Today is my birthday. I’ve lived five-plus decades on this planet. At times, it feels like ten times that. At other times, it feels as if I’m just getting started and don’t know much at all. I have learned a lot of life lessons — some good, some bad, some I seem to have to repeat over and over again, and I still haven’t gotten them right!

One notable mention I’m addressing here has to do with what some call a trigger. For many of us, when someone says something about us that we perceive as negative, we may spend a lot of our limited time on earth fighting it, negating it, worrying if it’s true, fearful of it and its implications. I’m not immune to placing importance on what outsiders say, even if the source isn’t one I value. (That’s one of the things I’m still working on learning to navigate in this life…)

The phrase that’s recently become a trigger for me is that of being called a “lone wolf”; it’s right up there with being told to “tone it down” and being asked “who do you think you are?” (not in a positive sort of way).

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