side ready to share your story with others to help them find healing. Dig deep and find the courage. Connect with your heart and soul and learn how to manage your thoughts instead of letting your thoughts control your behavior and negatively impact your relationships. It’s OK to be afraid and yet forge ahead anyway. That’s being brave enough to be yourself and brave enough to be happy. That’s finding your own bliss.
Love begets love.
Healing begets healing.
We are people, communities, countries, and a world in desperate need of both.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Dan Millma
So, if you have unhealed pain of any kind, what are you waiting for?
Can't be what we can't see
Can't speak when we can't breathe
Can't dance if we don't move our feet
It's a blur, tryna keep pace
Days are runnin' like they're in a race
Can't move if we're in our own way
I guess the crisis is we've just one life to live
And no one knows what happens next
So, what are we waitin' for? What are we waitin' for?
Why are we wastin' all the time like somеone's makin' more?
What are wе prayin' for? What are we savin' for?
What if we could be the light that no one could ignore?
There are endless resources and people who can help you with whatever hurts you, including me.
Put the pen on a new page
Dream about what you could change
And live it out, before it's too late
The beauty of it is, we've just one life to live.
If you're interested in reading Brave Enough To Be Bliss in its entirety, the digital book is free, and hardback copies can be purchased at cost through the link below. There is no financial gain for me in sharing this book, but you are worth the investment of each and every word.
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