Let's Unpack That

It's 2024!

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you...

Dope Aunties, HOW ARE YOU?!

In the last few months, I've undergone a few changes, and accomplished the following:

• Changed jobs twice

• Moved into my own DopeSanctuary

• Loved and lost

• Pivoted and explored new ways to create, cultivate, and release

I've been having so many revelations around boundaries, the ways that I express my grief, and delving deeper into the parts of "the work" that everyone keeps talking about. It's very trendy to talk about how you are doing shadow work or practicing self-care. What I want to know is this: how much of what I'm addressing is fully unpacked so that I can really see what's going on?

I've been seeing my therapist for almost 2 years now. Some days our conversations have more to do with how work is going or what new goals I have set for myself. On other days, we focus on deeper and more intense feelings that are the result of the traumas and challenges I experienced in my childhood. I know that it's very trendy to say that we are "doing the work" and "embracing our shadow side". In reality, that stuff is tough and messy. Just as messy as the four-bedroom house that used to hold four different lives that are now on separate paths.

So.... my first thought was "let's unpack that". Why am I in my feelings about moving my sister and niece out of the house? I was helping my sister pack up the last bits of the house that we used to share and noticed a bunch of boxes of items that I couldn't quite place. I found books I hadn't read since I was a kid, baby bibs that my niece has outgrown, and small items that were important to my mom. And while I'm not particularly sentimental, the act of dismantling the structure that held up my sister and my lives so we can do our own thing is still jarring. I'm sure if I had an S.O. or kids of my own I might not be paying as much attention. [It's still kind of sad to remember that we gave away Boop's highchair because she can sit at a table by herself. We're going through photo albums and I'm seeing that soon it'll be my sister and I that will be keepers of the family history]. So even though we've moved from home to home, box to box, I hope in all these shifts make way for something better.

Til next time,

A Dope Auntie