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Something Worth SharingHow We Rise I had a social media ‘memory’ appear this week - from 2012. Within this year our daughter was turning 6, the UK had hosted the summer Olympics, it was Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, Whitney Houston died, Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban…to list just a few things. This reminded me of an important ‘learning’, that we never really know what’s round the corner - and the significance of these things as we move forwards, and how we see them and feel about them. As Emmy celebrated her 6th birthday, we were in a dire situation financially as the implications of closing a family business after more than 100 years were felt. This and my husband having had to also close his business during the recession of 2008. We’d had a car repossessed, were struggling to pay the bills and mortgage - let alone buy groceries. I’d had to hand make all of Emmy’s presents - I made her a rag doll while her middle brother wrote a story for her. Of course Emmy doesn’t remember what we were worrying about at the time, she just loved her doll. It was a bleak time and a very worrying one that was very much ‘survival’ focused. At the time we also worked hard to cover up what we were living through while also trying to rebuild. Fast forward 10 years to today and we have two thriving businesses, I have the privilege of working with a children’s mental health charity, have just completed a substantial building project, our oldest son has completed his first year of work following his graduation, our middle son is living in Canada with a ski instructor qualification and our little girl is 16 and is thinking about her next stage of education. Does that mean we’re done and the troubles are behind us? No, because that’s not how life works. It is a rollercoaster, but how we rise is key. I mentioned Malala and how she was shot ten years ago. She went on to win a Nobel Prize (donating the money to build schools), and became a prominent activist for the right of girls to education and launched the Malala Fund. How well we are able to rise after adversity is mostly built on our ability to see possibility and hopefulness, and feel some level of inner confidence to get back up and move on. Who knows what the next 10 years will hold, but isn’t that part of the fun?!
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