Hello all! I hope you have had a wonderful Sunday and a great weekend overall! This weekend finds me reminiscing and reflecting, as it was one year ago this very day that I began writing on this blog, and sharing my experiences and happenings with all who would listen. And while I will admit to having skepticism at first about writing here, mainly over the feeling that nobody would listen and would therefore not resonate, I’ve come to find that, over the last year, I have seen so many things in my life from the viewpoints of others, and it has made me take a second look at things I was doing and am doing, and showing me more clearly what to leave in and what to leave out in terms of my life. And it has been a major boon to me!

I must give a bit of explanation as to how I got here: The first blog I ever wrote on this website was entitled “Moving At The Speed Of Life”. At that point in my life, I really was doing just that. I was bursting at the seams with creative opportunities and was hellbent on making every single one of them work. Now, if you can balance your working life with your everyday life, this can be a time that bears great fruit for you. But I found myself incapable of doing this, and I now freely admit that, whereas a year ago, I was still very hesitant about doing so. I found myself taking on so many tasks, and trying to keep every happy within the network I helped found that it all became too much. I wound up crashing head-first into a brick wall on August 12 of last year, standing dangerously close to the edge, and about to go over it. Had it not been for the goodness and kindness of many-and three women in particular-I don’t know where I would be!

The first of these wonderful women is Em Farwell, one of the founders of this very website, and the one who first offered me to write a blog for this website! I first came to know Em after she joined the team on Cosmos Creative Television, the online network I co-founded. Within just a couple of weeks, I knew that Em was a valiant, strong and caring individual who has a huge heart and so much to give. And give she did!

Em assumed a sort of motherly role in my life, taking me in as one of her many “virtual” children she has nurtured and looked out after over the years. When I told her my story and why I am the way I am, she took the time to listen, and offered up ideas and solutions about how to grow and be better and shed a lot of what I knew and had experienced.

As mentioned before, when Em offered me a spot writing on this blog, I approached it with some hesitation and trepidation. I had never blogged before; the closest I had come to that was putting my poetry onto various websites through the years prior. I had no idea if anyone would listen to or even care about what I said. But, at any rate, I found the courage and elected to go for it. And it has paid off wonderfully, as mentioned earlier in this blog! I will be forever grateful to Em for believing in me and giving me this opportunity to write on this wonderful blog!

The second of these three wonderful women is my dear friend and co-creator Renée Yaworsky. Renée and I founded Cosmos Creative Television together, and we have done many wonderful things in our creative lives together! More than that, it was Ré who first introduced me to Em, when she first came onto the CCTV team way back when. Ré has been one of my biggest supporters, one of my closest confidants, and one of the reasons why I am talking with you today. She saw firsthand the struggles I was going through, and was the first to start me forward on the journey to where I am today, one of healing and growth and change.

When I first mentioned possibly writing a blog, she was over-the-moon about the idea, having been a constant supporter of my poetry and other writings all along the way. My hope is that Renée may someday join myself and Em in writing on this website! In the meantime, with each blog I publish to this website, I always think of Ré and what she said to me, her unwavering support that pushed me over the edge to do this, and in turn, see things from a wide variety of lights and viewpoints, and how to best prepare myself for the future!

The third woman I want to pay homage to in this anniversary blog is my therapist Elizabeth! When I first stepped away from doing shows and whatnot in Cosmos, Renée and Em were steadfast about my trying therapy. I had never really given therapy a shot before, and out of nervousness, I kept putting it off and putting it off until finally I found a website that did not have any hoops to jump through (shoutout to Open Path Collective!), and I found Elizabeth after only a few minutes of searching. After initial contact, we settled on a date for a first therapy session, and to say I went into the session scared to death was an understatement. But within 10 minutes, I felt better telling my story than I had felt in the first nearly 20 years of telling it. I finally felt truly heard and seen and cared about. I finally felt safe and comfortable, talking about all of the dark, traumatizing things I had experienced in my onescore and six on this earth.

December will mark a year since I first started seeing Elizabeth, and in the dozens of sessions we have had since that time, I have reaped benefits I never knew existed. I feel so much freer and happier in my life, and I have so many more tools in my tool chest for fixing the problems in my life and overcoming the days where sadness overcomes me. While I do still slip from time to time, I find that I am a better friend, a better man and a better person overall for seeking therapy, and now, whenever I can, I tell people about my experiences in therapy, and how it can be beneficial in their own lives, if they take the chance to do it!

Most of all in my therapy journey, I have learned to keep forward and not linger on every minute thing that could happen. This is something I have struggled with mightily in my life, and I’d be lying if I said I was 100% cured, but the strides I have made and the tips and tricks I have received have been more beneficial to me than any amount of money. I feel like I am lightyears ahead of where I was when I first started, and though I know I have many a mile to travel in my journey, I can take comfort in knowing I have come this far, and have grown and changed and evolved accordingly!

Before I leave you, I want to offer you, the reader a hearty thank-you and bow of appreciation as well! Your comments and messages and other inputs on my blogs have been extremely beneficial to me, and it is through your eyes that I have seen a great many things that have gone on, and situations I have been in, and I have seen where I could be better, and where I have done better. Your input has shaped and crafted me more than you could ever imagine, and for this, I am thankful! Please continue to offer your input whenever you can!

I hope this blog finds you well, and in the comments, tell me which of my blogs over the last year has resonated with you the most!

As always, take care, much love, may God richly bless, and here’s to another year!

-Jon