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Overcoming Adversity - Don't Miss the Turning Point!

Guest post by: Lenore Miller

Article Overview: Adversity in life is generally an unwelcome visitor however all of life's challenges provide you with opportunities to learn and grow. Within the process it's important to look out for a turning point, a place that is a signal in the overcoming adversity journey. This is something that will provide additional hope that you can overcome challenges. This just, might be a place where you go from inaction to action or something prompts you to make some new decisions. Sometimes you are aware of it, whilst other times it is more subtle and things start to move and change in surprising ways. I'd like to share one of my turning points which became a defining moment.

Overcoming Adversity - Don't Miss the Turning Point!

He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left. Proverb

I knew I couldn't possibly remain so deeply sad for the rest of my life. It was so draining, dark and difficult. Everything was an effort, even trying to be pleasant to the chirpy shop assistants in the supermarket was a major energy drain during those days. However, the time had come when I had to go back to work in my gym, it was about 8 months after Ryan's death and I had been managing my business from arms length and spending lots of time with myself and my younger son, but my studio co-ordinator was going on holidays. I had to work on psyching myself up for the 3 weeks she would be away and I would again be in charge, fielding complaints, worrying about all the detail, 'pretending' to care about every little thing. I spent most of my time 'sucking it up' - a phrase my sister and I coined to explain the feeling of holding onto the emotion so we could remain socially acceptable, pretending like we were 'normal'. In hind site we were faking it till we made it, although I often wondered how I would make it to the other side.

I knew I had to find a way to make my peace with Ryan's death. Let's face it, if the average life expectancy for a female in western society is eighty something I had at least 40 years to live through, the idea of living with this heavy sadness for that long was in itself unbearable and whilst I couldn't see a way out just yet, I knew I needed to find my peace and my path.

Adversity in life is generally an unwelcome visitor however all of life's challenges provide you with opportunities to learn and grow. Within the process it's important to look out for a turning point, a place that is a signal in the overcoming adversity journey. This is something that will provide additional hope that you can overcome challenges. This just, might be a place where you go from inaction to action or something prompts you to make some new decisions. Sometimes you are aware of it, whilst other times it is more subtle and things start to move and change in surprising ways. I'd like to share one of my turning points which became a defining moment.

I was at the gym training members, signing up new members and managing better than I thought I would. One day a woman came into the gym to see if she would like to join, she wasn't doing well she said as, she hadn't been able to work since her son died, "Oh no" I thought "how will I cope with this, I hope I don't cry". She said she suffered from depression and had multiple illnesses and ailments. Of course my heart went out to her. As compassionately as possible, I said "while I couldn't possibly know exactly how you feel, I think I have a better idea than most as I too have experienced the death of a son". Her face brightened a little and when she asked how long,I replied "8 months". Her face changed and she said "it's been 11 years since my son died". I looked into that poor woman's face, I could not bear the idea of still feeling as raw and ragged as I was then, in a bit over 10 years time. All that sadness was way too much to contemplateand in that moment I just knew I would not be in this place in 11 years.

So this was certainly a turning point for me, I had a glimpse of what I did not want and it helped me to formulate what I did want. I also realized that 8 months into this journey, I was able to support someone else in a similar situation.

From then on I looked for role models, people who had walked my same path, I looked for their strategies, the decisions they had made and the beliefs they held about what it all meant for themand an interesting thing happened, I found myself learning and sharing what I was learning with other Mum's in my situation. I became someone other Mum's turned to when they wanted a piece of what I had to offer - amazing what happens when you find purpose in life, your light shines and others see it way before you do.

I was already sharing my strategies for a Margarita Mindset long before I had even recognized or names it.

For the Complete Chapter '5 Steps to Creating Your Very Own Margarita Mindset' and other fabulous resources see the Outrageously Healthy link below

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Article Tags: challenges, decisions, defining moment, inaction, overcome challenges, overcoming adversity, turning point



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