WAKE UP TO YOUR VICTORY!

It happens to all of us: We act unconsciously and don’t pay serious attention to the stuff that’s going on around us. There are a few reasons, including these:

• We’re really busy.
• We focus on accommodating everyone else in our life, BUT we don’t expect to be accommodated in return…so we get overwhelmed
• We get lulled into the security of what’s familiar (even when it’s not secure)
• We’re afraid that if admit we aren’t happy or are dissatisfied with what’s happening, we would want to change it…and change usually neither easy nor comfortable

Sound familiar? Of course it does. We all choose unconscious living sometimes.

Yet when we aren’t paying attention, we could be sabotaging our efforts and, as a result, cheating ourselves out of personal victory. Sometimes we might even be putting ourselves in danger.

This isn’t something new. I hear lots of stories that prove it, including this one about a woman I’ll call Tori:

Tori was married for over twenty years. It hadn’t been happy, almost from the beginning. Yet Tori had two children, felt stuck and stayed. She had more support for staying than for leaving, including a strong religious upbringing that said you had to stay married no matter what and a family that supported that philosophy. Both created a lot of guilt whenever Tori thought about getting a divorce.

Tori struggled to control her emotions as she told me her story, leading me through the steps she took to leave. She said she didn’t want anything from the house that had been her mental and emotional prison for so many years. So when she moved into a tiny apartment, she took only a bed and a small television. She got a job. With the support of her friends, who gave her furniture, food and even some money, Tori slowly got on her feet.

When I asked her what finally gave her the courage and the “push” to finally leave, Tori gave me a steely stair and said, “I woke up.”

To Tori, “waking up” meant that she finally decided she deserved better than living an unhappy existence with an abusive man. It’s the exact same thing Lilly told me happened for her during our interview for her chapter in my book, Victorious Woman! Lilly admitted she danced around the truth for a long time, and made excuse after excuse for the abusive behavior she tolerated. However, once she “woke up,” there was no going back. She had to take action. Lilly’s story in Victorious Woman! touches many women who are in marriages that include physical, verbal or emotional abuse.

If you are one of those women, now is the best time to WAKE UP! You can make your life different. Lilly, Tori and hundreds of other women have woken up to the true feelings and are living better, happier and healthier lives.

If you are living with domestic abuse, here are three things you can do today:
1 – Get emotional support by calling a domestic abuse hotline. Talk to someone anonymously and tell them your story.
2 – Compile resources. There is an agency right in your neighborhood. Find them. Call and learn what resources are available to you. These can include help with logistics, safe houses, help in getting a job and more.
3 – Make a plan. The sooner you have a plan, the sooner you will develop the confidence to leave.

Maybe you aren’t living in an abusive marriage, but you are unhappy with the way your life is going. You want more and better. You believe you deserve it. WAKE UP!

Once you WAKE UP and decide what you want instead of what you have, the steps are pretty much the same: get emotional support, compile resources and make a plan.

By the way, Tori’s story has a happy ending. Actually, it’s more like a happy middle. Today, she is blissfully remarried and a doting grandmother. She still gets fluttery when she talks about her spouse of nearly ten years. Tori’s only regret is that she didn’t wake up sooner. She says her life is better now than she ever could have imagined during those years. Tori’s looking forward to retiring and enjoying good times with her sweetie, children, grandkids and friends.

Victory doesn’t just come at the end of a long road. For you and me, and just as it was for Tori and Lilly, it is in the moment when you WAKE UP and decide to make a change. The first step of any journey is the hardest, but without it, nothing else happens. You can do it. As this year is ending, WAKE UP and you’ll find something better in the New Year.

©CopyrightAnnmarieKelly2007. All Rights Reserved.

Annmarie Kelly is offering two great teleseminars starting in January. Read more about them at http://www.victoriouswoman.com/tseminars.htm. Also, if you are in the greater Philadelphia area, you can join one of Annmarie Kelly’s Victory Teams that are now forming. There’s more information at http://www.victoriouswoman.com/vteams.htm