Our Stories become someone else's lifeline

​Last week, I shared an interview I did with my friend and colleague Marrin Scalone. In that interview, Marrin, who survived a suicide attempt when she was a teen, said, "That teenage girl worked really hard for me to be able to tell her story"

I could relate to that.

I've never actually attempted to take my life, but I have my stuff. I have my stuff I've overcome. I have my stuff I'm overcoming.

I think we all do.

Marrin said something that struck me in our conversation. She said as a woman now, she has to make sure she looks back with kindness on that young Marrin who struggled so mightily. She has to offer grace to the young girl who tried to take her life.

I could relate to that, too. Sometimes we look at our struggles as reasons to beat ourselves up, not treat ourselves with kindness.

Maybe it is easier to be kind to ourselves when we realize what Marrin realizes. The stories we live out become the stories we tell. And the stories we tell become the stories others cling to for hope.

Life is not a 'happily ever after' story. Life is actually a 'fight to be happy after' story.

A fight to be happy after we've faced a mental health challenge.

A fight to be happy after we've faced a broken marriage challenge.

A fight to be happy after we've lost a job or faced a pandemic or lost a loved one challenge.

Life is a fight to imagine happiness in moments and experiences when happiness seems completely out of reach. And often - our lifeline in those fights is each other. It's each other showing up for one another with a story.

It's showing up in each other's storms and weathering them together.

Imagine it - throwing lifelines to one another. Lifelines that start with the words, "let me tell you a story..."

It's Monday. Maybe you're going through something hard today. Be kind to yourself. I know it doesn't make it any easier, but you are living out a story you will one day tell to bring hope to someone else. Maybe what you are going through doesn't feel beautiful. But your story will be.

It's Monday. Maybe you're beating yourself up for something in your past. Be kind to yourself. You are alive and you've overcome it. STOP beating yourself up and START telling your story. Someone needs to hear it. You are someone's lifeline.

It's Monday. Chances are it won't be a happily ever after week. But we can absolutely find 'happiness after' this week.

We can find it in one another.

We are each other's happiness after.