Dead End Ahead

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In life, when your path leads you to a “Dead End”, a place where you feel there is no road forward, no place to move on, what will you choose to do?  Do you turn back around?

What I learned this week, from a friend of mine, is that we don’t always have to choose to turn back…there really is another way…

So let me tell you about my friend…

I have only known this woman for a short time and recently, I learned something extraordinary about her. About 10 years ago, when she was only 10 weeks pregnant with her fourth child, she came down with a condition that rocked her world.  It started with tingling feet and within two days had her in the emergency room unable to walk on her own.  This condition is called Gullian-Barre Syndrome, or better known as GBS, and it is extremely frightening.  It had to be scary for her but also for her husband and three small children at home. And the sad part for my friend, this paralysis was just the start of her symptoms.  Within a week, her lungs had collapsed, and she was only able to move her eyes.  So the hospital was forced to intubate her to keep her alive.  She even had a few days where her heart just gave up and stopped beating all together…at one point for a total of 7 seconds.  Her life was on the line, and she was up against a difficult path that would have to be traveled if she ever wanted to see her family again. 

I can’t even fathom, in that moment, the pain and fear my friend and her family felt.  To have each and every day go along the way we expect it to, the way it is supposed to.  And then to have it all suddenly stop…in the blink of an eye.  My friend, quite literally, came up to a Dead End sign in her life.  A place where no clear path was in sight.  And what laid ahead of her, she wasn’t sure…her family wasn’t sure…because it was a journey that they had never traveled before…that almost all of us have never traveled before.  It seemed that it was time for her to give up and turn around…

But my brave and inspiring friend, well, she chose differently…

Her and her amazingly supportive family made a different choice in that moment.  They didn’t choose defeat.  They didn’t quit.  And they absolutely didn’t give up.  Instead, here is what happened…

After an eighty-four day stay in the hospital…after she fought through to breath on her own…after she started receiving the appropriate treatments…she slowly started getting feeling back in her body.  But even then, she still had to go through months of rehabilitation to gain back the ability to chew, swallow, and even walk.  And my friend did all of this while also carrying a sweet baby girl in her womb.  

When I think about her and all that she went through, there are a few words that stand out in my mind: Fearless, Relentless, Determined, Brave, Heroic.  And my new friend is all of this and then some.  She was ruthless in her quest to get back home to her family, and when the days seemed hard, she pushed through and never gave up.  She never quit – even in those difficult moments.

I want us all to stop in our busy life and really think about what we can learn from this courageous human being.  What can she teach us about our own life?

Let me tell you what I learned…

I learned that when life gets hard, because it will, we need to be relentless in our endeavors and our goals.  Whether it be a health issue we are fighting to overcome, or a career goal we are trying to achieve, or maybe it is even a difficult family situation we are up against…whatever it is…Don’t.Ever.Quit!  Be brave and work hard to accomplish everything in life that is important to you.

Because when life decides to put up a sign that says “Dead End Ahead” …it is going to be hard.  There is no doubt about that.  But remember that it will ultimately be up to you to choose what to do next.  So what are you going to do?  Are you going to turn around and quit?  Or are you going to be like my incredibly strong and resilient friend?  Are you too going to be relentless in your efforts and continue to forge ahead?  I hope you choose to push on and be that positive example for others in this world.  Create a new path that extends well past that Dead End sign…a path that so many others have never traveled on before…

Xoxo

Marsha

*For those of you struggling with something in life or have a topic of interest that you want me to talk about in this blog, email me at BeYourBestSelfBlog@gmail.com.  Let’s work together to Be Our Best Selves!