“My life was quickly thrown upside down. The love of my life was suddenly killed in a car accident. I handled it with anger and bitterness. The economy began to crumble. I quickly became the best possible cab driver I could be. Shifts were 12 hours long. I pulled my boots up and reinvented myself. Then everything changed again. The ginger ale sat on the kitchen counter, slowly turning into a bomb. At the exact second Shelly passed the sink, the bottle exploded. I was horrified. What a battle it has been.”
‘Up until that point, I’d lived a charmed life. Then tragedy struck. It was isolating. But they also didn’t throw a ‘pity party’ for me.’: Man credits resilience for getting him through ‘each of those dark days’
‘Stop crying tears over the group that doesn’t want you. Stop pleasing everyone. Stop thinking invitations from cool kids will make you feel complete.’: Woman’s encourages her younger self to ‘know you create your own happiness’
“Stop trying so hard, little girl. Know who you are. Know you are strong. Know you are smart. Know you have a voice, are capable and worthy. Know you’re never ever alone.”
‘We want friends who stick with us through our worst, but we bolt at the first sign of trouble.’: Woman’s candid take on being a ‘disloyal friend’
“We want friends who reach out and invite us, but we aren’t willing to be the one who takes the first step. We want friends who forgive, but we aren’t willing to be forgiving. Someone has one opinion you don’t like? Bye.”
‘Stop wasting so much time looking perfect. Stop wishing you were someone else. Stop crying those tears over the group that doesn’t want you.’
“Stop allowing other people’s opinions to blow you back and forth like a leaf in the wind. Stop thinking you’re not pretty enough. Stop thinking a boy will solve all your problems. Stop thinking invitations from the cool kids will make you feel complete.”
‘My husband’s heart may have stopped beating, but after he flat-lined, he was revived. ‘How do I cope?,’ I get asked a lot. It really stumped me.’
“My husband has an infamous (and rather annoying) saying he likes to toss around, ‘It could always be worse.’ This is usually met with an exaggerated eyeroll from me, because my realist personality believes the opposite. ‘It could always be better.'”
‘When I was 16 years old, I weighed 130 pounds. I felt like a cow. My friends were much smaller, and much slimmer. I always felt so unworthy. Sloppy. Lazy. Gross.’
“No matter how hard I tried, my size 8 body never fit into their size 2 clothes. I always felt so fat. My body has changed a lot. But my thoughts on my body have not. I’m still just as harsh. This has to stop.”
‘Before I became a mother, I had already labeled myself as not enough.’
“When the triplets were born I almost died. I remember feeling like I wasn’t enough, like I failed them because my first moments with them were through FaceTime.”
‘Before I lost my Mom, if you had asked me what the best day ever looked like, it would look a lot different than it would today.’
“She took a lot with her the day she died, but in losing her, I gained a whole new perspective on life. That’s something I couldn’t have gained if grief hadn’t come into my life and showed me what the best day ever really looks like.”
‘It took my breath away – it absolutely shocked me’: How this woman’s son opened her eyes to a new perspective with one simple photo
“While I saw a terrible looking disaster, he saw something completely different.”
