Why am I optimistic?

Because it’s easier to believe that everything is going to work out than to walk around anticipating doom and gloom.

Sometimes when I’m hit hard I want to crawl up into a ball but other times I want to stand up and scream, “What else you got?”

At 17, I found out that my father was not my “real” father
At 18, I was sexually abused
At 19, I had to move back home because I couldn’t handle life on a college campus
At 25, I married a bigamist
At 26, I became a single mother
At 36, I became a twice-divorced single mother

I could dwell on all of that but what would be the point? I choose to dwell on this:

At 26, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who, to this day is still the light of my life
At 30, I was blessed with a baby girl who reminds me everyday what love truly is
At 38, I bought my first home
I am financially stable
I have been able to sustain a successful career for more than a decade
I’m putting my son through college
My parents are still with me

My life is good. No, everything is not perfect. There are times when I suffer with depression so badly that I’d rather die than get out of bed. But thank God I do get out of bed. Every damn day. And I thank Him every day for that gift. I don’t think we realize the gift that God has blessed us with. I don’t know about you but I refuse to take that gift for granted. I don’t know what’s around the next corner but I know that all things work together for good.

So, I’m up for it.