Roots, Rise, Light? What does it all mean?

I wanted to share with you why I called this podcast “Rise with the Light” and why I designed the logo the way I did. Seems silly for an episode, but all of it was intentional and helps to share my journey.

Throughout my journey with my son and to get to where I am now, I felt like I had to ‘rise’ out of the darkness. While I did my best to be as positive and encouraging to my son as possible, I felt so dark on the inside and any downtime I had I was just depressed and full of worry, fear, anxiety - just feeling so down. It was really hard for me to sometimes see a way forward, to see that there was hope. 

Something I heard had a profound effect on me "When there is a shadow in the darkness, there is light."

In this episode, I review the actual definitions of the words rise and light, and why they have so much meaning for me. 

I also unpack the logo, why does the arrow have little lines at the bottom. Those signify roots - and I'll tell you how I had to uproot myself out of the darkness and replant myself anew. 

For me, that light represents hope; that there is a way forward. No matter how dark things were getting, that shadow reminded me there was light, even if it was a really small amount of light - it was there.

This wasn’t the end, there was a way. 

This ignited me and motivated me to seek resources, put one foot in front of another, to figure out ways to not only work on my mindset but to realize my son needed me more than ever.

These were difficult times. I was in so much pain and dealing with so many different emotions, but I was always reminded that I could find a way through this. I could push through the pain toward the light. 

I hope you can find the light. I hope I can be the light for you. To help you, inspire you, and motivate you to keep going. 

If this resonates with you, please subscribe to this podcast so you never miss another episode. Share this podcast with someone who needs to hear it, and also DM me @susanfink.rise on Instagram. Let me know if this is helping you I would love to hear from you. 

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Episode Transcript

Susan Fink (00:09):
Hey everyone and welcome to the rise with the
light podcast. My name is SusanFink and this is my weekly
podcast dedicated to supportingfamilies raising children with
special needs. I'm on a missionto provide hope and positivity
through sharing my personalinsights, stories, mindset
perspectives, and ways tonavigate through this journey.
Let's get started.

(00:49):
Hi, everyone, and thank you somuch for joining me. If you
haven't subscribed, pleasesubscribe so you don't miss
another episode. And also DM me,I'm at Susan Fink rise on
Instagram. And I'd love to hearfrom you if you feel that this
podcast is helping you. Or ifyou even have a topic that you'd
like me to cover, let me know,shoot me a message on Instagram
at Susan Fink dot rise. So I'dlove to jump into this episode

(01:09):
as I wanted to share with youwhy I called this podcast rise
with a light I've alreadyrecorded quite a few episodes
already. And I don't think I'veever touched on this, there is a
lot of meaning with a title andthe logo of this podcast rise
with the light. And if you lookat the logo, it's an arrow
pointing up with some lines atthe bottom of the arrow. And

(01:30):
those are actually meant to besignifying roots. I know that
this may seem silly for anepisode, but everything that I
did here was intentional. And Iwanted to share with you why I
made these choices throughout myjourney with my son. And to get
to where I am now I had to feellike I've had to rise out of the

(01:50):
darkness. Well, I did my best tobe as positive and encouraging
to my son as possible. Ipersonally felt like I was in
the dark on the inside and anydowntime I had, I just felt so
depressed, I felt worried I hadso much fear and anxiety. And I
just felt so down. And it wasjust really hard for me to pull

(02:10):
myself out of this darkness thatI was feeling. I felt
overwhelmed. I felt alone. Andas a single parent, as you guys
know, I am a single parent, I'vebeen single since my son was
born. What since before I evenknew I was even pregnant,
actually. And that story is awhole other story. But I just
felt so overwhelmed. I felt soalone. And in the beginning of

(02:31):
his diagnosis, it was just sooverwhelming. As you know,
there's so much that you have tofigure out and every day was
just different. There were somany dynamics that I was working
through and challenges that Iwas working through. And I had
to really put on a face with myson, I had to be positive and
encouraging. And I had to be anadvocate for him. And I just had
to keep pressing through. Butthat only put me in a darker

(02:53):
place in my mind. And I reallyhad to work hard to push myself
through that to push myselfthrough that darkness to push
myself through that pain that Iwas going through. And so this
rise really is what I had to do,I had to rise out of it, I had
to push myself up through thatfear through that anxiety
through that worry, I had tomove up through it, I had to

(03:16):
push through it right. So rise,if you look at the definition of
rise, it really is to move froma lower position to a higher
one, it is basically going upcoming up. And as a noun, it's
an upward movement, it'sbecoming lighter, becoming
higher, this rise was reallyimportant for me, I really had
to rise up out of this darkplace, I had to rise up for my

(03:39):
own health. And for my son, Ihad to get out of this place.
And the word light that has somuch significance. And I'll tell
you why. I've had some of thedarkest days over the last few
years, while I was going throughthese dark days. And actually
the dark days started before myson was born, my ex husband and

(04:00):
I split and when I separatedfrom him. When I moved out. Two
weeks after I moved out of ourhouse, I found out I was
pregnant. So I had been aloneand I decided to you know,
continue with the pregnancy. AndI went through all of that
myself. And I worked full timeand I had to figure out you know

