While there are some things you may never get over such as the death of a loved one, infertility, illness, divorce, infidelity, financial hardships, losing your job, the end of friendships – each of these experiences help to shape you into a stronger, more resilient version of yourself.
You don’t have to get over everything to move forward. Forgetting what happened to you isn’t a prerequisite to moving forward – in fact I say the moments and experiences that have left an indelible impression on your life are tantamount to your growth.
Memories – both good and bad – are part of your story. You don’t need to forget to move forward. Sometimes you just can’t. It’s okay. These experiences make you who you are. Bad things happen to good people and it’s just not fair – but that’s life. We can focus on controlling those things that we can control.
Everything now makes sense in my world after all I’ve been through. I had to learn some hard lessons and let go of people in my life. It took me awhile to get here and to trust again.
My advice is to never lose sight of hope. Of who you are. Of your ability to love and be loved. Of being a good kind person no matter what life throws at you. Or of your ability to pick yourself up and thrive again. You and me are more resilient than we think.
We each have the power to change our lives, to hit the reset button at any point – whether that’s changing our surroundings, changing the people in it or changing our careers. The experiences we’ve gone through help us make better choices in the future. We are warriors with battle wounds.
I’m in my early 40s, and I rebuilt my life from scratch personally and professionally just two years ago. I started to believe in myself more and cut out negativity. I used social media to connect with other people and build my brand and network no matter how awful I felt on the inside and no matter how much my personal life was in shambles. Because sometimes we just have to choose to be happy before we are ready.
When it came to LinkedIn and my personal brand, I silenced that inner critic that told me I was an imposter and not good enough. I stayed the course. I posted consistently. I wanted to help others. I shared stories. I kept showing up.
Be open to it – it’s never too late to create the life you want.