I know you are familiar with that awful feeling, of nearly crippling fear, when you are about to embark on a new adventure, you don’t know what the outcome will be so you hesitate even starting. Like the feeling of anxiousness that you get on the first day of a new school and you don’t know a single soul. How about going on that long awaited job interview that you’re hoping will land you the best paying job, thus far, in your adult life. Let’s not forget the days and moments leading up to that first date and every nerve is freaking out inside! Come on, we ALL know that first impressions are so vital and we always want to make a good one! Well, I must confess, that this is my current situation. In my dire attempts to make a good impression I have put off this first blog post for days. Ok, ok, so it is more like a few months, but who’s counting?

So the time has come…today is the day…(drum roll please) that I humbly submit and  unveil my new blog! (and the crowd goes wild! …just humor me!) So, if you’re slightly curious or mildly interested, take a peek and I hope you will come and enjoy this new journey with me.

I like to think of life as a series of adventures that create one grand book. Each of us has our own story that reveals hardships, past failures, joys and successess. We are most intimately acquainted with our own story, because it walks with us like an old friend, tried and true. Our story maps out for us the days gone before us that lead us up to our present moments.

We are all in process with our stories. Yep, the elderly person, that you passed at the grocery store today that couldn’t seem to smile, has a story. The husband and wife having an intense conversation on the park bench, yeah, they have a story too.  The elementary teacher with the one student that seems to get on your last nerve and push every one of your buttons, they have story. That one friend that seems to oddly always have joy in the midst of pain and trial,  they also have a story.

In the past few years I have come to realize, and humbly confess, that I have judged many, if not all, of these “books” by their cover. So quick to make assumptions of what I perceive from my own cloudy lense. It wasn’t until I was willing to flip through the pages of my past and take a hard look at my story, did I realize that my judgements were coming from a place of me not wanting to embrace my own story. I thought if I could just keep those old chapters closed that they would never affect me, but in reality it created more harm than good. In the past year and 1/2, as I have taken the risk to open the once closed chapters of my book, I have come to see that my past doesn’t define or dictate who I am. As I have looked back on the beautiful old pages of my book, I am in awe at what I now see has shaped me ino the woman I am today. Yes, I have had to process through the many  stained or soiled pages, but no matter how long the process may have been, I know that every step I have taken and will continue to take, is worth it. I am definitely not finished with my process of life and I am excited to see and explore the new journies that have yet to be written on the pages of my story.

So, today, I am opening my book. Yep, it’s about to get real up in here! I am so excted to  share more with you in the next few days, weeks, months and hopefully years, of life’s ups and downs, smiles and frowns. With every interaction, whether in person or as you read about me on this page, I hope to always leave you with, Honest Impressions.