When Good Comes Out of Bad

We all know that life is full of challenges and situations that we don't always understand.

When my husband said three weeks ago that he was leaving me, it felt as though my world had shattered into a thousand pieces. If I am honest, most of the time it still does.

Since then, many people have said to me that I should remain positive as something good will come out of this eventually.  One day I will understand why this had to happen.

I guess this is our way as humans of dealing with difficult situations that we are struggling to understand.

As I write these words I am still feeling lost - if there is a meaning out there to all this then I have yet to find it, but I am holding on to the thought that something positive is waiting for our family out there somewhere.

At the end of each year I always look back on the last twelve months and write down the main events of the year. Both the highlights and the challenges. In a couple of months time, at the end of 2012, the "challenges" list is likely to be a long one.  At the same time though,good things have happened too, and in my view the trick is to concentrate on those. An example of this is meeting my friend Liisa, which happened because of our cat.

Caroline, who had been in our family for the last eleven years, became ill earlier this year and eventually had to be put down.

It was a horrible time and we still miss her. (If you are an animal lover then you will know what I mean). At the time it was difficult to see anything positive in the situation. But funny things happen. In those last weeks I had to go to the vet so many times, that Liisa (the vet), and I started to become friendly. In the time since then, although she has now moved away from Somero, Liisa has become one of my closest friends, and all because of our cat Caroline.

In the last three weeks she is one of the only people to actually make me smile. For me, this little story is an example of how good things can come out of bad ones. When we are facing difficult times, as we all do from time to time, it helps to believe that things will turn out for the best in the end. I am hoping this is the case for my own family right now, and also for anyone going through challenges of their own. Keep believing, you never know what good things may be waiting round the corner.  Jody.