By Joanne Charles
Hi! I’m Joanne Charles and I am one of the Therapist at Gaia Counseling and Wellness. I work with children, adolescents and adults and I truly enjoy the work that I do. I specialize in treating trauma and I also support clients who are managing the transitions and hardships of life. In my work with children, I help them engage in art and play as a creative outlet to express their worldview.
Aside from my work at Gaia I love spending as much time as I can with my family. Some of my favorite things to do with them are going on nature walks, snuggling on the couch, and my ultimate favorite… going on Target runs!
My reflections during this season of my life are heavily rooted in my work as a therapist and also my life experiences. This past month has brought celebrations and traditions for the warm welcome of the spring season, such as Passover in Judaism, Ramadan for Muslims, and for those who follow the Christian calendar, the Passion of Christ. For me and my family, it was the anticipation of The Easter Bunny!
Regardless of what you celebrate, I have concluded that we all have this in common… somewhere woven into each of our lives is the presence of fear. My 2.5- year-old son fears monsters and shadows. Monsters and shadows rob him of his sense of safety. Even though he can’t quite articulate it in that way, the fear is very real for him. My very own monsters and shadows take on the shape of suffering and death. I fear suffering and death. As I get older it seems that I frequently encounter more of these shadows and monsters. They feed my fear. They rob me of living in the moment. I feel frozen even though time is moving.
There have been moments when I feel like I can rise up against my fears and I feel like I have talked myself into being brave and courageous. Bold and strong have become MY NAME. I no longer feel like a hostage to my own fears. Then there are instances when my fears cross paths with the world events of the past two years. It’s been like watching a plague of suffering and death play out on every news cycle triggering me at any sudden moment.
I’m sure that your fears look very different from mine and aren’t any less significant. Perhaps you fear you may lose your job or house, that your marriage will never survive, your parenting isn’t good enough or that you aren’t worthy of anything good. Your fears are real and significant. But here’s another thing we all have in common and that is we must live in the midst of our fears. We are all charged with the task of showing up for ourselves in this world each day.
How does one manage to face the day knowing fear is resting at the edge of your bed in the morning? The truth is that you don’t. You don’t face the entire day, you search for the nearest moment in sight. The days are filled with tiny moments that hold the potential for breaths of stillness, acceptance, and peace. And if we can manage to clear the debris from our thoughts just maybe we can catch them. What we choose to do with the catch of the day is up to us. We can hold on to it tightly only to never let it go or we can take what we need from that moment and then release it into the atmosphere for the next person who needs it. But whatever you do, just be sure that you don’t miss it!
My hope for you reading, is that you will recognize that living in the presence of fear doesn’t mean that you won’t experience the fullness of life. It just means that you have to lean in a little closer into PEACE in order to keep it.