Tell me a Story

I was told once to listen 90% of the time and speak 10%...that there is a time to talk and a time to listen. I feel like I have been doing a lot of talking throughout this Pursuit, but in the past couple days, I stepped aside to do more listening. Yesterday, I shared a part of my story and through that, I was so blessed by people and their words. I was encouraged beyond belief and was reminded that I am stronger than this situation. I wouldn’t have had that if I didn’t open up about my struggles and didn’t have friends who were willing to open up, share their story, and help me out. My dad also helped me out with the verse Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

It feels good to be out of my daydream like state where I just wondered around. The last few days have been harder than normal. Waiting longer to hear my results, finding out I have to wait longer than I wanted to have children, and then to hear about another young person losing the fight to cancer, I was just left speechless, without any thoughts. Throughout this whole Pursuit I have been able to express my feelings into words and in the past couple days, I haven’t been able to. That’s when family and friends stepped in and I started to do more of the 90% listening. Because I let people know that I was confused, mad, sad, and all of the above, they were able to help me sort out my thoughts and bounce back to the old me in no time. I reached out for help and my family and friends made me see that waiting for a baby is really the best thing I can do for me, Andrew, and baby G. In my sister’s words…you don’t want your baby to come out glowing do you? :) But I also understand that it was ok to experience a loss at this time. Even though there was no baby inside me, I felt apart of me was taken away when I was advised from two doctors to not have children for another year. Some of the wonderful people who helped me sort things out have been in my shoes. And because they were willing to share their story with me, I learned how to cope much faster. I hope my story, my Pursuit, has done that for somebody else dealing with a situation as well.

You do not have to live through something tragic to learn from it. Life happens all the time. It’s not just the big life changing events like college, marriage, babies, and retirement. Life is happening in the mean time so I’m going to start enjoying and learning from every moment in the mean time! And I’m seeing that you don’t have to have cancer to have a life story. Everybody has a story. I’ve just learned through this past experience that it’s nice to share stories because we can grow and learn from each other. There are many stories out there, not just people with health problems. Whether you are a house wife, the boss of your own company, a Wal-Mart greeter, anything, you have a story. What’s yours? TELL YOUR STORY! And the best way to do it is to be authentic and true to yourself. Keep that in check and you will be a truly unique person that people remember. I must say, I have gained major insight from this WHOLE experience. It’s nice to know that my brain really does work because I have written these blogs from my heart, and then I see that the things I think about and experience, others have too…only difference is they made money because they put it into a book! :) They shared their story and their insight to how to live this Life too...we are all more alike than we realize.

Although it hurt to have ‘my plan’ gone out the window, I honestly see that getting myself better is best for everyone involved, even though I pushed that thought to the back of my head each time it entered the past couple days. Things in life happen to build character and this character has definitely grown throughout this Pursuit.
My friends reminded me today that I am not alone and that I am a strong woman. And I am, I just forgot for a second :) So while I wait another year to start my extended family, my immediate family and friends can keep me entertained for at least a year…starting with tonight…it’s game night at the Nance’s house!!