personal growth

Surfing the Weight: How to Hold Steady When You’re Holding It All

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

There comes a time when you’re asked to carry more than usual—when your strength is not an option but a necessity. You’re the anchor, the support beam, the space-holder. And in the quiet of that responsibility, your own voice feels muffled. You’re asked to say less, allow more, and hold steady while someone you love fights a battle that isn’t yours to fix.

But where do you go with the rising tide inside you?

When your own emotions have no safe landing, when your celebrations are whispered and your struggles swallowed, when you’re waiting and then waiting again… it’s easy to feel invisible. Unacknowledged. Alone.

You may feel like a stranger in your own environment—holding back tears while offering smiles, suppressing your ache to be present for theirs. It can feel like every part of you is being asked to expand, stretch, and bend without breaking… and still be okay.

But what if okay isn’t the goal?

What if, instead, it’s about honoring the weight you’re carrying?

Because there will be times when you’re holding more than others. In family, in work, in faith, in love. Life isn’t always balanced. But within the imbalance, there’s an invitation—a calling—to learn how to ride the wave.

Waves crash. They rise and fall. They come fast, or they move slow. Sometimes, they catch you off guard. Other times, you see them coming and brace. But one thing is certain: making decisions while you’re inside the wave is never where clarity lives.

Clarity comes after—in the stillness, in the center, in the in-between.

The high and the low are not your measuring sticks. They are motion. They are movement. They are meant to be surfed, not fought. And certainly not judged.

So, what can you do when you’re in the thick of it?

You take care of you in the most radical ways possible.

You ground.

You journal.

You walk.

You cry.

You move your body.

You call a friend.

You take five minutes of silence in the middle of chaos and breathe like it’s your only job.

You whisper to yourself, “Just surf this one… don’t try to fix the ocean.”

The wave doesn’t disappear because you ignore it. It disappears when it passes—on its own time. Your job isn’t to stop it. Your job is to ride it with as much grace as you can, and when you fall under, trust that the spin may just toss you right onto your feet again.

You don’t need to always be efficient, or perfect, or endlessly strong.

You just need to be human.

And brave.

And willing to wait for clarity, even when the wait feels unbearable.

Let the wave carry you to it.

Surf

Sometimes,

the strongest thing you can do

is not hold it all together—

but let it rise.

Let the ache have space,

let the silence breathe,

let the wave wash through

without the need to speak.

You are not failing

because you’re tired.

You are not weak

because your soul is soft.

Hold space for your own becoming

as you hold others in their storm.

Let the tide return you

to your own shoreline.

You are not lost—

you’re surfing.

–Kerri Elizabeth–

Stay True

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Stay soft
even when the world feels hard.
Stay true
even when no one sees you.

Let them forget—
you remember.
Let them gather—
you root.

You were never made to vanish.
You were made to rise
from the quiet.
To love from the ache.
To see clearly
without needing to be seen.

Let presence be your protest.
Let peace be your answer.
And let love, real love,
begin with how you hold yourself
when no one else does.

-Kerri-Elizabeth-

The Antidote Is Within

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

There’s a kind of expansion that doesn’t look like more doing, more chasing, or more becoming.

It looks like shedding.

Softening.

Listening to what’s already been whispering inside for years.

People ask all the time—

What do you take?

What do you eat?

What do you think about this herb or that cleanse?

But the deeper truth is this:

The best health advice I can ever offer

Is to turn down the noise

And ask yourself…

How do you feel?

Are you rested or are you rushing on borrowed energy?

Do you move your body because it brings you life,

Or because you’re trying to fix what was never broken?

Do you fall into sleep like a prayer

or collapse into it like a last resort?

How much of your day is spent

in silence,

in breath,

in the untangling of thought from truth?

Do you scrub your skin like punishment

or like ceremony—

exfoliating the layers not just of yesterday’s dust,

but of the weight you’ve carried too long?

We hold the antidote inside.

Not in a bottle,

Not in someone else’s method or miracle,

But in our ability to return

to presence,

to rhythm,

to the quiet knowing we’ve always had.

There’s a lot out there telling us how to feel better,

how to do more,

how to chase a version of beauty that was never our own.

But what if we’re not meant to do more?

What if we’re meant to realign where we give our effort—

To stop over-performing in some areas

and under-nourishing others?

What if your wholeness doesn’t need to be earned,

only remembered?

We are not trends.

We are not opinions.

We are not before-and-after stories.

We are stories still being told,

and no one else gets to hold the pen.

Expansion is personal.

It begins with small choices that honor what’s real:

a breath,

a stretch,

a kind word to the mirror,

a walk without your phone,

a plate of vibrant food grown in soil, not manufactured in labs.

Play your instrument.

Take the trip.

Paint what you see in your dreams.

But do it because something inside you calls you forward—

not because an algorithm says you should.

You don’t need to change who you are.

You just need to come back to yourself.

And from there,

everything expands.

-Kerri-Elizabeth-

What If We Had No Mirrors? A Reflection on Aging, Beauty, and Living Naturally

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Yesterday, I saw myself in a way I hadn’t before. It was a sunny afternoon, and I was with my daughter—nearly 40 now, though I could still feel myself walking in her age. We were at a sprawling plant nursery, checking out with our treasures of green, when I looked up and caught a glimpse in a mirror near the counter.

