Fits and Giggles

I think I've made it clear, to those few gems that read the writings of Abby C Ashton, that my strength in expressing my gratitude and feelings, come through the pushing of the letters on a keyboard, vs being able to express the same clarity and expressions through my mouth, and for many this is a blessing (you're all welcome)  But jokes aside, this blog post, is a post that I hold close to my heart, and I hope I am able to do it and her justice. Before I get into this piece, I just want to recognize the blessings I have been given purely based on the family I was born into. I truly feel, any struggle I have been able to tackle and rise above from, is because and in all honesty only because I have such a strong support system from my family. I am fully aware that this blessing I have, isn't one that everyone is able to express gratitude and genuine love for, and that in itself is something I will never take for granted.  As mentioned in my beginning statement, there really ...

  Whenever I have a trying day, week, weeks, I have become aware that the struggle I am going through, the days where I don’t feel like smiling, working, commuting, communicating, the days that are my worst days, some how are there, helping me, reminding me, and in small bits and pieces showing me spurts of insight, that leads to small growth, that is sparkle of hope, at the end of the mess. Getting through the exhaustion, trekking through the tears, the anxiety, and the fog, is one thing that I can admit, I am not the best at, but it is something I am trying to understand and recognize, instead of doing the everything is alright notion, that everyone seems to be walking around with, because honestly everything is not alright, and I’m going to blog the f out of it. A struggle I’ve had, the minute I stepped out of my beloved education cycle of life, was working within a male dominated space. I’ve been undermined, belittled, disrespected, talked-over, have had my physical appeara...

I want to preface you as a reader, on what you are about to read. I want to emphasize that this is not a sugar coated piece , this isn’t an article that will leave you feeling comfortable, it is an article that will leave you grasping for air, it will leave you dumb founded, and uncertain of any certainty you ever had. The stories from the two woman  below, are people that I have been blessed to have in my life.  They have taken the time , and put aside the intense and unrelenting pain they are going through, to voice their stories,  portraying what they as black woman have dealt with, with brutal honesty, and only the purest intentions. Their stories are painful, their words disheartening, but what is most concerning is that these are not fictional stories, these are their lives I called, they talked, and I listened. This is what I heard. Paris I’m trying to think of how to express this to you, when its so normalized for me , its hard for me to tak...

I have always used this platform to share what is going on in my head, I've used it as a way to invite others into my world, to share memories, faults, successes, failures, and to emphasize and prioritize the significance of publicizing my love for those I care about. I've used it to help get me through heartaches, I've used it to try and find some clarity, I've used it to provide humor and I've used it to try and provide insight and understanding. I think what I enjoy the most about being able to compile my thoughts, into somewhat of a organized manner, is that it does just that, after I sit and write, and blog, I am able to understand what I am going through at the time, and I can convey that in hopes I bring some type of understanding or hope to whomever decides to take the time to read this.  This post is aligned with the others, but its a post that I am writing where unlike others, am not at my best. I think it takes courage, strength, and humility, to ...

I’ve done my best to try and reassure those who seem to have fears, anxiety and strong concerns about our current situation, that all will be okay. I know it’s mess out there, I’m not naïve to what’s going on, because honestly how can you be. The news doesn’t even report on the weather in the morning, it’s straight to our main girl Corona, taking the spotlight from dawn to dusk. I am in no way  taking what is going on lightly, or debating that lives are being lost at an insane rate, and will acknowledge that I as anyone else, gets the slight heart palpitations of uncertainty, worry, and fear, but hear me out for a second. It’s there, its real, but I’ve learned, that through many tribulations I’ve personally gone through, the best way to get through, is to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that there is a lesson to be learned, and there is beauty in the current state we are all in. So hear me out. I believe that this situation, is larger then any of us, ...