The Blessing of The Battle Buddy

16/11/2012 11:06

It is amazing the people out there in our families, circle of friends & communities that are fighting a battle of some sort.  Some folks share their challenges & others silently carry the battle that they are facing.  Passionately, I believe that none of us are meant to face any burden alone.  For that matter, what is a celebration on the other hand without at least one “true blue”. 

For the journey whether it be a challenge of diabetes or another of life’s challenges, there is nothing like a “battle buddy”.  What a difference these unsung heroes make to us all.  Perhaps for some folks, there is even a community of supporters along life’s journey that are there for one another.  It takes a while to build a community yet even if we have one battle buddy, it can make the difference between having an ok day or a great day…being understood & cared about.

Joyfully, I have a treasured “collection” of battle buddies.  Once I became more open with my circle, and took that step of being myself & letting folks know what would be helpful, it is like relationships became more real & rich.  It is comforting to absolutely know that there are folks that I know I could call day or night & they know the same is true of me for them.  You know what, that did not happen overnight & it took not only time, but also the choice to do 2 things:  be vulnerable to the possibility that not all folks you reach out to will be on the “battle buddy” team & secondly to ask for help from time to time.  It took a lot of years to learn how to do both of these things.  Personally, I love to serve others so having others help me felt pretty unnatural & uncomfortable.  Several friends over the years though have pointed out that friendship is a two way street.  It reminds me of a book I read about a year ago with the principle of 100-100.  It stuck with me as an awesome idea within relationships.  The principle is that within friendships that we each meet one another with 100% effort vs the stereo typed “meeting each other 50% of the way.”

Every day is a gift I feel.  The days that have the bow & the wrapping on them are the ones where I get to share a sense of “timeless” enjoyment with a “battle buddy”.  That is the gift that I gave myself this November.  For me, it is teatime “timelessness” with Dear Hearts that makes my heart smile.  Whatever you decide to treat yourself to this November & beyond, may you too feel within yourself the timeless care.  Smiles, Saundie :)