When the Apple Falls Far from the Tree

You might think it hard to find any sort of gift in all the mayhem and misery that the first decade of my life presented to me. But I was actually being prepped for one of life’s most essential survival skills: resilience. Resilience is a coping skill or mechanism that encompasses many others as it’s learned and perfected. Tolerance. Endurance. Pliability. Adaptivity. Strength and Hardiness. All skills I had practically mastered by the age of 10. While at the time I would have traded that life in for something better in a heartbeat, I have profound gratitude now for the foundation my miserable childhood had laid. Was this an ideal way to learn it? Of course not. I am sure there are much better paths to becoming resilient. But I am also willing to bet that not one of those paths comes with ease and comfort. It’s not a secret that life’s mishaps and soul-crushing events are those that plant the seeds for the development of this essential life skill. It’s fair to say my resilience grew like a wild weed in a sunny pasture. It was fertilized on an almost daily basis as I began to make tough decisions about what I was or was not going to be allowing in my life from that point forward. I learned the only person I could ever depend on—was myself. A belief that rules my thoughts and actions still today.