Stepping out from Behind the Stones

Welcome to Stepping Stones! My name is Lysbeth Neel, and I am always learning and growing in this fascinating world around us. I offer perspective, just like anyone does, but instead of clogging up facebook I share it with the world through my blogs. Take a moment to scroll through.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Crush mania

I am sure you have all had a time in your lives where you have experienced what the world says as a "crush". And maybe you girls have felt "boy crazy" before. Here is just a little story and insight on what I have dealt with.Not saying this happens to everyone, or that it happens to you specifically at all, but if its useful at all, I want to share.

I currently , of course, have a crush. But at this time in my life I can confidently say, I have gotten to the point where a crush doesn't mean what it used to be. I used to think that I would be lucky enough to have my crush ask me out or fall in love with me, but what I have realized is that you can be so much more happy when you are not obsessing about some guy. We all love to say things and get all flirtatious and there is nothing wrong with that, but there comes a time when you must realize that he isn't just going to come sweep you off your feet and be your prince charming.

It is very hard to move on and seeing others with your crush is also hard, but if you truly like this person than you will want what is best for them in their lives, and that is not always you. My crush, for one isn't to the point where he will see anything more than a friend in me, and he also isn't the type of guy who will want to just love me, but will want things from me that I don't want to give.
So he isn't worth it, and not worth the time to obsess or flirt with. He is just a sweet guy, who , yes, is attractive and who I won't ever be in a relationship with. But I fully support him in everything he does.

I wish I had been told how silly crushes can be and how some can be big annoyances in my life when I was younger. I would have saved myself a lot of heartache an worry and had so much more fun just living my life and being content. Take the advice from one who has been a little boy crazy in her life, it is for the best not to have a crush. It might be hard at first but at least you will feel better in the long run.

Scary Shadows

Ever feel like you are just stuck in the dark shadows of the public world? Like you just want to dance down the street or sing loud, maybe just talk and share, but you don't? Well you are not alone. I am always the last one to speak up if I am not in my own circle of friends, and even then I don't often start a conversation or break out of the shadows often. I think we all tend to believe the shadows are a safe place to be, but really it's the scariest place to be. If you stay there long enough it becomes harder and harder to come away from them.

The shadows are where I met the worst friends. In fact they weren't friends, more like stalkers. Their names are Depression, Cutting, Suicidal Thoughts and Desperation. I met them when I hadn't even started public school. I met them when I was around the age of 9. They used to steal me away to my room and lock me in for hours, and then on some days they would take me to the creek in the woods near my house. I didn't really understand what they were doing until the fights started. I never used to yell, or hit things. I never got into fights with my parents until I was 10. My stalkers would seclude me from the truth, and whisper lies to me and without fail I would listen.

I think the worst part was sitting alone on my bed and getting the feeling like I was tearing away my pain by cutting my legs and arms. I didn't ever think about telling my parents, and when I was found out by my friends at youth group, it was too late. I had taken myself completely out of the family picture. So many things changed, new home and new city. I lived with my sis, and little did she know what was really going on. Then she found out the worst way possible. It was sophomore year, basketball season, and I had cut my arms pretty good. For some reason I don't even remember why I was mad, but I had txted my old friend from youth group some flippant remarks about how much I hated life and wanted to die. I didn't answer my phone for a few hours, cause I went downstairs to play with my niece. He was worried, and if it had been him I would have been too.

That night two police officers showed up at my door and demanded me to show my arms. My sister had no idea what was going on. She saw my cuts and couldn't believe that I had done that to myself. I spent the next 30 minutes in the back of a cop car riding to the emergency room. I talked to doctors and councilors all night. I realized that night, I had caused so much panic, and I didn't even know the reason why I had done it in the first place.

For me counselors didn't help solve the problem, I went through another year of pain and torture, until I took a step out of the shadows and told my stalkers I was done. I hung my emergency bracelet on the wall of my room for me to always remember that I wasn't that person, that was just a person who had been told lies and beaten down by the world. It is the hardest choice in my life that I have made so far. Stepping out and talking or just letting it go is the hardest thing ever, but I know for a fact it just gets better and better with time. And now when I feel those whispers creeping up on me, I just shake my head and look at that bracelet and remember who I really am. I am a young lady who believes in herself no matter what the world does to bring me down.

