Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

I guess my mom's stroke made me stronger, but I would say something positive, working for my dad, has had the biggest impact on my strength. I am a firm believer that both good experiences and bad experiences can make us stronger.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Infertility, my moms breast cancer, September 11, the loss of my good friend who died when a car hit her suddenly leaving her 8 week old daughter and her 2 yr old son motherless. I think about her everyday. I decided on the day of her funeral that I would try a different fertility doctor and less then a year since her death I got the call that I was pregnant. I truly believe she had something to do with it.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

The hardest thing I have had to deal with in my life, I had as soon as I entered this world. I was born missing most of my right ear and have single-sided deafness.

I had 6 painful surgeries from age 3 to age 8 to try and reconstruct my ear, but they never worked and made it look worse. I also had to endure some pretty cruel teasing as a child, and whispers and stares from people throughout my life.

The kicker was at age 32, I developed a tumor as a result of infected scar tissue from the surgeries. I then had a major 7 hour surgery to remove it, and it decimated whatever ear I had left. I am now planning my 8th (and hopefully final) surgery for a prosthetic and implanted hearing aid.

I cannot wear earrings, my hair always has to be down even on 100 degree days, I cannot swim underwater, my sunglasses are crooked, and my hearing stinks.

But it has been a blessing too. I never take health for granted, ever, and I really do not stress over little stuff.

Many nights when I put my 1 and 3 year old boys to bed, I trace my fingers over both of their perfect ears, and whisper "Thank you G-d"..

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Posted by MrsJFG

Posted by want2bmommy

The next hurdle will be once I become pregnant and start a family, having to tell my kids about Grandpa and what kind of a man he was. My kids will never have the honor of knowing what a loving and beautiful person their grandfather was...

Oh yes they will.....b/c you are going to tell them. You are now the legacy for your father.

I am so sorry for you loss

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Watching DH almost die in a car accident.

Thank god he is okay (this was years ago) but the few hours of not knowing were the longest and darkest hours of my life.

That and dealing with my fathers illness growing up.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

This , and this and this

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

DH(then BF) joining the Marines. All the separation, worry, deployment to Iraq etc.

Dealing with infertility treatments....although I have two amazing daughters now

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

I feel like...what haven't I gone through that made me stronger.
Sometimes I have no idea how I ended up here with the life I have but I am glad I did.
I am a very, very different person that I was 15 years ago.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Having my children without either of my parents.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

The loss of my grandmother and my mother within 3 weeks of each other, all while I was pregnant with my DD.

Also, being admitted into the hospital for about a month while being pregnant with DD for monitoring!
Giving birth to a preemie and her having special needs.

Having 2 allergic reactions to 2 different medications and blacking out!
Thank Goodness I wasn't driving during both episodes! Still very scary to this day!

This all taught me to cherish everything and take life "One Day At A Time"!

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Marriage! And I am still not done going through it, so imagine how strong I will be in 10-20 years???

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Posted by WhatNow

Marriage! And I am still not done going through it, so imagine how strong I will be in 10-20 years???

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Child abuse, mental & physical and attempting suicide at 15

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Posted by J9-13

Posted by JP826


Truth is- everyone has a story.
You have three choices in life. Give up. Give in. Or Give it your all. So remember that falling down is part of life and picking yourself up is part of living.

Count your blessings.

Wow! I love that! Great advice

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Infertility. I've dealt with a lot of other horrible things in my life as well but IF has been the worst.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

My brother was killed by a drunk driver when I was 23. In that instant everything changed. I had to be stronger for my mom and myself.

Being diagnosed with MS at age 29. My DD was 8 months old and I had never been more scared in my life. I am still scared every single day but it made me stronger in that I WILL NOT let MS rule my life.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Marriage.

Being born with a physical disability and overcoming all the obstacles and stereotypes it brings to my life every day.

Losing my dad at 22 6 weeks before college graduation.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Truth is- everyone has a story.
You have three choices in life. Give up. Give in. Or Give it your all. So remember that falling down is part of life and picking yourself up is part of living.

Count your blessings.


Wow! I love that! Great advice


Me too...thank you for this!



