From 3 Living Generations of Strong Women to 2 - Take Aways from the Process of Life
I read somewhere "I've never heard of a strong person with an easy past". That sentence right there hits home for me. I didn't think my childhood was perfect and I had my own struggles. I learned after becoming an adult what a tough life my Mother had. My daughter, I'd like to think had a comfortable life, but she dealt with her battles growing up too.
My relationship was strained with Mom once I hit my teenage years, which really isn't anything out of the ordinary I suppose. As Young ladies we go through a phase of becoming our own woman and anything that Mom does we want to do and be the exact opposite, only to realize once you become older how much you are like your Mom and are thankful for it, maybe not all the traits you acquired, but most of them, the good ones! I decided when I was pregnant with my oldest child Ashley that I wanted my Mom to be in my life more than not, I wanted her to have a close relationship to my Daughter, a stronger bond than the one I had with my Mom growing up. I lived alone with my Dad from 13 to 17, which was a wonderful blessing in my life and I'm thankful for the years I had as a young girl to bond with him.
What I didn't expect was for my Mom to step in and be one of the best role models for my daughter she ever had, she also repaired the bridge between her and I. She became the one person I could do anything in front of and say anything in front of without judgement, my sounding board to all the ups and downs in my life. She celebrated when I succeeded and was right beside me when I failed. No matter how many times I chose the tough path, she just helped me pick up the pieces, told me to hold my head high and pick up and start again. That to me is pretty incredible coming from a Woman who was given away to be married off at the young age of 12 and become a Mother herself at the age of 13. She was never shown or given the tools to be "The Perfect Mom". She already had them and had to learn to use them. She became The Perfect Mom. She was My Perfect Mom. I hope that the strength my Mom had will continue to pass on to another generation when the 2 Strong Women generation becomes 3 again.
Although I originally thought I had a rough childhood, I didn’t. My Mom was part of my journey and Life happens for US not to US. Whatever experiences we go through helps strengthen us, it challenges us, it teaches us to grab life by the horns.
We can always change who we want to be and how we want to live. We aren't given a set of rules that we have to live by, they are decisions and choices we make every day. If you want to change you can.
We are built with internal tools we can utilize anytime we want. I discovered my strongest tool is resilience.
What is your strongest Internal Tool?
