Matters of the Heart

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a great deal of time reading and responding to emails. I am tremendously thankful for the many people I’ve connected with since I began writing this blog. I want to thank everyone who has written and shared their stories and wisdom with me.

In November, I wrote a post about how the hardest trials in our lives often lead us to our greatest victories. Shortly after publishing that post, I received an email from Suzanne P. of Woodbury, Minnesota. Suzanne asked me a question that weighed on my heart and stayed with me throughout the holidays. I’m grateful to Suzanne for the painfully honest and heartfelt conversations we’ve had over these last few weeks.

In my post from November, I wrote that it was during the seasons in my life when I felt at my lowest that I gained strength, wisdom, resilience, and clarity.

In an email she wrote to me during December, Suzanne asked me, “How did you turn heartache into resilience?” She went on to say that, on most days, she feels so broken that she can barely breathe.

That feeling of brokenness, of not being able to breathe, is one that I know. The memory of it still sucks the life out of me. But I don’t allow my mind to linger there because those days are long past, and the place I am in now is so far from where I once was. The years in between have brought me peace and made me stronger and wiser. But that journey, in itself, was long and painful, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. And while I would not choose to do it again, it brought me to a place and to people I would never trade.

So, how did I get from there to here? How does one turn heartache into resilience?