I’ve been meaning to talk about this book for several weeks now but my memory and life have kept getting in the way of my ability to properly form words. The book is called “I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis” and it’s written by a man called Jerry White, who also is the co-founder of Survivor Corps, as I was reviewing the press releases and information about the book a particular section struck me given what’s been going on in my life recently.

“We are surrounded by survivors who have gone before us, and their examples will help mark the way forward. Their experiences show us that, with the right support, everyone can recover and thrive. As we overcome hardship, there is laughter and hope and love waiting for each of us. But it is crucial for us to want those things.”

I know many of us survive from day to day, many difficult things which we may not fully talk about. Through my own therapy and things which I haven’t fully talked about on here I’m coming to realize that my issues and problems should not be looked upon with shame, but as badges of honor. I have survived and I should be proud of that. It’s also taken me a long time to realize that I am entitled to happiness, and good things, that I actually do deserve the good things which I have in my life, like my husband and my son instead of feeling as though I’m not worthy of these things.

I may not have come through a natural disaster or a war, but I have faced some pretty horrible things, and I too, will not be broken and am not broken. I am the way that I am.

I’m interested to read the rest of his book and see what insights that it has. I didn’t see a copy at our local book store while I was there today, but we didn’t have much time to browse through all of the books.

In the mean time I’m also finding some strength from this excerpt.

“There is a difference between surviving and thriving. Thriving requires tapping into our gratitude and drawing on this well to give to others. Studies on gratitude and giving are starting to proliferate. Why? Because people are catching on to the secret of happiness—giving, not getting. It turns out that by giving we end up getting as well. It’s a loop. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.’”

.

I’m working on that myself right now. On realizing that I can step above the things which I’m experiencing and carve my own happiness from my existence. I also realize that in many respects you have to choose to be happy to get through things. It’s so easy to sit and dwell on the have-nots. My health isn’t so great right now, we don’t have much money, but we have so much and I can take comfort and find happiness in that, because I also realize that if I dwell on the negative parts of what happened, my abusers win, and that is a sort of “being broken”, but I’m not broken. I’m lucky.