One Candle at a Time
Well, here we are, folks. It’s September 19, 2025. I am no mathematician, but I am pretty sure it has been well over one week since I last posted an article on this forum. I said it last time, but I will say it again. Life has been life-ing and some days the struggle is really real! Today’s post came to me last night in the shower. Yup! You read that correctly. All my best ideas always do! It is the one place you can wash away the day and also just think quietly (hopefully) without anyone asking for something in that particular moment. I am published in another collaboration coming out soon titled Lighting the Path and I started thinking. What is the only way that I have gotten through some of the toughest moments in my life? It’s been one step at a time. If you read any of my published work you will see a pattern that I talk a lot about healing, growth, empowerment, etc. Lighting the Path is probably one of my top favorites that I have ever written. I felt like it was really me not afraid to express myself in that piece and the struggles I have overcome definitely came through.
Lately the energy has been SO heavy and if you know anything about astrology you know why that is. However, I am not going to attempt to explain it in this article because it is something that should be left to the professionals, who are not me! Sometimes it is so hard to pull ourselves out of a dark place and stay there. Something or someone is always going to try and take us back to a place we don’t live anymore. Lately I feel like I have been tested by people and I found myself many times wanting to drift back to someone I am no longer acquainted with. A huge part of why I established the name Forty Candles was because I felt like once I turned 40 something switched. I no longer had a tolerance for the bullshit some people were serving but I no longer felt guilty for expressing it. I felt a sense of pride in myself for not really giving a crap about what people thought of me or how I show up in the world. I found a love for myself that I never knew existed. It made me look at myself in a completely different light. However, there is always a caveat. The caveat to that is, at least for me, you really start to mourn a version of you that you can no longer go back to. Almost as if you are homesick and longing for something that is no longer there. Or the feeling that you have forgotten something when you know you didn’t. My husband and I say one of the hardest parts of getting older is watching those already older get even older. It can take you to such a dark place mentally. If you are still reading, congrats! There is hope!
One thing to keep in mind is that you are always going to have struggles, but it is HOW you overcome them that makes you successful, build character, and eventually you will make it easy for yourself to conquer obstacles in your path. You have heard the phrase one foot at a time. I say one candle at a time. You should definitely purchase Lighting the Path on Amazon when it becomes available but in the meantime, you have to get comfortable lighting your own candle. No one is coming to light it for you but what I can say is that if you find yourself here, I will light yours with mine. We will walk the dim path together until there are enough candles lit so we feel much less alone. The entire intention of this was not just a creative writing outlet but to build community. To help others pull themselves out of a dark place and learn how to stay in the light. I feel like it is not always the darkness that scares us but what we might see when the light is lit. What we might have to face that we aren’t sure we have the courage to do. I can promise you that you not only have the courage, but you also have the stamina! This is a journey not a sprint! Let’s light our candles together and walk the path that many have seen but, few have dared. Eventually we’ll be a shining light in the darkness, and you will soon recognize yourself in a way you didn’t know was possible. Grab your candle and let’s get to it!