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| During tough times |
Share a time when you felt spiritually abandoned
Right after I finished college was a very tough time for me. I had gotten a job as a reporter in a small town, but I needed a car, and mine had died. My mother was having health problems, and my brothers and I didn't know how we could help her. My father is not in our life, and people that I thought were my friends were saying really ugly things about me. I felt like everything was unfair--I worked so hard! My mom didn't deserve this! I treat people decently! I remember sitting on the curb next to my broken car, crying my eyes out (and I'm generally not a person who cries!). Luckily, this was also the time when I really began to bond with my friend Erica, whose spirit and general sense of confidence in God helped pull me out of a very dark hole that I had fallen into.
Share a time when you felt broken
Eight weeks after my son was born, it was time for me to go back to work. Because my company did not offer paid maternity leave, I had been living those past two months on my savings. My accounts were down to double digits, and I still had to pay for childcare to go to work. I felt very defeated: how could I provide for this baby, when I could barely keep myself afloat? Thankfully, my mother helped pay for those first few weeks of daycare, and I SLOWLY began to rebuild my life.
Share the moment when you discovered your purpose OR the moment you received a revelation of what your purpose might be
I've always had a passion for storytelling, but I always worried that I should try to find a "real job" that "mattered." But my senior year of college, I interned at Alabama Alumni Magazine, where I wrote a story about the university's efforts to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. I was very proud of the story I wrote, but it wasn't until Ms. Sheila, a New Orleans native who was forced to move to Tuscaloosa, told me that she was touched by my words--at this moment, I realized that telling stories wasn't just something I was good at. It was something I was put here to do.
When you are hardest hit how do you motivate yourself to press on?
I'm blessed to have an extremely loving, extremely wise grandmother who I can go to for advice when I really need it. Whenever I felt really low, she always said to me: "Remember, the darkest hour is just before day." Now, whenever I find myself starting to feel hopeless, I repeat this phrase to myself over and over. I really feel that we go through cycles in life, and if I'm going through something really bad, I find peace in knowing that something good is just around the corner.
What have you learned in this season of your life?
I've learned that how content you are is directly proportional to how grateful you are. When my family was younger, we didn't have a lot of money, so I always thought that you needed money in order to be happy (this, despite the fact that I had a VERY happy childhood!). Now that I've reached a point where my family is financially stable, I've come to realize that being content is not about HOW MUCH you have, it's actually about BEING GRATEFUL for what you have. Instead of focusing on what I want, I'm learning to shift my attention to expressing gratitude for what I've been blessed with.
What advice would you give to those who feel like their story is over?
Please remember that your story is not over until you're dead! After a few years of wrong decisions, I found myself living life as a single mom, struggling to pay my bills and struggling to find energy to pursue my dream (becoming a fiction writer). I worried that I wouldn't be able to provide the kind of life I had envisioned for my child, that I would not find a loving relationship, and that I wouldn't find a fulfilling job. Instead of succumbing to those worries, though, I decided to write down exactly what I wanted my life to look like: traveling and exposing my son to other cultures, being married to someone who loves and respects me, writing books that enrich people's lives. These days, my life is matching up VERY closely to this. All that to say: write down your vision for your life, work toward it, and have faith that it will come to pass.
Send me a picture of your favorite pair of heels and let me know why they are your favorite!
These black BCBG stilettos make me feel like superwoman! They're the perfect combination of femininity and power.
By: Tatiana Richards Hanebutte
Tatianainflux.com
These black BCBG stilettos make me feel like superwoman! They're the perfect combination of femininity and power.
Tatianainflux.com
