Life Has Been Asking Different Things of Me

Navigating change, healing, work, family, and the dreams I’m still learning to hold.

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Life Has Been Asking Different Things of Me

It feels good to be sitting down to write again.

I’ve genuinely missed it these past few weeks. Writing has become one of the ways I make sense of life, and stepping away from it has felt a little like losing touch with an old friend. But sometimes life has a way of asking us to be fully present, and that’s exactly what this season has been asking of me.

Since starting my new job, my body has been adjusting to a completely different routine. Between learning new responsibilities, getting used to the physical demands, trying to catch up on sleep, navigating everything happening at home, and simply keeping up with the beautiful chaos of summer with the kids, life has been wonderfully full and, if I’m being honest, a little overwhelming at times.

We just got back from a four-day camping trip together; we celebrated the 4th this weekend, and while there were plenty of moments that left me exhausted, there were just as many that reminded me how quickly these seasons of life pass. The laughter, campfires, late nights, and simple moments together are memories I’ll always treasure, even if they leave me feeling like I need a vacation afterward.

As life has slowed my writing, it certainly hasn’t slowed my thinking. In many ways, I’ve been doing more reflecting than ever. This season has been stretching me in ways I didn’t expect, challenging me to rethink balance, purpose, relationships, and what it really means to build a life that feels meaningful.

So today, I simply wanted to sit down with you, catch you up on where life has been taking me, and share some of the thoughts that have been growing in my heart these past several weeks.

The New Job

If you’ve been following my journey for a while, you probably know that returning to work for someone else wasn’t part of the plan.

Before my back injury, I spent eighteen years working in healthcare. I loved caring for people, but after everything that happened, the injury, the uncertainty, and having my entire life turned upside down, I promised myself I would do everything I could to build a life where I didn’t have to depend on another employer again.

That promise became Hellbloom Haven.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve poured countless hours into learning new skills, writing books, building my website, creating products, and trying to turn a dream into something sustainable. But as many small business owners know, passion doesn’t automatically pay the bills.

While I’m incredibly grateful to be living with my ex while I rebuild my life, I also need to start making money, start planning on moving out and start investing back into my business. Hellbloom Haven is growing, but it’s still in that stage where it needs more poured into it than it can give back.

So I did something I never thought I’d do.

I applied for a part-time evening position at a local hardware store.

I’ll admit, I went into it with mixed emotions. Part of me worried it would feel like taking a step backward, or that I would reinjure my back. Another part worried that accepting a job somehow meant I wasn’t believing in my dream enough.

Instead, I found something I wasn’t expecting.

I found a new challenge.

My body has definitely reminded me that it’s adjusting. I’m sore most days, I’m learning muscles I forgot I had, and there are nights when I crawl into bed completely exhausted. But there’s also something deeply satisfying about learning an entirely new skill set and feeling my body get stronger. Every shift teaches me something different, and I genuinely enjoy solving problems and helping customers find what they need. Tonight I work my first solo shift so we will see how that goes lol.

One thing this job has reminded me is that helping people has never been tied to a specific career. Whether I was caring for residents in healthcare, creating resources through Hellbloom Haven, or helping someone figure out the right part for a plumbing project, the heart behind it is still the same.

Working evenings has been another unexpected blessing. I still get to spend my mornings and afternoons with my youngest daughter while she’s home for the summer, catch up with my older kids, and continue working on Hellbloom Haven whenever I can, and if I’m being completely honest…having a paycheck again has taken away some of the financial stress and made it possible to enjoy little things like taking the kids camping or saying yes to experiences we might have otherwise had to pass up.

I’m beginning to realize that this job isn’t taking me away from my dream.

It’s helping me build it.

Finding a New Rhythm

One thing I didn’t fully anticipate was just how much this new season would require me to rethink my time.

For the past couple of years, my schedule has revolved around building Hellbloom Haven. If inspiration struck at ten in the morning, I could sit down and write. If I wanted to spend an afternoon designing a new product or working on my website, I could. My time wasn’t always abundant, but it was flexible.

Now my days look very different.

Working evenings has been a wonderful fit for our family because it still allows me to spend my mornings and afternoons with my youngest daughter while she’s home for the summer. We’ve been squeezing in library trips, errands, doctor appointments, time together, and all of the little things that make up everyday life before I head to work each evening.

The weekend before the Fourth of July, we packed up and spent four days camping together. It was busy, chaotic, messy, and everything a family camping trip is supposed to be. We made memories, laughed a lot, came home with more laundry than I thought was humanly possible, and jumped right back into everyday life.

Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I’ve been trying to figure out where my business fits.

I still have ideas filling notebooks. I still wake up excited about articles I want to write, books I want to publish, and projects I want to create. The passion hasn’t disappeared.

What has changed is the number of hours in the day and the level of exhaustion and pain I’m dealing with on top of everything else. My body is adjusting to physical movement that it has sorely lacked over the last two or three years since the injury, and I’m experiencing soreness as a result.

