Welcome to This Is Me Thursdays! To read other posts in this series, click here. If you want to be involved, please email me for more details! Today, learn more about Sarah Eidsmoe, someone I met at work several years ago who became one of my really good friends!
Sarah is such a beautiful person both inside and out. We’ve both been on spiritual and personal development journeys for the last few years, and it’s been fun to share recommendations of books, podcasts, etc. with each other. She loves music as much as I do, and “Return Of The Mack” is totally her favorite party jam. She even rapped “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice at my wedding reception! Gotta love a friend like that, am I right? I really respect and appreciate her whole demeanor and who she is as a person, and I know you will as well.
This Is Me: Sarah Eidsmoe
Share a little about yourself and what you’re up to these days.
I am a 30-year-old single mother that has been blessed with a beautifully sensitive 4-year-old girl. I struggle with codependency and self-worth issues and have been doing some serious self-reflection over the past 3 years. I grew up trying my hardest to fit in to a mold of what I thought others expected of me. This continued throughout my early adult life and manifested into an extreme spiritual crisis after experiencing postpartum depression. My codependency had me looking to others to fulfill my needs and create happiness in my life. This constant striving led me to make choices that ended up crumbling my marriage into a divorce.
This was 3 years ago.
Since then, I’ve been digging deep into my issues to find meaning and to find inner peace.
What does life purpose mean to you? Does it really exist for you/all of us, or is it just some pipe dream?
I believe our life purpose is to awaken a little more with each generation. It is our duty to work within ourselves to bring about change in the world and lift the collective consciousness to a more enlightened space. This will mean different things to different people depending on their circumstances. I believe in my own life I’ve had to really look at my conditioning through childhood to adulthood and relearn many aspects of myself that I took as truth in the past. By reflecting on this, I continue to work on unlearning these limited beliefs and start reconnecting to my true nature.
What motivates and inspires you in your life?
I am absolutely drawn to helping others. Although I’ve realized that I suffer from codependency and often forget to take care of myself in the efforts of helping others, I know that within all of us is the desire to help others. I am motivated by self-growth and seeing my progress being reflected in the world around me. I am inspired by those who share their struggles and uplift people through their stories of change and growth.
Is what you do now what you always imagined doing? Why or why not, and what have you learned because of that?
No—I’m definitely not where I “thought” I would be. However, life is a journey and the more I hold on to where I hoped I would be, the more I struggle with accepting where I am. Suffering comes from the discrepancy of where you are and where you wish you’d be. If you are perpetually trying to be elsewhere than where you are, you forget to enjoy the stage you’re in.
What’s something you desperately want other people to know or realize that may help them in their lives?
Our mind is a powerful thing. Everything stems from the mind. We all have the ability to investigate our thought patterns and find the root causes behind some of our sufferings.
How do you define belonging and connection, and how have your definitions changed over time?
We all have a sense of “longing to belong”. When get there through connection. I define it as the ability to be in your true nature of loving awareness. When we are in that place of love, our hearts open and we connect to the world around us. When we connect, we fulfill our belonging.
What’s something you make sure to do every day/week/month that helps you practice self-care and self-love?
I’ve been terrible as of late, but when I’m at my best, I’m usually meditating through doing art of some kind. I also read a lot about Buddhism and Non-dualism and listen to a lot of podcasts on these topics. These help me to remember my true nature and not get lost in the egoic trances that can come with our modern society.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
We are all looking for some sort of happiness. Many of us seek it through material means or through status. I’ve come to know that the more I chase those things, the less happy I feel. There always seems to be something missing. I believe it is because those things are fleeting and not eternal.
Love. Love is eternal. Seek love within yourselves and follow your inner bliss.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Eidsmoe
