Over the past few years I lost my mom to cancer.
My significant other suddenly left me and immediately started dating one of our mutual acquaintances.
Friends who actually turned out to be jealous, insecure, drama-seeking mean girls did some awful things to me.
My beloved dog passed away.
I had what I thought was a great job but I worked for a boss who you could never completely make happy. His expectations were unrealistic. Knowing I was having a hard time from the sudden end of my relationship and needing to move, he came into my office and told me to “compartmentalize” what was happening to my personal life and focus on work. As if it was that easy!
That employer was not supportive or empathetic or patient with me.
They soon fired me as a result of being too depressed to function at work. It wasn’t that I didn’t try to to a good job. I just couldn’t. I cried at work because my personal life was in shambles. I needed some time, help and compassion – not to be kicked to the ground at my lowest.
But here’s the thing, hitting rockbottom sent me on a path toward finding my real purpose and happiness. It created opportunities for me to become an entrepreneur and do things I never thought I could.
Sometimes the very worst things in the world can help launch you on a path to success.
And frankly sometimes you have no choice because you have to survive. It is often out of crisis situations that we realize how strong and resilient we really are. I know that I did.
I hope that you’ll take away from this post that you can get through anything and rebuild your life. It is never too late. It’s also okay to burn some bridges along the way – I’ll never speak to anyone who wasn’t supportive of me during that dark time.
Today I have a business of my own and I do not have to worry about my employer callously pulling the rug from under me while I temporarily was struggling. I have two adorable puppies who will never take the place of my late dog Charlie but they fill my life with new memories. I have a much smaller friend circle with people who I implicitly trust and who I know love me unconditionally. I moved on with the polar opposite of my ex who was wrong for me from day one. I miss my mom every day but I’m surrounded by loving family members and mother-like figures.
Although I’m still healing from the personal trauma of what happened to me, I’m well on my way to being okay.
My advice to you is to never give up. Bad things happen to good people. Life is messy but keep going. Things WILL get better. I promise. Sometimes you have to choose happiness.
Always remember this:
We fall.
We break.
We fail.
But then,
We rise.
We heal.
We rebuild.
We overcome.