One of the things that takes up a great deal of my time and passion is the fight for equality and community in the area in which I live. I am the VP of a LGBTQ non-profit here and we are about to celebrate our one year anniversary. One of the things we have been fighting for is bringing Pride to our area. We were informed a few months ago that another organization was working on a huge event here so we got involved. As often happens, we soon came to realize that the goals of the other organization were based more on profit and less on community so we have withdrawn from that event and have made arrangements with local supporters to do a much more community based Pride celebration.
This has been a long and arduous process in an area that is mostly made up of Bible belt southerners and military personnel. We had a very productive day yesterday though, and things are definitely looking more positive. Just when we start to feel as though our community could care less about being unified, they surprise us and pull through with some wonderful support. I feel like a proud mama showing off all the little baby steps sometimes, but this is truly an improvement for our area and I am looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish.
On a personal front, I feel like I am making progress with my work and being able to help support my family financially, even if only in the smallest way, does a lot for my less than stellar self esteem. The job market for someone in my position here is horrible. I even had a financial and employment counselor tell me that if I wanted a decent job being paid what I was worth, I simply need to move out of this town. If we could have afforded it, we probably would have done just that. Though we are working with this non-profit here and want to get it off the ground and really working, I would much rather live somewhere very much cooler and more accepting.
Anyway, back to the positive. I am working on getting myself into a routine that means a regular work schedule and getting things accomplished at home. I also want to incorporate some serious exercise into our routine so that I can start to feel better about my health and my body. I am trying hard not to focus on my weight and keep this strictly about my health and quality of life. I have a 10 year old daughter still at home and I want to be around for her until she is grown and settled. I would like to see my grown children settled as well (though I am hoping if I live long enough to get the 10 year old there, that means they will be good to go by then too...lol).
I slept late this morning and am still a little foggy and feeling airheaded, so even though I have a zillion things running around in my brain, I am going to cut this short and wish everyone an awesome day. Blessings.
No comments:
Post a Comment