New advice columnist

Alexis Rae Baker is A Lexis

Piece by piece, the beliefs I once held crumbled beneath the spinning tires of my semi-truck and soon enough I realized that I’d become lost along the way.

Hey Lexis,

What kinds of problems do you like to help people with? And why did you choose to start an advice column in the first place?

Signed:  The Editor

Hey JOLT Readers,

Several years back, my parents were going through a divorce. I had recently graduated college, from Evergreen, and was working to build a business with my writing.  But as our house became a less stable place to live, I decided to try my hand at semi-truck driving. It was a decent choice for me, although I regret that I made that decision from a place of fear.

While on the road, still dealing with the stressful interactions of my family and the judgments of people at church, I found myself confronting a whole lot of issues. In my house, we grew up with a strong, Catholic foundation, but as I drove through the bible belt, and saw the plethora of billboards telling us to “repent and fear God”, I couldn’t help but question whether God was even a part of the religion I grew up in and whether or not I wanted to believe in a jealous, fickle God that would judge people in a situation like my family’s.

Piece by piece, the beliefs I once held crumbled beneath the spinning tires of my semi-truck and soon enough I realized that I’d become lost along the way. I entered what’s often called a dark night of the soul (my third actually). From that state, the world often seems daunting, harsh, and uncertain; it’s a very uncomfortable mental place to inhabit. I didn’t know what I believed or how to rebuild the foundation that had guided my life up until that point.

Thankfully, in college we studied Descartes and I remembered his philosophy. Break everything down until you find the undeniable and rebuild from there.  Descartes is attributed with saying “I think, therefore I am.” While profound in its own way, I didn’t see how this was particularly helpful in my case. However, as I continued to sift through all I had learned to find that which was undeniable, I found a snippet of information that rang true on every level for me: God is love.

Now, I should comment that my definition of God is basically that God is the E in E=MC2, so you don’t need to be religious to understand what I’m talking about here. Because I was raised in a religious home, God is the basis of life for me, but you can certainly substitute the word “universe” or “life” if you prefer. The implications are what matter here. Life is designed to be loving and creative. This was my truth.

From there, other pieces started to fall into place and my entire perspective shifted dramatically over the next few months and years, just based upon that single undeniable belief. It was almost as if I had catapulted myself into God’s eyes for a bit and now the entire world made sense. I barely recognize my life from what it was before, but perhaps the single biggest takeaway I had from that experience was the profound understanding of just how impactful our beliefs are on our lives.

Literally everything we do is filtered through our belief structures. If you believe the world is working against you, everything that happens feels harsh and challenging. Whereas, if you view your life as an opportunity to learn and grow, every challenge and stressor becomes an opportunity to grow and become a better person.

So! Come with your questions in any avenue you’d like, but know that my focus is on helping you find better ways to look at a situation and help you discover the benefits and lessons that such events bring. I’m really excited to be able to see what we can discover together and how much light our interactions will bring along the way.

Alexis Baker writes from her home in Olympia.  Write to her at Lexis@theJOLTnews.com