2015 was a good year

I think the highlight of my year is that I have started the preliminary work required  is that I’m going back to school next year to get my Master’s degree.

This is exciting, and I am thankful to God for having a roomie who has been the impetus to me finally moving in this direction. You see, what I want to do in life requires a few more 8 x 11 pieces of paper to signify that: 1. I can be paid more 2. I know more 3. I can handle more 4. I have the qualifications to counsel others. This is how it’s done and so I shall as well.

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Another highlight to my year was another year spent counter-protesting the protesters at Chicago Pride, heck I ran into Jesus 🙂

I am proud to be an ally, and I’m proud of the progress made in our country when it comes to marriage equality. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, but I know God will meet me where I am at.

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Another highlight of my year was spending time with my family and rekindling some relationships with certain family members. While I am taking a break from some of my family members, I am more than confident that I’m getting to where I need to be to engage them healthily and holistically.

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Another highlight of my year was crossing the 1 year mark with my company. I love what I do, and yes some weeks the 40 I put in feels like 80, but I take it all in stride and make the most of it. Change is gradual, and sometimes it seems non-existent, but I keep striving and pushing to make things better for my students.

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I am looking forward to 2016, it will be the best one yet! 🙂

~Nathanael~

Christmas Holidazed and Confused

As we near Christmas, I realize more and more that I dislike the holiday. Now Advent Sundays, the weeks leading up to Christmas are some of my favorite weeks within the church calendar, but I have a certain disdain for Christmas.

A part of me dwells on Christmases past; some years were good, spent with individuals who weren’t part of my immediate family, and some years it was lonely and depressing, Christmas spirit was extinct in those years. There’s also the part of me that dwells on Christmas present, and while I am content with my life I still want more out of it (why I’m going back to school among other things).

I can’t pinpoint it on these alone, there’s the part of me that abhors the commercialism of it all. Now don’t get me wrong, I love giving gifts (more than receiving them) and watching the “wow” in their eyes, but when the reasons for the Christmas holiday are misaligned, I’m prone to seethe a bit.
When it comes to gifts and receiving, I might / probably come across as ungrateful, but at this time in my life I would much rather the money used to purchase things for me go to a charity or organization of my choosing rather than some new bauble to entertain me for a short while.

I do what I can not to dwell on the haves and have-nots in my life, and when it comes to Christmas it isn’t any different. I am still pushing forward to make a better life for myself, hoping and desiring and working for Christmases to come when I’m not so dazed and confused by it all, rather I choose (because everything that is comes from choice) to transcend the bullshit and learn to accept Christmases in stride. Taking it all in and eating the meat and spitting out the bones.

This Christmas will be a meaningful one after all! 🙂

Onward and upward,
Nathanael