A while back, when my toddler was revisiting one of his favorite movies, Little Shop of Horrors, I decided I wanted a man-eating plant of my own. I wanted to be able to pose its body both in its pot and out, with its roots looking like spider legs—kinda like the plants in my upcoming novel! I wanted it, but there was a problem.
It didn’t exist.
So I built it.
I had to design it since I didn’t have a pattern, which was a challenge. But none of that was going to stop me from making it exist.
It was the same for my first novel. I’d go to every book section of a store, looking for something that didn’t exist. So I wrote it.
It’s the same for life. I suffer from PTSD, which brings with it severe anxiety and depression. It’s really bad. There have been so many times when I thought healing didn’t exist for me. But there’s a saying—it sits on my writing desk, “You don’t find the happy life, you make it.” I can tell you from experience:
This 100% true.
A lot of things are outside of our control. I can’t go back in time and change what happened to me. But I CAN map out a plan for my future. I CAN make decisions that will make my present better. What happened to me, my broken brain—it does NOT have to define me. I’ve created a routine that I strive to do every morning, combining working out with meditation and study of spiritual, uplifting things. I’ve read books on the brain and PTSD, learned how to do EMDR, taken classes, gone to therapy, taken medication. I’ve set achievable goals that have absolutely changed my life. I’ve made doing things that make me happy—and spending time helping and being with my favorite people—a part of my daily life. In other words, I’m FIGHTING. I’m CREATING the life of my dreams by refusing to give up, and I’m healing. Just because the happy life wasn’t handed to me, doesn’t mean I can’t make it MINE.
We have everything we need right here in our hearts to have happy, fulfilling lives that exceed our dreams. It just takes bravery, creativity, and discipline. And I can tell you right now: YOU are braver than you know. YOU are more creative than you think. And YOU are stronger than you realize.
You’ve got this.
Where Rose Writes Very True Stories 