Tag Archives: survivor

Write a new story

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in Advice, Attitude, Being brave, Change, Fear, Life journey, trauma

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Life sucks!

Sorry if I am being blunt or rude but if you’re reading this, you probably agree with me.

Why else would you be hanging out on a page called I don’t want to be stressed?

Maybe because you don’t want to be stressed?

Every one of us have a story…. Most of us have some kind of negative story that includes trauma, loss, violence, abuse or extreme stress. Some unfortunate people have all of those things included in their story.

But guess what?

You’re still here – sometimes against huge odds – to tell the story and to do something about it.

Whatever happened in the past is your story.  We can wish the past didn’t happen but that doesn’t undo it.

We can wish that whatever happened to us did not affect who we are today – that won’t help either.

What you are is a survivor.

An amazing survivor with a story of resilience to tell.  Because despite everything – you made it this far.

Your mission now is take it further.

You are not your past.  You are not your old story.  You are no longer that victim or that child that was hurting.

It is time to rewrite your story – to step out of your comfort zone and try new things and new ways of doing things.

Take responsibility for your actions, your emotions and the consequences of your behaviours now.

Let your actions, emotions and behaviours of the past stay in the past.

Do things in small steps – one step at a time.

Be gentle on yourself – those small steps often go backward or stay in one place. This doesn’t mean that you’re failing – just don’t give up.

One day you will look back at this time and marvel that you ever doubted yourself.

You can and you will do this!

Tell your story

06 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Acts of Kindness, Advice

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This week the world lost a great man.
Elie Wiesel – writer, political activist, Nobel laureate and holocaust survivor – passed away leaving a huge legacy.
He taught so many lessons. Especially about never being quiet when other people suffer and the evils of indifference.
My favourite quote from him is “whoever survives a test, whatever it may be, must tell the story.  It is his duty”

Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel used his terrible experiences to teach us a lesson.
Whether you can teach somebody else a lesson from your own experiences or if by telling somebody your story, you help somebody in some other way – it doesn’t matter.
What does matter is that you have a story to tell.
You have no idea how your story might save somebody else.  That is why it is your duty to share it.
Tell your children about your life, share experiences with friends, give hope to somebody who is lost and has no idea how they are going to pull through.
And at the same time, never be afraid to ask somebody else for help – their story can be the thing that saves you.

If we all spent a little more time connecting with others and sharing our lives and experiences, the world might be a little friendlier and hopeful than it was before.

Unbelievably strong

09 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Advice, Attitude, Positivity

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I am attending a 6 week course – for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to attend a course on a Monday night.  I’m not sure if that was one of my brightest plans ever but since the course is focused a lot on positivity and changing the way we view our lives, it is probably not such a bad way to start the week after all.

Then on Thursday, I opened my diary and read the following quote at the bottom of the page:
“A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner” – English Proverb
Interesting coincidence since part of the course on Monday was focused on the eternal question of “why do bad things happen to good people?”
The answer given was that bad things need to happen to good people so that they have the opportunity to grow as individuals, to become stronger and wiser humans.

I think that we so often wish that our lives were smoother and easier and that things would always go our way.
And then life comes and just laughs at you and throws something truly awful into your path.
You will struggle – not only with the problem that you are dealing wih but also with the unfairness of life and persistently questioning “why me?” .
But eventually, the struggle and the awfulness slowly eases, and you wake up and realise that you are truly strong.  You understand that you have survived and you will keep plodding along until eventually you wake up again and realise that you are awesome and life is not so awful at all.

How are we going to become skilled mariners?
By riding out those rough seas.
By realising what it takes to survive those rough times, and more importantly what we have within us that is going to help us to survive.

You are truly strong and you are truly awesome but you will never know that if you don’t first overcome!