Life has a way of running away with you. One minute you are leaving high school and the next you are watching your children do so.

Then one day you just get tired. Especially if you have been battling against the odds non-stop trying to make ends meet, when putting one foot in front of the other seems to be all you are doing.  

We live in an extremely uncertain time and the world has turned upside down. People are losing their jobs – or family members due to Covid – and yet others are hit by both. Many posts have done the rounds on how people born in 1900 had it especially hard considering for instance two world wars, the Spanish flu and a global economic recession – and yes having that type of perspective helps. They still made it!

But when you are in the middle of your own upside-down crisis thinking about what other people went through a hundred years ago and being grateful for the perspective,  brings only temporary relief. This is now, and whether the needs are financial, emotional or anything else in between for too long, it eventually needs sorting. Today –  not when you finally managed to get to the other side.

Finding the answers is hard, what next can be even harder.

I know that when the spirit is low aggravation is easy. It takes nothing to trigger feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem and zero confidence. And yes, you can absolutely think about plenty of people who got it easier. Those who never seem to work for their good fortune. The ones who get bailed out by others or who gets provided for without knowing the angst of creating your own tomorrow or having nothing. And that is what we get shown. Social media does a pretty good job of keeping it front-page news as well.

The good thing is that when low becomes rock bottom, the only way is up. The hard fact is that a struggle from day to day, month to month and year to year takes its toll.

I do not have words of advice – because I know every situation is different. There might be some useful ideas for you here or check out this previous post. But I am not going to tell you the story of the mouse who fell in the milk and treaded until it became butter. Nor am I going to mention that tomorrow is another day, that what does not kill you makes you stronger or that this too shall pass.

For now, I just want to provide some encouragement. To tell you that it’s ok to get mad. To feel like you want to run away, to want to rebel against unfairness or privilege and to question whether doing your best or doing good is actually worth it when it remains to be not enough.

It is sometimes the pure of heart that suffers the most. The ones that give that get taken from first or the trusting that gets deceived. It is often the one strong enough to break the status quo that gets judged by the weak, the visionary that gets stoned by the blind or the courageous that gets tripped by fools.

You are a pure, trusting, strong, visionary and courageous one of a kind special human being.

You are the one they admire and look up to. You bring magic wherever you go and provide solace amidst the chaos. You are deserving beyond belief. You are brave and without you nothing would be the same.

You are my favourite kind of person!

Know and remember that good luck favours the prepared mind. It is only really over when you give up, so do not stop. Take good care of yourself because you got this.  

Lots of love,

Hannah