There's critical moments in people's lives, where everything they've worked for can be taken away from them. Imagine the life you built stolen because of a natural disaster, or your significant other leaving you, or someone you love passing away, How would you move on past that? Would it even be possible to get your life together after?
Turns out, sometimes, you can, as evidenced by the following stories.
Reddit user, u/apatil4, wanted to hear how you turned it around when they asked:
What broke you but made you stronger?
A Chance At A Fresh Start
Moving out of the house because of how emotionally, verbally, mentally, and physically my step father would abuse me. I left with no knowledge of the world. A couple months before I had to raise my hand to ask permission to use the restroom. Now I'm paying bills, working full time and trying to figure out what taxes and a W-2 are. I still feel under prepared. But.....it helps in ways, I guess.
Love Wasn't What You Thought
Finding out my wife of seven years was cheating on me. It destroyed me but in the process I learned my self worth and I refuse to let myself get mentally/ emotionally abused like that again. My fiancee now is everything I lacked in prior relationships. She genuinely cares about me despite my faults and I love her immensely
Toughening Up
Bullying,
I used to get bullied when I was younger and while it sucked and made me isolate and avoid interactions, it made me man up and be able to not give a damn about other people's opinions. I can now easily discern between someone being toxic or someone giving genuine criticism and I am not as easily hurt anymore.
Face Your Fears Head On
The worst was when I was only 19, having to go to the funeral home to make funeral arrangements for a loved one.
Having to select a coffin (from many in their coffin display room), flowers, write an obit, choose a cemetery plot and monument, etc., was overwhelming.
But now, I'm better equipped to face it and know more about what to expect.
Out Of The Blue
In February of this year, my friend killed himself. Him and I had a friend group and we would all go out about once a month just to unwind and catch up. He always knew how to make me laugh in the ugliest way possible. On February 2nd, we were all together celebrating the birthday of one of our friends.
Afterwards, at about 2am him and his roommate walked my roommate and I home because it was late and they were worried something would happen to us. We only lived five minutes apart from each other and the last thing I remember saying was "love you guys see ya later take care!"
24 hours later he flung himself off the fourth floor of a parking garage right across the street from my apartment. I was only a crosswalk away. It was the first time I ever lost a loved one and there were no indications that he would ever do this. He was always the life of the party.
Since then, my once shy and timid personality has become more outgoing. I still struggle but once I am friends with somebody, I make sure they appreciate it. I've reached out more to people I've lost contact with and I've just become so much more aware of how you impact others. I know my friend knew he was loved until the end and now I just make sure all my friends feel the same.
Realizing How Little Time You Have Left
I was driving my dad home from the hospital when he went into septic shock after the stent removal he had undergone had unexpected complications. I got him to the ER, helped triage and give information and then broke down after.
....I think it made things a little easier to bear when he did pass a few years later.
cmdr_shadowstalkerBroken, But Reassembled Stronger
Alcoholism broke me, the recovery made me stronger.
The lllloooooonnnngggg road to recovery.....
I drank for almost 7 years. Stopped for almost a year, then relapsed. Was going strong on almost 5 months until a week ago. I'm not looking at it as failing though as long as I'm trying.
Starting From The Bottom And Going Up
I lost my job, my house, my car, I got denied admission into clinicals for a degree i spent 4 years working on, and the love of my life cheated on me with another man. Its a horrific place to be but eventually a very relieving one. With nothing else to loose, and everything to gain, every small accomplishment feels that more significant.
Getting The Help You Need
Being told by a (Now former) friend that she was uncomfortable around me, that I was a good person and would find new friends, but to please stop hanging out with her
I was devastated, I knew I had bad social skills but I didn't thought they were *that* bad
Anyway, this led to me completely separating from my friend group and being depressed as hell, didn't eat for like 3 days
Finally tried to commit suicide
Then I went to a psychiatric hospital, in said place, I got better in social skills, much much better, and I made new friends, and when I came back to school, I found myself with even more friends because other people heard what happened
I don't know what happened to my former friend, she went to another school, and I'm scared that she might blame herself for what I did, it wasn't her fault, it was mine
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