If you have ever experienced this, or you are having trouble, there are so many people who love you and want to help. I am also always here for advice and just for listening if that's all you need. I know how hard it is to reach out, so when you want to do the same I am all about supporting you and helping in whatever way I can.

Insecurities Challenge

I have realized that recently I find myself looking at my reflection, way to often. Like so many other girls I know, I have put this burden of shame and insecurity on myself about my face and look everyday.You always here people tell you that you are beautiful and gorgeous just the way you are, but our society makes a point at taking the flaws away from everyone in the media. Instead we just get fed all the propaganda about beauty products and makeup. So I have taken it up with a few friends, and have decided that I want to change the way I look at myself.

I want to be able to wake up and look at myself in the mirror and say, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL, without the makeup, and products. I want to just be me. Because overall that's who I am. I am just a girl, who has insecurities like everyone else, and the world I live in has made it hard for me to believe in myself and my beauty.

When I find the guy in my life who I want to spend the rest of my life with, I want to be able to wake up and spend the day,just me and no makeup. I want him to be able to look at me and say YOU TRULY ARE BEAUTIFUL. I shouldn't need any enhancements or cover up to be that way. I don't want the world to just see a covered up me. You should be able to show the raw and natural you. 

Growing up I would play outside all day and not worry about how I looked, and of course there comes a time when you need to look professional and maybe you want to dress up and where some makeup to have a little fun. But everyday of putting on the face, and doing all the things to make it look like you have the perfect eyebrows, lips, and eyes is so shallow and tiring.

Here is my challenge to myself. I will go an entire week without any makeup, including lipstick of any kind. I won't take any pictures/selfies but instead I will wake up and look at myself and say every morning - I AM GORGEOUS JUST THE WAY I AM. And then for the rest of the day I won't look in a mirror. I do this because I don't want to constantly be obsessing about how I look and how I might have acne or baggy eyes. I will just go through my day normally. 

Something I am really interested in knowing is if anyone will notice me, or compliment me, and what they might say to me about my appearance. Everytime you compliment someone, remind yourself to look deep down, are you complimenting there true beauty or are you impressing upon them that their makeup looks good? Everytime you compliment someone's makeup, just take a moment to realize that what you are truly saying is you look good covered up. 

If you want to take the same challenge I welcome you and encourage you to stay strong- because you are so beautiful, and being just you should be enough. If you don't want to participate, I encourage you to take a different  challenge- the compliment challenge. When you think about complimenting someone, look at their raw beauty and their natural self instead of the cover. I hope you can find it in yourself to also compliment someone who is not wearing a mask of makeup. As always please leave your comments and idea about my ideas. I love to here feedback. And to all you ladies out there- no matter what your age, you are beautiful!!

Monday, February 9, 2015

Closer than a Friend-Bosom Friends



So If you are at all familiar with Anne of green Gables, you will totally get that reference in the title, if not you should really see it, cause its a life changing movie and book.This is not just any friend, she probably looks normal to you, but she is soooooo not normal. Her official name is, well here we will just call her Oompah. She is very close to me as you can imagine. She was my first friends when I moved to Spokane, and started high-school, also my first year in public school. She loves a lot of things, like pretzels, Romeo & Juliet, singing and the gravity. Well maybe gravity loves her more than her return of affection.

Lets set the record straight, I have lots of friends, I just choose to hang with the best one, which is my Oompah. It is hard to imagine we have only been friends for four years, at the same time its so hard to imagine us not together next year. I will be leaving for several states away and her plans are to stay around town. I know ts hard to imagine from that smiling face in the picture, but I wasn't always like that. When they say friends stick through thick and thin, with us its more like: thick, scratching thin, clinging on time, kill me now time, i'm hyper/insane and all the other crazy times together.

