Drugs and Dogwoods

In this episode of the “Just Waiting for You” podcast, Cherese shares a story about the coexistence of challenges and beauty. Through her experience as a nurse and a parent, she reminds us that being brave doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine, but showing up and doing what needs to be done, even when it sucks.

Hey, friends, this is Cherese Lee and you're listening to the Just Waiting for You podcast. Whether the sun is shining where you are in life today or you're walking through a crappy storm and you really wish you got some rain boots - the power of a story is sometimes all you need for that perspective shift. Hang out with us for a few minutes and find out what happens when you realize that someone is just waiting for you.

It's a story. It's just a story. I live in the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee, and we're known for a lot of things here. Probably most notably - Dolly Parton, the beautiful great Smoky Mountain National Park, and just outdoor splendor in general. The Appalachian Trail goes through here. I look out my windows and I'm surrounded by green, beautiful, lush pollen filled mountains.

Because, yeah, you know what else we're known for…allergies. Horrible seasonal allergies. I didn't even know that was a thing that you could be known for. I didn't grow up here. We moved here about, oh, a little over 11 years ago. And our first spring here, people were talking about the allergies, and I replied confidently, “oh, I don't have seasonal allergies” (yay me).

Guess what? If you don't have them when you arrive here, you will have them, or else you'll just move. I mean, they make charts of like top places for allergens. We're always up there. Also, why do they make these charts? They're just depressing. So right now, everyone is walking around in my beautiful town with horrible sinus headaches, sneezing, everywhere.

We're all living on Flonase, trying to, you know, kick the Afrin habit and definitely marking our little booklets in our purse to see how long before we're allowed to legally buy Sudafed again, because we just bought a box. Welcome to our life. Did I mention it’s beautiful here? It's so beautiful here. It really is like something out of a National Geographic.

I guess you're thinking this is the part where she's going to say, “oh, if you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain”. (also, I don't really know what that voice was, but you're welcome). But actually, what I want to say is that it just sucks. Sometimes it just sucks.

Am I sick of having a crushing headache? Yes. Is it also really pretty? Yes. Am I over hearing my kid's snot? Yes. Is spring my favorite season? Hmm, tied with fall, but yeah. If telling yourself that sometimes you have to push through the hard to get the reward works for you, I think that's amazing. And I've told myself that plenty of times. But if no one's told you recently, you're also allowed to say this sucks.

I work as a nurse in a pediatric office, and as you can imagine, that means I walk into rooms to small children with needles in my hand rather often multiple times a day. And a lot of times the hardest ones to give are the bigger kids. Why? Because they totally understand what's coming. They've lived through it. It also means that they’re more able to get anxious.

A lot of times what these bigger kids will tell me is “I'm afraid of needles”. To which I reply, “Good. Please stay that way. It's a really great way to be. And, I have to give you this shot right now”. And then sometimes the parent will say something like, “don’t cry. You need to be brave”. To which I reply, “you're allowed to cry and be brave because being brave doesn't mean, “oh, this is totally fine” (because guess what? That doesn't require bravery. If it's totally fine)”. Being brave means that you say “this sucks” and “I’m going to do it anyway” because that's what needs to be done. I try to tell my own big kids this, and I'm also learning that there's a maturity factor there too that might be required. By maturity probably more accurate description would be life experience.

It's really more about understanding that sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do. We don't have to like them. It seems to help if we understand why we're doing them, but showing up and actually following through with them is the biggest bravery part. That could be getting a shot because you're sick and you want to help your body heal.

That could be living through spring in northeast Tennessee mountains. It could mean that you show up for a job and remind yourself that you love what you do, but that no job is perfect. Or graduating from college and being honest that it’s hard to get excited for the next step, even though that's what you've been working for for years because you're sad that this one's over.

It can mean loving that you're a parent, and then having days that are just so hard that you wonder how you're going to put one foot in front of the other and open your mouth to say the right thing again. I guess you could say I'm a really big fan of the “and” life. Which reminds me, I need to go to the store later to get more allergy medicine and a really big bunch of tulips.

Thanks for joining us. I hope you allow yourself to feel the things today and then have the courage to ask, “But what if it looks like this?”

Go forth and show up for life my friends. Someone is just waiting for you.