Wow! Very powerful words to live by! Great advice!

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Posted by Annie91606



Many nights when I put my 1 and 3 year old boys to bed, I trace my fingers over both of their perfect ears, and whisper "Thank you G-d"..

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Going through infertility, only to become pregnant with my DD during the same time I (unknowingly) sustained an injury to my back. I ruptured a disc in my back and needed surgery to repair it because the damage was so extensive. Of course, I found this out at 8 weeks pregnant and NO ONE would touch me with a 10-foot pole while pregnant.

I went through my first pregnancy in desperate amounts of pain. Pain like I never knew existed. I could lay down for a maximum of about an hour, and then I would have to get up and walk. Night after night, I paced the room. Back and forth. I'd walk for about an hour, then try to get back into bed. Sometimes I could...but most of the time, I'd sit down on the bed, get a gigantic shockwave of pain, and I'd keep walking...

An MRI at 28 weeks (which I had to sign about 20 waivers of liability to have done) showed that my disc had literally exploded and was compressing my sciatic nerve into 10% of its allotted disc space. My right leg felt as though it was pinned under an 18-wheeler.

At around 30 weeks pregnant, walking didn't help to alleviate the pain anymore. I couldn't lay down to sleep, I couldn't sit upright in a chair. All I could do was stand. Sometimes, when I was really tired, my husband would stand up and I'd lean against him and try to sleep.

Other pregnant moms used to complain about their back hurting and about their "sciatica" and I wanted to claw their eyes out and scream because I KNEW that they had no idea what REAL pain was.

By this point, I was on 6 Vicodin a day. Not because I wanted to (I cried and cried and PRAYED every single day that I medicated myself during that pregnancy), but because it took about 25% of the pain away, and that was better than nothing.

As my stomach got bigger and bigger, the pain became more and more intense. I used to beg God to send me into early labor.

I had a detailed plan for how to kill myself and still leave enough time for the ambulance to come and get my DD out alive before she suffocated to death.

At 36 weeks, I went for an amnio to determine whether DD's lungs were mature enough for her to be delivered early. They weren't. I sunk into a new low as the realization of THREE MORE WEEKS OF HELL washed over me.

In the end...my DD was born healthy via c-section. I cried and cried because I was so relieved to be on the other side. When DD was 5 weeks old, I had the back surgery that gave me back my life.

But I will never, EVER forget that pain.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

i cant even imagine how you all have been through some of the horrific posts that i have seen on here...

i dont have any major life changing awful experience...and i thank god for it every day...

i have had my share of a a few things in life that changed my persepctive-

losing my grandmother..i wish i listened and spent even more time with her...her stories and advice were second to none...

going to a military college-getting yelled at and and mentally abused..all while my other friends were at spring break or partying like rock stars in their "normal"college

having parents that were out of work at times growing up- and learning from their daily sacrrifices

seeing people i know get divorced- taught me to cherish my marriage and work for it


stuggling with infertility (though right now im pretty weak, pathetic, jealous and beaten but i hope at some point it will make me a stronger person in the future...)

hugs to all of you....

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

When DH was diagnosed with a fatal condition. I had to be strong for him and the kids (they didn't know). I was always a runner, so I would go out to run so I could cry. That turned into marathon running. Marathons have taught me a lot about life: when you hit the wall at mile 20 , but still have 6 miles to go, you learn your body can keep going.

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Having PPD had def made me stronger. I never want to feel the way I did then. I thank God for my husband being able to tell that something was wrong. Now I make sure to go out of my way to warn others and to keep an eye out for my friends.

Also my husbands cousin was taken way too young from heart failure, he carried the gene for sudden death, half of his entire family have the gene and it just makes me so much more appreciative for life. My husband tested negative, it was the LONGEST month of my life to wait for the results!!

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

The lost of my cousin at a very early age...we were very close and it has forever changed my family.

My aunt involved in a drunk driving accident leaving her paralized


Infertility. The hardest and saddest road I have ever been on...

Re: What are some things you have been through that have made you stronger?

Growing up with an abusive, mentally ill mother definitely made me stronger!