Have you had disasters turn into blessings?

SFC Mark Merino — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 17:03:34 -0400

This is an issue I wanted to discuss for the benefit of the younger troops who may be going through a "disaster" in life. Have you been in a bad (even hopeless) situation before that had a positive impact on you later in life? Did you EVER believe that you would recover from it when you were younger?

Response by CPT Richard Riley made Aug 25 at 2014 11:55 AM

CPT Richard Riley — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 11:55:12 -0400

I think, in part, 'disaster' is kind of relative to your situation. You're pointed in the right direction when you say a bad situation appears hopeless. Some things that happen in our teens or early twenties seem life stopping terrible, yet with age and reflection were not the issue we made it out to be.
That said, some life changing disasters leave a mark. Divorces, deaths, accidents, job loss, arrests and the list goes on will alter the trajectory of your life catastrophically if you let it. Life sometimes has bad things happen. Knowing how to tackle the issue and come up with a solution is part of the struggle.

A key that I have found works for me is to always find one positive thing each day I can sleep on & call it a positive day. There may be a whole bunch of crap in that day, but I need to find one positive and hang my hat. No two days are alike so tomorrow will be something different.

This may not have been the answer you were searching for but I agree with your premise - you can recover and the majority of the time things are not hopeless.