Ready, Set....and getting ready to Go

 It has been a while since my last post.

Since my last post, I’ve come to learn that I do one thing very well—maybe two.  But when I take on more than that, I start to wobble. The first thing I did was enroll in an advanced coaching certification based on applied neuroscience. The second thing I decided to do was to self-publish the manuscript that I began in 2022. Thinking that my manuscript was complete and ready to go, I was just about to discover that signing on the dotted line was one thing and entering the publishing process was quite another.  One that took most of my focus—but voila’… here we are, ending 2025.  I find myself in the final phase of publishing and about to enter the fourth and final quarter of my advanced coaching certification. 

I think 2026 will be a year to remember, not only because of completing these two projects, but because I’ll be turning 60, having been born in 1966. Yes, the numbers do add up, yet I feel like I’m finally learned how to settle into myself, as though I’ve found my rhythm.

In this blog, I’ll share a bit of what it felt like to experience ready and set, as I find myself almost at the go line—about to self-publish in early 2026.

Ready…

If you haven’t heard, I’ve always had a love for writing, for the creative process, for taking something forming internally and making it alive externally. Over the years, I’ve expressed this through writing, through drama and dance, and through speaking.

This is the first time I chosen to let my writing take the shape of a book. Until now, my words had lived in newsletters, in the development of manuals and programs, in blogs, and in passing musings. They have been useful, meaningful, but never bound.

I’ve given birth twice. The second time, I had experience to rely on, yet each birthing experience was uniquely different. I see my journey of bringing this manuscript into book form much the same way. By late October, I was ready for it to be done—ready for this to be over, excited but ready. And yet, just like an expectant mother that is nearing her baby’s arrival, my readiness didn’t determine the timing. 

Ready also meant that I needed to title my story.  Believe me when I say that I have traversed many story lines to finally settle on what felt most authentic to me.  Choosing to self-publish meant taking on far more decision-making than I ever imagined—by an order of magnitude.  In the beginning I had titled my writing ‘Having the Words’ and quickly came to find that in the publishing world using those words as the title of my book would result in it being lost in a sea of overused language; just google those book title words.  I had to find different words to describe the journey I wrote about.  My journey through prophecy, trauma bonding to finding and reclaiming my voice and hence my narrative.

The game of word scrabble began, I met with Megan, the CEO of TSPA on zoom, and together we put together word ideas that might fit and become the title of my book. 

In the end it turned out that it wouldn’t be a word puzzle after all but a short video clip of a representation of a trauma bond. 

In the clip, the dominate in the representation, a male, would grab the shoulders of the female and shake her violently and then grab her to him and passionately kiss her only to then push her at arm’s length and shark her again, repeat, repeat and repeat.  Off balance, shaken, hair completely tussled, it hit me, I felt like this woman, not in a romantic relationship per say but in my experience in the systems I had been caught up in where my sense of self disintegrated and my world became convoluted.  Yes, I resonated with this clip and the woman in it, but trauma bond didn’t fully describe what I had written about. 

My story was also about my ties to prophecy, and how that relationship impacted my life, and how vulnerability affected the decisions I would make.  My story was also about doing all the work necessary to unravel those threads in my life.  This is where reclaiming my narrative came from, and that my reader, is where my sub line meets the title of my book. 

Set…

Velcro Kisses: Prophecy, Trauma Bonds & Reclaiming Narrative.

Velcro came to me as I thought about what these attachments felt like and how I could describe the hold they had in my life.  Velcro is a hook-and-loop fastening system. As in any story there is never one side: the hook side is designed to catch and hold and the loop side that is made of something softer, it meant to be flexible and resilient so it can be easily hooked to.  This speaks to the bonding part of my story that hooked me to people, systems and groups.  But it’s also those kisses, just like a passionate kiss it sealed the attachment.  My heart and mind were captivated beyond the physical realm.

“This is where I find myself—at this time in life, in this place—saying to myself: Ready, set… and getting ready to go!” I hope that you will join me as I continue to share about my experience both from within the story, and from behind my pen as I continue to share my journey and follow the threads. 

Here's to Go in 2026!