There are moments when I catch myself feeling frustrated because I can’t move my business forward as quickly as I want to. Then I remind myself that I’m not standing still.

Right now, I’m investing in my future in more ways than one. I’m earning money to help support my family and grow my business, I’m making memories with my kids while they’re still young enough to want me around, and I’m learning that not every season is meant to be lived at full speed.

Maybe this season isn’t asking me to do everything.

Maybe it’s simply asking me to be fully present in whatever I’m doing at the moment.

Living in the In-Between

One of the most complicated parts of this season has been rebuilding my life while living with my ex-husband.

When my back injury happened, it didn’t just affect my ability to work. It affected nearly every part of my life. I wasn’t only trying to heal physically, I was trying to rebuild financially, emotionally, and figure out who I was after everything I’d worked so hard to build came crashing down. Moving back in together was never part of the plan. It was simply the best decision for our family at the time.

There have been so many unexpected gifts in that decision. I’ve been able to spend more time with my children than I ever imagined I would have otherwise. My youngest gets to grow up with both of her parents actively involved in her everyday life. I’ve had the time and space to heal from my injury, build Hellbloom Haven, and begin putting the pieces of my life back together.

And perhaps most importantly, I’ve had the support of someone who, despite everything we’ve been through, is still one of my biggest supporters and one of my best friends. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

People often think relationships fit neatly into boxes. You’re either together or you’re not. You either love someone or you don’t. Real life rarely works that way.

When you spend fifteen years building a life with someone, raising children together, and sharing so many memories, those feelings don’t simply disappear because your relationship changes.

There is still love. Not necessarily the kind of love that means two people belong together, but the kind that comes from years of shared experiences, raising children together, and genuinely wanting the other person to succeed. At the same time, there’s another reality I’ve been quietly trying to navigate.

How do you begin opening your heart to the possibility of someone new when you’re still living under the same roof as the person you once imagined spending your life with?

How do you explain that to someone else? How do you move forward while you’re still rebuilding the foundation beneath your own feet? I don’t have the answers yet.

What I do know is that healing doesn’t always happen in a straight line, and rebuilding a life rarely looks the way we imagine it will. For now, I’m choosing to give myself grace.

I’m choosing to appreciate the support I’ve been given, continue working toward the life I hope to build, and trust that when the time is right, the next chapter will unfold exactly as it’s meant to.

Looking Ahead

Over the years, one piece of advice I’ve found myself sharing with people time and time again is this: Sometimes you have to stop fighting the current. Sometimes you simply have to float.

That doesn’t mean giving up. It doesn’t mean becoming passive or abandoning your dreams. It simply means trusting that not every bend in the river needs to be resisted. Sometimes life knows where it’s taking you long before you do.

As I look back over the past few years, I can honestly say that none of this unfolded the way I imagined it would. My back injury wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was rebuilding my life, moving back in with my ex-husband, starting over, or taking a job at a hardware store. Yet, every one of those experiences has introduced me to people I never would have met, taught me lessons I couldn’t have learned any other way, and opened doors I never knew existed.

So, for now, I’m choosing to trust the river. I’m going to keep writing. I’ll continue working on my Life Through Poetry book, and I’m excited to start illustrating my own children’s books. Hellbloom Haven is still very much alive, even if I’m giving it a little more room to breathe until life settles into a steadier rhythm after summer.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy this season for what it is. I’m going to keep making memories with my family, continue meeting new people through work, stay open to new friendships and unexpected opportunities, and trust that my life is unfolding exactly as it’s meant to.

Maybe that’s what faith really looks like. Not knowing exactly where the river leads, but believing it’s okay to enjoy the journey anyway.

Until Next Time

If you’ve made it this far, thank you.

I realize these kinds of articles are a little different from what I normally write. They’re less about offering advice and more about simply sharing a little piece of my life. I also know that not everyone is interested in reading someone’s personal updates, and that’s perfectly okay.

But if you are one of the people who took a few minutes out of your day to sit with me, catch up, and walk through this alongside me, I want you to know how much I appreciate it.

Writing has always been one of the ways I make sense of the world, and sometimes the most meaningful thing we can do is simply tell our stories. Not because we have all the answers, but because our experiences have a way of reminding each other that none of us are walking through life alone.

Wherever you are in your own journey, I hope you’re able to find moments of peace in the middle of the chaos, reasons to laugh even on the hard days, and the courage to trust your own path, even when it looks different than you expected.

Thank you for being here.

I’m wishing you all the very best today, and in all the days ahead.

Until next time,

Wendi

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Continue the Journey

If you’re looking for a little extra encouragement, I’d love to invite you to visit Hellbloom Haven.

Inside, you’ll find daily reflections, interactive self-discovery tools, grounding exercises, trauma education, creative resources, and a growing collection of articles designed to support healing, personal growth, and living with intention.

Whether you’re navigating a difficult season, searching for hope, or simply looking for a quiet place to pause and reflect, I hope you’ll find something there that speaks to you.

Visit www.hellbloomhaven.com whenever you’re ready. I’d love to have you there.