Thing is, I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for her. I thought I could always just get along by myself, but she saw right through the veil. She stayed strong and pursued me until I finally let go. And I really let go, I would scream in her ear about my life, over the phone. I would cry and shake in her arms, and I still do today. And I would do the same for her. I went through depression after depression and life didn't get easier for sure, it just got heavier cause I would keep all of it on my shoulders till she would help me get through another torrential break down.

She was there when my family couldn't be, when my eyes were blinded by guy after guy, and I strayed from the path. Love. That is such true love when you can look over to your friend, and see the person who would stand with you in a dinosaur attack, cancer, Justin Bieber concert and all the other torturous things you could think of ( no offense Bieber fans). I would go to the ends of the world and do anything for her. She has already done that for me, saving my life, preserving my smile and shaping my world to help me get up again. She wipes the tears away and makes me laugh.

I know that she will always be here with me, She is a part of my heart. No matter what difficult things happen, I can look forward to more long nights, giggle fits, Friends references and shared memories. Looking back on our talks I don't understand how she kept it all together, all the drama, and crap I loaded on her, day after day. She just knew, some how I needed her and she would make a single splash in the pond with her pebbles of knowledge and love, but those ripples would reach me out on the far shore. I would then be affected by her for the rest of my life. She would be the one to pull me out of the ashes, and look at me and say  "You're beautiful". How could she know that would be the first time I believed someone who said that to me? It wasn't me who was beautiful, it was her, and that gorgeous soul of hers.

There are so many priceless times I recall, but let me leave you with this. There isn't anything that could tear me apart from her, no time, no distance. I can't ever repay her , but I hope one day I can speak into someones's life like she has been doing into mine.
Now that is a friend, people. Someone who makes you feel like you are perfect in every way.

Complicated

So I am sitting there on the edge of a sturdy yet not brand new dock. I can see him walking down the grassy lawn on his way to talk with me. As usual he is dressed casual with those torn up shirts from working on his family's house and he has those super sexy aviators on, sun glinting off the rims, like he was part of a band or glamorous chick flick movie.Sure, he is totally the guy for me, except the fact that the only reason he is here is cause he is about to break my heart. Two full years of preteen dating, and 4 years before that full of exciting adventures as kids. 

I didn't know this at the time, but it wouldn't matter what he said cause six weeks later I would be walking alone on the streets headed for an entire different path than I thought I would be on.I would leave my family and everything behind, and meet more guys I ever dreamed of. Goodbye little home-schooled girl and hello high-school.I would learn so much in the little time it would take it change my entire life. 

Yeah ,that's right, life is downright crappy at times, and excuse my language but you cant get through this life without a little shit getting in your way. Complicated. That's life, that is absolutely everyday of my childhood, preteen years and high-school. I didn't go into these years knowing it would be that way, I ,like all other kids my age, had to read all the "coming of age" stories and figure this shit out on my own.And doing that is not easy, take it from me. Yeah I feel like almost everything has happened to me, but that's not exactly true. I had to really dig my self out of a grave by the time I hit 16. I have heard it all, "your so young to go through this", "its a wonder you can keep going", "are you sure that your mental state isn't being challenged by all that's happening in your life?". Counselors, Doctors,Judges and Social Workers. Parents, adults, siblings...oh geez the siblings. That's for another entry. You think its all piling on you at one time and then, it gets weird.

For me, it was him getting back to me with an ultimatum. "You need to come back to your parents house and get your life together or I can't speak to you again". Some days I feel like my parents put him up to saying that, but honestly that is so way too low of my parents.  I gave up, cause I realized it is just way to .... yup that's right, COMPLICATED.

No really there is a simple key to living this life, and I have gotten good experience at this one. Make it less complicated, meaning cleanse your life. Cleanse your room, your baggage, and all those friends you think are your actual friends. Stop trying to convince yourself your someone you are not. Be yourself for goodness sake! Who wants to be around a poser? No one. Being yourself is the biggest cleanser of all. You aren't worried about what people think and you can just live. So much easier. Try it. 

Now I am not saying it's just not gonna be complicated anymore, but instead of wasting your energy and time, use it to the best of you.
WE ARE WHO WE ARE. You just can't change that no matter what you do.