What up everyone! Things are definitely starting to pick up here at the office. Had a pretty busy week last week and it is looking to be even busier this week. Last week I went and spoke at San Tan Elementary School. They were a pretty good group. I spoke on bullying and then Rachel did her “Rachel thing”. If you know Rachel, then you know what I’m talking about. If not, then you’ll just have to wait to meet her. She is just too wonderfully hard to describe. Anyhow, San Tan had a bunch of interesting questions for me that I am so glad they asked. Oddly enough, I also thought they had a pretty cool principal. Usually I don’t like principals. They kinda give me the heebie-jeebies, just because I used to always be in trouble.
Later that day I got to go see Justin do his first presentation at Vista Verde Middle School. Oh man, he was so happy to be doing it. He was a little scared of course too, but he was really glad that he had this opportunity to go speak and share his story with others. Speaking of being scared, I was glad I got to see him. Justin used to work for Anasazi as a Trail Walker in their wilderness program. Anasazi is a wilderness program for teens that are having a difficult time with life. To be really brief, basically a teen spends about 42 days out in the wilderness with other teens and a Trail Walker (guide). This gives them time to kind of sort things out for themselves and learn a little bit about themselves and life away from their normal life. This past weekend, the Not My Kid coordinators went up to their wilderness program so see what it was all about for ourselves. I was a little scared cuz I did not know what to expect. I wasn’t sure if they were going to have beds for us or if they were just going to hand me knife and then tell me they would pick me back up in 2 days. Turns out I had a bed. But I was glad to be able to talk to Justin a little bit before I went. I think they got a good deal going over there at Anasazi.
Sometimes I can just get overwhelmed by fear, nervousness, anxiety, or worry. Instead of saying scared, I like to say concerned. It makes me sound like less of a wuss! I have the same feeling on the inside though. What I try to do in those moments is to try to get back to the reality of the situation. Usually I am blowing something completely out of proportion. An acronym I like is F.E.A.R, Forgetting Everything About Reality. It brings my expectations back within a normal range of what may or may not happen. At that point, I figure out what, if any action I can take, do that and then try to let it go. Once I have done everything I can, there is nothing left for me to do but wait. My worrying about it or getting or staying upset does me no good except make me feel lousy at that point. So I let it go. I will repeat, this is what I try to do. I am not always able to do this unfortunately, but I do strive for it.

Gentle Mountain Sage has spoken