There I was—me. But not the me I feel inside. Instead, a version touched by time, by sun, by the softness that aging brings. I stood there for a moment, surprised. Not saddened. Not shamed. Just… aware.

What If We Had No Mirrors?

It hit me: I’m almost 60. But I don’t believe in “aging” in the way society speaks of it. I believe in evolving. In learning. In living closer to the earth. I don’t wear makeup—not because I’m against it, but because I love the way nature feels on my skin. I love wind-swept hair, the kiss of sunshine, and the medicine of plants.

What would life be like if we had no mirrors?

If our reflection only came from rippling water, or from the way someone’s eyes lit up when we smiled? If we were reflected only by the kindness we gave, the presence we offered, and the energy we carried?

Would we worry so much about wrinkles or wild strands of hair? Would we still feel the need to cover, conceal, or enhance? Or would we simply be—unfiltered, untamed, and entirely enough?

Aging as Evolution, Not Decline

That moment reminded me: I want my reflection to be a thank you, not a judgment.

A recognition of how far I’ve come, of how deeply I’ve felt, and of how naturally I choose to live.

Mirrorless

Let the water be my mirror

Let the wind paint lines of grace

Let the sun write stories on my skin

And time slow down its pace

Let reflection come in ripples

Not in glass with harsh demands

Let me be revealed by presence

And not by culture’s hands

I’ll wear the earth with reverence

Let my wildness show through

For beauty is in living

And in living, I am true.

~ Kerri Elizabeth ~

Transformation

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Will you transform when the opportunity presents itself ready.

Transformation


A significant change

Within another significant change

Takes flight


To not get stuck in a rigid way or routine that stops a flow of growth


Reaching outside the norm

Taking flight

When all you want to do is hold tight


To not be afraid but be curious


It happens here with a brush and some paint


While tears collide with a fixed way


Assurance


It’s time


Even a brush and paint can grow wings


Transformation made its way in

~Kerri Elizabeth~

Newest addition in my collection of Transformation!

For further inquiries to purchase a custom painting, just send a message.

Reflection relies on truth

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Reflection shows up to a varied response, but never a varied truth.

Even when a reflection invites varied responses

Truth is it’s constant rythym

Reflective responses vary by emotion and circumstance

Changing like the rivers current

Truth that the rivers current moves

That the sun rises and sets

That is a truth in constant rhythm

Even in a blur of the morning dew

Or a beautiful evening rain

The truth that is constant brings the change

Change although constant relays upon the truth

~Kerri-Elizabeth~

Crafting tomorrow with the hands of today

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Perseverance will offer you a choice and it doesn’t travel alone.

Leaning into perseverance and whispering ,”I’m here.”

Perseverance replying, “yes?”

My response, “Must there be more, can’t you read my mind?”

“Must I need clarity to explain why I’m whispering?”

“Dear whisperer, I may know exactly why you are whispering, but if you are interested in my services you must speak with clarity.”

“Clarity I say,”with an exhausting defensive stance.

Perseverance responds back, “ Dear whisperer, when you are ready to speak with clarity and request your desires, I will meet with you to create a plan of action, until then , my family and I have a full schedule.”

“Perseverance, are you a small family business?”

Perseverance responds, “ oh no , we are a world wide organization known for tiring out our clients, pushing them to their knees, financial challenging them, among an array of different types of battles we will toss your way to test your strength and endurance.”

Dear whisperer, “Only the ones that are willing to experience , sleepless nights, agitation, frustration, pain and vulnerability among emotions you haven’t even experienced yet, you must face your deepest truths, stand in the hottest and coldest temperatures and don’t shrink back.”

Dear whisperer, “when you request my services my company will test every limit you have and it will be up to you if you stay on board with us to get the results you’re looking for.”

Perseverance, “ your services sound like a war zone of chaos and destruction, I’d be crazy to invest in those requirements.”

Dear whisperer, “feel free to continue on with our referral to hope, desire, love, laughter, smiles and a positive attitude, they run together and their charges although similar still require our services for longevity.”

Perseverance, “what other options do you suggest so I can process this decision?”

Dear Whisperer, “ have you forgotten your continued investments into our company over your lifetime, the investment has earned you interest and are documented for your future records, you are welcome to use those investments as a down payment.”

Dear Perseverance, I respond with a bit of a defensive wise cracking voice and posture.

“I have investments I didn’t even make?”

“How’s that possible, who made those?”

“It wasn’t me, I’d never make an investment into such a chaotic plan.”

“Whispering”, perseverance answers, you’re investing right now, it’s in arguing rather than action, maybe that’s the statement you didn’t read.”

“That one does not yield high returns, but it does have persevering effects, check your statements for more details.”

“The statements will refer you carefully to your own documented evidence in your journals.”

“You do have them , right?”

~Kerri Elizabeth~

Surrender Within

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

It takes a surrendering within to see your truest version in depth.

Adventure the unveiling of vulnerable truth

Surrendering within a depth of trust

A depth that has a voice, a quiet whisper and often a jolting defense

Reflecting within a depth of truth requires a willingness to feel uncomfortable

A desire to create space where new insights reveal clarity

Depth is not given, it is earned

It is not learned it is experienced

The very essence of depth is only seen by few

It requires an ability to surrender within

Love it , or not

Shaking the inner walls and rattling the windows both consciously and unconsciously

Allowing the pressure to transform

YOU

Not hold you hostage

~Kerri-Elizabeth~