What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger

A couple of weeks ago, whilst doing some freelance work at a local radio station, I was privileged enough to be able to interview a victim of domestic violence. That may sound like an odd thing to say - how can interivewing somebody who has been the victim of such horrible abuse be a privilege? Well, the lady in quesiton made me realise that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger and that in some cases we become a better person as a result.
Every day challenges are thrown in our way, and whether we chose to face them head on and deal with them, or run away and hide decides whether we will come out of the situation stronger or weaker. When talking to this lady she oozed self-confidence. Not in a cocky way, but in an assured, righteous manner. After all that she has been through she refuses to let anybody treat her like a second class citizen. A successful business women with a young daughter to look after, her priorities are herself and her child. Her daugher and herself come first. Maybe some of us should take notice and start looking after ourselves. I'm not saying be selfish, I'm just suggesting that we all take a little bit more care of ourselves, focus on what is right for us instead of worrying what other people think and do. Afterall, we're the only ones who can control our future.

The Struggling Youth

After many months of hard work I have come to an, albeit rather delayed, realisation - the young are forever being punished for working hard and trying to create a better future for themselves. Mounting student debts, a lack of jobs and ridiculously high house prices makes it impossible for many to get started in adult life. We are all encouraged to go to University and earn degrees so that we have a specialism, an area of expertise, but where does that get us? Many of us leave with stupidly high debts and no job to go to - especially not the job that we are qualified to do. This results in low morale, eventually discouraging us from attempting to get work at all. How has it come to this?
Unless mom and dad have a spare few thousands pounds to give away getting on the property ladder is virtual impossible. So it's the same old story: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Bitterness is not intended here, I congratulate parents who are able to afford to help their child/children out in such a way, but shouldn't we all get a fair crack at the whip? Shouldn't their be options available to everybody, regardless of their financial circumstance - an I don't include the dole/benefits as an answer. Why do we have put 25% deposits down on houses? Two years ago this wasn't the case. Maybe we'll forever be stuck in a down-beat, financially unstable rut.

Chances.

You don't get anywhere in life if you don't take risks. That's the motto I'm living by at the moment. Challenges are bought along to test us, and by facing up to them and accepting them we become stronger. What's the point of living if we just plod along, taking every day the same and never pushing ourselves to see what we can achieve, what we are capable of?
Last week I gave up my job. Insane in the current economical climate, I know, and to say that I was nervous was the understatement of the century. I still am. Six years of stability and comfort gone. I feel like I am jumping off a cliff and into a deep ocean (and I cannot swim so that would not be good) and am hoping that somebody will catch me. I'm starting a course that hopefully will change my life. After a difficult few years I'm planning on turning 2010 into the year that everything changes. So far so good. But life never runs smoothly. Whatever comes along to test me, to make me feel like I'm flying without a parachute and am going to crash land, I will welcome. And as a result I hopefully will be a better person.