Take me as I am

* I have edited this post slightly as it was brought to my attention  It is confusing including Canadian political parties and American. Please feel free to substitute the appropriate parties for your country.*

 We live in a time where everyone wants to be accepted, to be who they really are deep down. We don't want our outward appearances to be what is judged. We want to be true to ourselves and we want that freedom for everyone. This is a time where we are fighting for gender equality, racial equality, every kind of equity you can think of. I think this is fantastic, I would love to live in a time where we accept people as people, that we are the human race and all have the same opportunities in life. We are headed in this direction, but still light years away from true equality.

The thing is we are never going to have every human on this planet agree, we will always have various points of view, and that's okay. I believe we can learn from varying POV's, but I don't agree with attacking people because they don't align with your POV. We need to learn to not get so offend by what others think, feel, support or do. We are each individual people, with individual beliefs, and that's okay.

Now at the risk of diving into the political alignment argument, here's a little something to think about. On one side we have the Liberals, equal opportunities and equality; governmental involvement in the private sphere; civil liberties; inalienable human rights; and progress. On the other side you have the Conservatives, they tend to lean more towards limited government involvement in the private sphere; free markets; traditional values; religious values; strong personal responsibility; individual liberties; and strong national defense. As of lately there has been more head butting between these two groups than I have ever noticed before. I tend to think it is because we as a society are progressing and one group finally feels heard, while the other may feel threatened. 

I have found as of recently, I personally am scared to post anything, like or comment on social media. I don't want anyone offended by what I like on face book or twitter. Recently JK Rowling was attacked for a post she "liked" on Twitter that wasn't an equality based post. Kevin Hart was removed as host of the Academy awards because over a decade ago he made a joke about LGBQT. Ellen was even under attack recently because she forgave him for his previous behavior. The thing with social media, is you can't always tell how someone intends something, or the reason behind them sharing or liking or even commenting. Some of us are very aligned where others or more open and can relate to both sides. Also people change over the years, we as people progress, grow and learn. We may have had one experience or belief 20 years ago that we no longer agree with, but that past self is still part of us. We need to accept that we change and grow, but we can't dismiss where we came from. 

I'm writing this post after some social media disagreements with friends today. It may have been my wording, or a joke I shared, but either way, they were offended by my posts. That's okay I totally accept their right. Now one thing I notice is that Conservatives get frustrated that the Liberals get "offended" by everything, they are a bunch of "Snowflakes". But let me ask you this, is getting upset or frustrated because someone is offended, aren't you in fact also offended? Just some food for thought. Yes, I am personally guilty of this. 

Now I want to be open and let you know about me. So you can take me or leave me as I am. I am not going to filter myself any longer. being able to say what I feel and think is part of my freedom, part of my social liberties and well it's just who I am. You don't have to agree, but if you know what you are getting you can take me as I am or click the unfollow button. its as simple as that. So I would like to introduce you to me, Charlotte Blackwell. 

I AM...

• a female, daughter, sister, wife and mother
• an author, lover of words
• positive and believer in the Law of Attraction
• Libra, Dragon and the element Air
• a believer of all religions. I believe we are all right, that the true religion is made up be combining all the religions.
• Caucasian and of German and English decent. 
• overweight.
• a retired nurse.
• losing my hair. 
• a former model
• lover of sweat pants
• a person that lives with an auto immune disease, chronic illness and depression. 
• an optimist
• a believer of freedom of choice for abortion (with non viable fetus).
• blessed
• a spender
• dreamer
• a LGBQT supporter, love who you love, be who you are. 
• supporter of cannabis
• smoker
• animal lover
• Fiscally conservative and socially liberal
• hater of Trudeau and Trump (and Notley).
• believer in the death penalty and harsher criminal punishments.
• a goof ball
• tired of being a people pleaser.
• a fighter
• a sexual assault survivor.
• a terrible singer
• Pro oilfield/pipeline, but I recycle and compost 

all these and so much more. I AM ME, Take me as I am.
If there is something else you what to know my beliefs on in a simple answer feel free to ask. I will answer honesty.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, be you, love you and love others for who they are.
xoxo
Charlotte

   

Where have I been?

It's been a long and exciting 4 year break I took from writing. Yes life got in the way, I lost my drive for writing, my muse. Well I'm back and I'm sorry it's been so long. I've been receiving lots of emails and messages encouraging me to write more, to come back to what I love. Well I want to start by sharing the last 4 years with you.

So much has happened in such a short time. Here's a brief break down of my life the last little while. Near the beginning of my lets call it a sabbatical, my eldest daughter at the age of 15 moved to NYC on her own to attend Joffrey Ballet school. It was a dream come true for her, and for us. We were so proud. A few months later I went to work for the local school board as a special needs learning assistant. My nursing background help immensely with this rewarding and challenging job. This is where I really lost my drive to write. Working a full time job, taking care of the other two children and the household was enough for me.

About a year into my job I began suffering some health concerns. Nothing major, but I was bedridden for several months and had surgery. Jorden was now home from NYC and finishing her senior year of high school.  She helped me so much with her younger siblings, but was still busy herself. Anyways, once healed from surgery, I returned to work. I transferred schools at the end of the school year.

Now I loved my job, I love working with kids. I just felt that I needed to do more. So being very interested in politics, I ran in the civic election, increased my volunteering and ran my ass off. It was an exciting year. Until I got sick again. During the election I became really ill. I struggled to keep up with my obligations. I basically stopped campaigning the last two weeks, when everyone else was out in full force. Now I didn't withdraw because I wanted to follow through. I did very well, but thankfully I did not win a seat on our city council. Everything happens for a reason. I really do believe that.

That brings me to the last seven months. I have left my job with the school, been trapped in bed and seeing so many doctors and tests. We still don't know exactly what is medically wrong, aside from it being some kind of autoimmune disorder. I have been learning how to live my new life. A life with chronic disease. I'm not sharing this for sympathy, because none is needed. It is just a new way of life.

So what better way to heal the mind and body than doing something you love? For several months my mother (yes even at my age she still tells me what to do) has been telling me to start writing again. Well lets just say after being the stubborn child that doesn't listen, my mom was right. The moment I picked up my computer and started writing again, I felt a sense of relief. I found myself again.

Now with all that out, I hope you will all follow along on this journey with me. Oh and start rereading The Embrace Series, because there will be a new instalment.