Hello, again,
To all the things– writing, the internet, and you, whoever you are reading this. After a long day of life today we got home around 9:15pm and my husband went upstairs to workout in our home gym (which I had to mention because it is a room in our home we are quite proud of 😝). As he went up, I sat on the couch paralyzed with overwhelm at the thought of what to do with the next 45 minutes of life before going to bed. I immediately had so many “shoulds” in my mind at once. I “should” workout too, I “should” do more work, I “should” do more school work, I “should” clean up the house, etc. etc. I know I’m not the only person who has suffered from a bad case of the shoulds. So I as I continued sitting on the couch with nothing interesting on my phone, I realized there is one thing I can do that allows me to face the should-based paralyzation and that thing is engaging in art, especially writing. So here we are. It has been so long since I’ve written here, or written much at all, honestly, and that is clearly indicated by the fact that I haven’t even updated my blog to include my new last name. Dang.
With all these realizations I realized it would be just as good a time as any for a little reflection and life check in on this last year. So without further ado, let’s do it–
Marriage
On June 1, 2020 I was married to the love of my life, Lucas Mark Maas, and we have now celebrated one year together. I sincerely cannot believe how fast the year has gone by. I’m actually speechless when I try to think of words to describe this first year. It has been incredible and difficult and wonderful and challenging, all at once. I am so grateful for the preparation we had before getting married to help us have the resources we need to navigate marriage and the community we have that keeps us accountable to growing in the ways that matter most.
Living life especially in those first few months of COVID-world made wedding planning super fun. There’s nothing that compares to the thrill of not knowing where your wedding will be or who will be there until 2 weeks before/the day of 🙃. Not to mention changing the time of the wedding the day before, the most important people on your small guest list getting blocked from the venue due to forest fires, or having your rehearsal dinner canceled. You know? But the wedding day was beautiful. Everything was seamless and perfect and so full of love. I am so blessed.
A few months before the wedding both Luke and I were also laid off from jobs due to COVID-19. Fortunately, I had been interviewing for jobs even before COVID and was so lucky to be able to start a new position in April 2020. Luke was able to find temporary work before and after the wedding but there was a lot of uncertainty regarding our overall future in terms of finances and career at the start of our marriage. Despite the fears there was also a lot of peace during this time as we knew we were headed in the right direction. Once we were married, there was a sense of feeling grounded that gave us faith and optimism toward the unknowns. The Lord has fought valiantly for us.
In the first two months, we had opposite work schedules which was a bit difficult but we were not overly busy. This would all change very quickly. We thought we would be joining an intensive program through our church called discipleship school, but it was canceled due to COVID. During this time many things became clear to each of us about our desired career paths and vision for our new family. As it did, we became very busy very fast which forced us to learn to support each other in new ways. It was a difficult transition to go from having so much more free time together to having to be a lot more intentional about all of our various responsibilities and juggle our scheduling but it provided an incredible training ground for team work in so many ways. We learned about how to help each other deal with stress and learned how to point one another toward healthier and wiser decisions in the midst of difficulty when we feel like giving up.
Work and School
We’ve especially had to work together as Luke has worked somewhere around 8 different jobs this year (mostly due to the temp work) and has constantly shifted schedules, sometimes working as early as 4am and/or as late as 6pm. COVID has really changed the job market as many people have had to revaluate their priorities and passions. We were definitely some of those people and our lay-offs ended up becoming a blessing in disguise. For Luke he realized his passion for the construction industry and began pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management. Fortunately in our area this is an industry that is booming with opportunity and he’s looking forward to settling down in his next company while continuing to pursue school.
My career shift has been quite a whirlwind. As a registered behavior technician (RBT), I work with children with a variety of children on the Autism Spectrum, helping them to learn a variety of skills such as communication, social skills, emotional coping skills, adaptive living skills, and more as well as assisting them to managing any other behaviors that pose as barriers to their quality of life. Previous to beginning this work, I hadn’t heard of it until a friend of mine who is also in the field referred me to become an RBT as I was complaining about my previous job while we were talking on the phone. I am so glad she did!
Honestly, the work life (in any field) has been historically difficult for me as my dreams and skill-sets lend me more toward the housewife life 😬 but the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has given me an incredible home for the foreseeable future. I learn SO MUCH from the kiddos I work with and they have truly changed me for the better. Not to mention, the theory and concepts of ABA fit so well with many of my personal philosophies on holistic living and practical change. After 5 months in the field, it was clear I wanted to take things to the next level so I started earning my next degree in order to work toward becoming a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). In order to do this I will need to acquire 1500 hours of supervised fieldwork, my degree, and pass a board test. 💪
There’s so much that could be said about my work and in fact, processing that is actually one of the major reasons I felt led to write today because I realized it has become such a big part of my life and I haven’t written about it ever– not in my journals, not in poetry, not anywhere, which is so unlike me. But as bed time gets closer and this post gets longer, I’ve decided I’ll keep it minimal on talking about my work for now. One of the biggest lessons I would say I have learned through work right now is to have extreme grace for yourself and everyone around you while keeping your ultimate expectations high. Another one would be to be as flexible as possible in every situation. Things will rarely turn out exactly how you’d like them to turn out, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the opportunity for good things has been diminished.
I could write so many more sections about these topics as well as the other aspects of our lives, finances, friendships, fitness, etc. but we’ll have to see to that another day. I have some really good ideas for new things I’d like to do in this space as I’m recognizing my overall need to turn to writing to keep up with taking care of my mental and emotional health, so keep on the lookout and we’ll see what happens.
Forever and always,
Emma
lovinglifeasemma.com 