Licking My Wounds: The Holidays, Childhood Wounds, and why God’s unconditional love is the healing balm.

The holiday season is bumpy and heartbreaking. This time of year is an annual trigger, like a loaded gun, busting open the same ouchy, boo-boos that just do not seem to close.

The gift of childhood is irreplaceable. It is once in a lifetime and crucial. Vague but incredibly powerful memories of our parents, our number 1 and 2 superheros, sometimes villains, re-surface: all they did to raise us up and all they did to put us down.

I can be an absolute expert at avoidance, but because I love myself, it is my destiny that I face unresolved wounds head on. So recently, I’ve begun to see a therapist.

Ashley-kins, my inner-child, could have benefited greatly from a lot of guidance. As a young girl, as a teen, and now, as a young woman. The ouchy, boo-boo sits in the places I was never seen, never nurtured, never developed; the gifts and talents that were never spotted, never applauded, never invested in; the attention I needed but did not receive; the celebration and community I craved, but just did not have.

Ashley-kins, my grown-woman self, still needs time to see herself and develop herself; to applaud herself and validate herself. She needs a lot of attention, a lot of guidance; she needs to be spoiled and corrected, she needs to be acknowledged and appreciated.

2026 is dedicated to increased self-discovery, mentorship, and giving Ashley-kins all she needed and continues to need.

Lastly, my greatest lesson this year is that Jesus, who is God, is the only. He is all. He is everything. He is my healing balm when I am weepy, when I am lonely, when I am empty. Jesus is all that I need.

AMEN AND AMEN.

(me, contemplating existence)