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I think my purpose is to be OK with not having a
purpose while never giving up on searching for it. I search
for it in the joys, the triumphs, the days you get the kids
to school not just on time but early. I search for it in the
career changes, the divorce, the loss, the uprooting, the
kids, the dating, the constant figuring it all out.
Life only keeps coming. Whether wonderful or wild, it
keeps showing up. It will only keep throwing us for a loop.
Connection and Comfort
Along with the constant ups and downs are the God
winks. The little nudges from the universe that sharing
and caring and talking and not hiding my feelings but
letting them be, sitting with them and then learning
from them as I move forward is what it’s all about. The
mountains behind me I have climbed so that I can help
someone facing a similar mountain. I have felt pain
so that I can relate to others’ pain and reassure them
through it. I have accomplished achievements so that
I can show someone else that yes, a single mom in her
40s who had barely ever taken the trash out can run
a household and keep everyone under her roof alive
and happy.
I am well aware I am not curing any diseases or solving
the world’s problems. I am but one semi-silly woman-child
with lash extensions and a propensity for sparkles and
shoes living one day at a time. I happened to have my own
TV show for a few years, and it connected me with a lot of
people and gave me a public platform to use. And that’s
the key: how I use it.
I am able to highlight businesses and people and
organizations and places that help others. I want you to
know what to expect when you have something done,
when you dine somewhere, when you spend your hard-
earned money on something. I want you to know that
the people behind the business are kind, work hard and
care about community, customer service and making
people feel better even if just a few moments or hours.
And I want you to know why I go, buy or do these
things. To feel better. To look better. To be better.
My insecurities have turned out to be my strengths.
By sharing what makes me nervous or anxious or sad or
weird, so many of you have shared the same with me.
Knowing we are all in it together is what connects us
and makes me feel better and keeps me striving to keep
purpose at the forefront of all I do. For myself. For my
daughters. For those who might look to me as a source
of comfort or inspiration or just as someone to relate to
on some level.
There is purpose in the struggle. There is purpose in
the celebration. There is purpose in the progress.

Keep up with Amanda’s adventures and discoveries on
her blog at adlibbinglife.com and on Instagram.

February 2018 | WATERWAYS 41