#YouAreEnough30days Blog Challenge: Day 3

Day 3: Also in Chapter One, I talk about how sometimes it takes losing yourself to find yourself. Share a time you felt lost, and how you got “found.”

November 3, 2018: My first serious relationship (which led to marriage) was a season in which I lost sight of who Laura Ann Hughes was. At that time, I went by my married name, but I still lost sight of me. I was so rapt up in someone that I forgot about what I enjoyed, what I wanted out of life, what I wanted for my future, and just about everything else. I was more focused on making my husband happy that I neglected myself in the process. I cannot recall the day when I first lost myself because the process was gradual. While we were dating (before getting engaged), I neglected much needed sleep because he worked late hours and often dropped by my apartment unannounced because he wanted to see me. Usually, we already saw each other earlier in the day so why did he need to see me again and almost close to midnight? At the young age I was (22), I did not set boundaries such as tell him that I don’t accept late night visits because I need my sleep. I was more afraid of upsetting him and any time I tried to tell him to leave as politely as I could, sometimes he got mad and left in a huff. I also neglected me time because he thought ALL of MY free time should be spent with him. I lost all sense of a routine such as regular exercise and just time to myself because I believed if I were to lose this relationship I would never find anyone else. For crying out loud, I was only in my early twenties!

It took several years for me to get found. When I left my husband in March 2002, I found God again and myself. Such an awesome process! I guess 15 years of singleness gave me lots of time to learn about who I was again, but I was not the same Laura that I was during my first marriage. I have evolved and so has my relationship with the Lord. I won’t disclose much more here because I want to share it in my third book (which I have been working on since this fall).