(04:21):
how I was going to do all ofthis on my own. And that was
also a really dark time for me.
So this light is so important.
And while I was going throughthese dark times with my divorce
and being eight months pregnant,finalizing my divorce paperwork
and raising my son and thenfinding out he has autism, you
know, I had to really pushthrough this darkness and

(04:42):
something that I heard was soprofound for me and this is what
I heard. When there is a shadowin the darkness, there is light.
So when there is a shadow in thedarkness, there is light and
here I am sitting in the darkand I had to envision that there
was a shadow there. It was myshadow right With that shadow
came light. And that really wassuch a profound statement that I

(05:06):
heard. And this really made methink it was such a pivotal
thing, a pivotal moment for meto hear this as I was battling
through this depression. And itwas just again, and just a
really deep, dark mental state.
I knew that if I did not pushthrough this, if I did not rise
out of this, that this was notgoing to end well. For me, this

(05:26):
was not going to be healthy. Forme, this was not going to be
healthy for my son, and Iwouldn't be able to advocate and
help him as much as I needed to.
So I really had to make aconscious effort to pull myself
out of this dark place. And thatstatement was so profound to me.
So I looked it up, what does theword light mean? And there are
various forms of light. So as anoun, it's a natural agent that

(05:48):
simulates sight and make thingsvisible. So I had to see that
there was hope that was visiblefor me that it was there. As a
verb, it means to ignite, I hadto ignite something within
myself, I had to find thatlight, to really give me a
spark, to help me push throughthis to give me the strength to

(06:09):
get through what I was goingthrough. As a spiritual meaning
light is one of the mostuniversal and fundamental
symbols. Light is the source ofgoodness. And in the Bible,
light has always been a symbolof goodness, knowledge, wisdom,
Grace, and hope. So for me, thislight meant so much to me, it
meant that there was hope. Itmeant that I needed to ignite

(06:35):
myself, I needed to get myselfthrough what I was going
through, I needed to find thatlight. I knew that there is
goodness here, that this is notthe end, that there is goodness
in all things that are going onaround me. And I just had to
make a conscious effort to findthat. So again, for me, the

(06:55):
light represented hope there wasa way forward. And no matter how
dark things were getting for me,that shadow reminded me that
there was like even the smallestamount of light, it was there.
This also helped me realize thatagain, this wasn't the end that
there was a way and I just hadto ignite myself to find that

(07:16):
way. This really motivated me,it motivated me to seek
resources and motivated me toadvocate it motivated me to
start taking better care ofmyself, to put one foot in front
of another to figure out theways to work through this not
only to work on my mindset,because that was a huge part of
it, I really had to work on mymind and changing the way I was

(07:37):
thinking and changing the thingsthat I was saying to myself, and
really making a huge shift in mymindset. And I had to realize
that more than ever, my sonneeded me, he needed me so much
to advocate, I had to pullmyself out of this, I had to
rise up, I had to rise with thatlight. So don't get me wrong,
these are difficult times, Istill go through difficult

(08:01):
times, trust me. I mean, today,I was actually just crying in my
car by myself, I had a totalbreakdown because I was just so
frustrated. And so sad. Andthere was just so many emotions
because of something thathappened today with my son. And
so Trust me, I know that thingsare difficult. In the beginning,
it's really difficult. And itcontinues to be and I totally
get it. This whole idea aroundrising with the light is

(08:24):
something that anchors me Ithelps me to keep moving forward
to know that there's hope toknow that I can ignite myself
and push myself up through thedarkness to come out to be the
best person I can be to be thebest advocate I can be for my
son. I was in so much pain,dealing with so many different
emotions and trying to keepmyself together. And as a single

(08:45):
parent, it's just me, I had toremind myself that there are
ways to get through all of this,that I could push through all of
this pain that I could rise outof it toward the light. The
other thing is the logo. If youlook at the logo, there's an
arrow that is pointed up and ithas lines at the bottom of the
arrow. Those actually signifyroots. And those were really

(09:06):
intentional because I had tobasically pull out the roots
from under me and replantmyself. I had to create a new
person. I had to work on myselfto become stronger mentally to
think differently, to basicallyuproot myself and replant
myself. I designed the logomyself and those roots are very

(09:27):
intentional, pulling myself outof the ground, pulling myself
out of the darkness, pullingthose roots to rise up to face
the day with a better mentalhealth with strength that I knew
my son needed. So rise out ofthat darkness, realize that
there is light no matter howdark it is, there is light. And

(09:48):
again, this was the thing thathelped me when there is a shadow
in the darkness. There is light,and I hope that you can find
that light I hope that you foundit. Even in some of the maybe
not so dark days, you still needto search for that light. And I
hope that this episode hashelped you.

(10:09):
I hope that I can be that lightfor you. If you need a light if
you need someone to talk toplease DM me at Susan Fink dot
Ries, I would really love tohear from you. I would love to
hear if this is helping you. Andif you can relate to this, or if
you know someone who needs tohear any of these episodes,
please share this podcast withthem. My mission is to help as

(10:29):
many people as I can and Icannot do that without you. So
thank you. Thank you. Thank youso much for listening. Thank you
for your support and sharingthis podcast to help others and
until next time, I appreciate Iempathize and I am here for you
and we can do this