This prompt was created by @Rilee. We've all had to do difficult things, whether that's transferring to a new school (or just the schoolwork in general), getting a new job and working, or even just going up and talking to someone (if you're an introvert like me.) "I encourage you to comment on a situation where something you didn’t want to happen happened and something good that came out of it! You could even change it up a bit and talk about how you had to do something hard for a good result." ~@Rilee. Whatever you feel like doing. We'd love to hear your responses!
Link to @Rilee's Post: "Always Look for the Bright Side": https://asafeplace2share.wixsite.com/asafeplace2share/forum/share-your-story/always-look-for-the-bright-side
I never want to get ready for dance class. I've been doing it for ten years and right at the moment when I need to get ready to go, all I really want is to stay on the couch. Once I'm there, it's such a mood booster. And ten years of doing it have enabled me to become a dance major and develop important life skills such as perseverance. Do hard things! That has to be a part of why we live.
In 8th grade, I had a best friend. I loved him to pieces. He and I were always there for each other. We had similar interests, similar likes and similar needs. We were even "co-stars" in our school's musical. But the day before opening night, his sibling's school (his future high school) had a shooting. "This is insane. I know these kids. They're on the news. They're my sibling's friends." I remember him telling me. That broke him. It broke me too. After that, he showed up to school once a week, every other week. I rarely saw the only person who understood me at school. And after 8th grade was concluded, he was pulled out of public school and became home schooled. We promised to stay in touch, but it got harder and harder, until we finally just split apart. I was relying on him at the beginning of 9th grade, when I had no friends. And, as you could imagine, separating was hard for me. Throughout this though, I've learned that (sometimes) people are only in your life for as long as you need them. It's still hard for me to believe, but I know he and I only needed each other throughout middle school. I'm still learning to move on, and I know that other people will enter my life. I'll still remember him and the impact he had on my life, but I know that better friendships are coming.
During my life, I have run into things that I didn’t want to talk about, things that made me feel scared, worried, stressed, or even guilty. However, I have found that when I talked to someone who cares for me, I was relieved and felt a lot better.
My Senior year of high school I had to make a really hard choice. My best friend, since Jr high had started running with a rough crowd, drinking a lot, going to parties where lots of drugs and alcohol and sex were happening, and basically gave me the choice of going with her or finding new friends... it was super sad and hard. I remember crying a lot that year. And it was a very lonely senior year because I chose not to go and struggled with making any new friends... I missed her and our friendship so very much. I think the good that came from it was learning that being alone and being ok with who you are is an important part of growing... and it prepared me for my first year of college where I would move to a new state, not know anybody and make it. While I can definitely say those were challenging times, they lead to some of the best years of my life.
A friend did something that really hurt my feelings and I felt like I had to confront her about it. I prefer to avoid conflict so I didn't want to bring it up and just wanted to pretend it never happened. I knew if I just swept it under the rug, it would just continue to bother me. I waited until I was less hurt and angry and then invited her out for coffee so we could talk about it. It turns out, she didn't even realize she had hurt my feelings. She said she was really glad that I brought it up and apologized. As awkward as the conversation felt at first, it was really great in the end. I think it made our friendship stronger.
My mom wanted me to speak at my Grandma's funeral, and for a lot of reasons, I really didn't want to do it. At the same time, it also felt really selfish to refuse. So I tried to think of things that would encourage the people attending, and I wrote a short speech that I hoped would give them comfort. After the funeral, a lot of people said that my words helped them feel better, and a 70 year old man even said that he cried (healing tears) for the first time in years. It felt good to help people find meaning during a difficult time.
My challenging thing probably has to be middle school. If you read my About page, you'll remember that my middle school experience wasn't the best. And it wasn't until my junior year when I switched schools for the 3rd time since middle school that things started to get better. After 8th grade, my freshman and sophomore years were better than 7th and 8th, but still not great. I didn't actually make any friends until April of my freshman year. And I had those friends throughout my sophomore year, but they came with a ton of baggage; let's just say the rest of the friend group had to keep one of the girls from committing suicide. Because of that, I decided to switch schools AGAIN. And because of those past 4 years, I was a bit nervous for my new school; what if it was just like middle school and when I was an underclassman? And at first, I didn't meet some very good peers, but later in the year and even the year after, I started making some really good friends and people started treating me a lot better. And I've been able to get involved and included in a bunch of clubs and groups. I feel like I've really grown since middle school and just all around a lot happier at my new school. So I guess you could say my "difficult situation where something you didn’t want to happen happened" was those past 4 years and the good that came out of that was it taught me that, if you run into something difficult and you're really struggling from it, just keep pushing forward. It will get better. You may just have to wait hours, days, months, or even years for it to get better.