A time comes in your life when you finally get it ... When in the
midst of all your fears and insanity you stop dead in your tracks
and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out - ENOUGH! Enough
fighting and crying and struggling to hold on and, like a child
quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you
shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and through a
mantle of wet lashes you begin to look at the world through new
eyes. This is your awakening. You realize that it's time to stop
hoping and waiting for something to change or for happiness, safety
and security to come galloping over the next horizon. You come to
terms with the fact that he is not Prince Charming and you are not
Cinderella and that in the real world there aren't always fairy tale
endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any guarantee
of "happily ever after" must begin with you and in the process a
sense of serenity is born of acceptance.

You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not
everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you
are ... and that's OK. (They are entitled to their own views and
opinions.) And you learn the importance of loving and championing
yourself and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born
of self-approval. You stop bitching and blaming other people for the
things they did to you (or didn't do for you) and you learn that the
only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You learn that
people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say and
that not everyone will always be there for you and that it's not
always about you. So, you learn to stand on your own and to take
care of yourself and in the process a sense of safety and security
is born of self-reliance. You stop judging and pointing fingers and
you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their
shortcomings and human frailties and in the process a sense of peace
& contentment is born of forgiveness. You realize that much of the
way you view yourself, and the world around you, is as a result of
all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained into your
psyche. And you begin to sift through all the crap you've been fed
about how you should behave, how you should look and how much you
should weigh, what you should wear and where you should shop and
what you should drive, how and where you should live and what you
should do for a living, who you should sleep with, who you should
marry and what you should expext of a marriage, the importance of
having and raising children and what you owe your parents. You learn
to open up to new worlds and different points of view. And you begin
reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand
for.