Hardship

Day 6: What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

Hi, everyone!

I took the weekend off since I was at Relay for Life, and what an event it was! Recap to come. Going forward, as a general rule I think I’ll take weekends off from any 30-Day Challenges I decide to take on.

So. Regarding the topic at hand. I have to, once again, quote one of my favorite books, The Prophet.

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

Well, I am here to tell you I am one happy camper. It definitely was not always that way. Life and me? Yeah, we weren’t on good terms. Life owed me. And then some.

Sufficed to say, I have experienced many difficulties in my life. The negative aspects of those times are something I try not to focus on too much. If you had asked me this question in my teens, my twenties and again in my early thirties, I probably would have answered differently each time. Perspective changes as we get older. It certainly has for me.

I am a rape survivor. I am a cancer survivor. I was in a serious car accident that almost took my life. The time spent in the trauma unit was not pleasant. My ex-husband left me for a nineteen-year old girl. I survived being in a serious fire. SICU? Not fun times. I fell on my face financially as a grown woman and had to reach out to my parents for help. The “friends” I had once helped disappeared. Time stands still and you think it can never get worse. You also think it can never get better.  There are times I’ve felt like a victim. And still, there are always those who are going through much worse.

When I think about this question in terms of the present, answers that come to mind now are: Letting go of pride and asking for help when I needed it. Letting go of fear and allowing myself to be vulnerable to the man I Love and I am now lucky enough to call my husband. Preparing to enter into a world that includes children as part of it (and all that goes along with children from prior relationships). I didn’t know what to expect. Sidenote: Experience these things for yourself. Don’t read horror stories of evil exes and unruly step-kids on the internet. Live your way into your own answers.

And you know what? As you read all of that above, those were the hardest things I experienced AT THE TIME.

Everything has worked out, and beautifully. So forgive me if I am copping out on this entry, but I choose to celebrate the smiles instead of focusing on the hardships.

Life has carved a lot of my mind, body and soul, but it’s delivered the joy tenfold.

And even though hard times may come down the road, life and me? I think we’re finally even.