One year later.
It’s funny as an adult that you do not think to reflect on each year as they come and go, but as a parent, it is easy to resize the importance of things that can occur in one year.
When my boys were born, I felt like that first year was survival. Most of the time, unknowing of the time and day, they are constantly changing here.
I have always found it interesting on the night of their first birthday to think back and reflect on the year. When you look at a child in their first year, you seem to understand change better.
In 365 days, a child grows astronomically. Guess what- so do adults!
But as adults, we do not take the time to reflect on ourselves. We are growing and changing just as much as the childlike version of us did that first year.
I feel like this is the first year since my dad was diagnosed that I have not been in automatic fight or flight survival mode, which, if anyone has been in that mode for a long time, you know that calmness is weird.
Last year I received an e-mail telling me that my passion and desire to help others became a business in the eyes of the state.
The e-mail was to inform me that Sabrina Johnson Advocate was real.
As a stay-at-home mom, it is still strange when people ask me what I do for a living or what kind of job I have not to be “just” a mom.
For years being just a mom was my struggle. I no longer saw myself as an individual yet a trio, like a mama duck with her following ducklings. That transition took years to come to terms with, and now I am challenged with verbalizing my new role in a way that flows naturally.
An entrepreneur, business owner, advocate, author, speaker, writer?
Who am I?
What do I do for a living?
What is my job?
This last year, I learned that the unknown is the most significant part of who I am today. The unknown is what has made me the strongest version of myself.
I look forward to what the next year holds not only for Sabrina Johnson Advocate but also for Sabrina Johnson, the individual.
If I have learned anything since my dad was diagnosed, it is to find the beauty in any moment, find the positive in the fear, and if you have passion, then you have purpose and to run with that.