Growing Through Adversity

Published May 31, 2010 |

Growing Through Adversity

Wildflowers can show up in some of the most unpredictable places; in seeming barren fields, among a thicket of brush, or between a crack in the sidewalk. In spite of less than ideal growing conditions, something in that seed allowed it to ‘bloom anyway’. Today, share your story—or visual artwork—of how you too, despite conditions, bloomed anyway!

This is a writing prompt that I found on Creativity Portal. To take the picture and description above and write about my own experiences. I liked this picture and idea because I have been through a lot in my life. It seems like a million years ago that so much has happened to me, and my life is so different now and I”m so happy now, that it’s hard to remember exactly how it all felt. But the pain and scars are still there for me, but all that I went through made me the person I am today.

The biggest impact on my life and who I am today, was my marriage. I don’t talk too much about it any more, because it seems so long ago. I was in a very bad marriage. It was abusive, but not so much in the physical way. It was all emotional and financial abuse. To this very day I hear his words in my head of how I am not only a bad mother, but a bad person that no one could ever like. That he was the only reason I had any friends. I know that is not true, now, but at the time it felt true. And that voice will always be in my head, wondering if he was right.

But almost 13 years later, 90% of me knows that he was wrong. And because of the struggles I went through to get passed all of his abuse, made me understand that I am a strong person. Because I not only lived through his abuse, but came out ahead, came out alive, came out with my sons… I know that I can do anything I decide to do! Maybe, if I hadn’t gone through that horrible marriage and left him despite how badly I felt about myself, then maybe I wouldn’t have had the courage to start my own business and be on the road to successful entrepreneurship today!

Just like the weed that grows through the horrible circumstances, despite the conditions that are set up to keep it from surviving. I survived and grew from that abusive marriage and learned what kind of strong, undefeatable person I am. I learned that no matter how bad it gets, I can survive and thrive! Which is extremely important for anyone starting a business in this economy. And that’s just what I’m doing now in my business.

Not only have I been able to survive with this business, but it is growing by leaps and bounds! We have tripled our gross income from last year. And we’re not stopping! Every week we bring on new customers. Customers who came from our competitors who are tired of the lack of service they are getting, and they love our service!

Of course we’re starting to get a little nervous, because we’re about to grow to the point where we’re too big to really handle the business on our own, but not quite big enough to be able to hire on another person. But what a wonderful “problem” to have! What we’re doing is training my mom to do some work, and having my oldest son do filing and odd office jobs as well. Maybe in a year or two, we can actually hire our first “real” employee! It’s amazing!!

Could I have done this, if I hadn’t gone through a horrible marriage and then gotten out of it? Could I have realized my own personal strength, if all that I had gone through, hadn’t happened?

I don’t know the answer to those questions. I will never know for sure. What I do know, is that the adversity that I went through to get to where I am now, is what helped me to get here. It’s possible I could have gotten here without all the adversity, but I don’t really think it would be the same. Adversity gives us courage and strength to get through horrible situations. Once we’ve gone through Hell and come back again… the rest just doesn’t seem as scary or difficult.

I’ve always been taught the old adage: “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger”. It has been proven to me, over and over again to be true. I am grateful for the adversity that I’ve gone through and even more grateful for my life as it is now.