Shifting your story: Life happens for you, not to you

Recently I wore a favorite shirt bearing the quote: Life happens. Coffee helps. Buckle up, because I’m about to challenge the first half of that statement. For several years, I’ve relayed my family’s story atop a soapbox of one (you can read about the details here). Although previous posts always brought awareness to the topic of drunk driving and how it forever changed our lives, 17 years later (on Aug. 19), the memories blur at the edges and events replay out of order. Yet the impact of that fateful night remains in the background, while life as we remember it eludes us. But today I choose to shift our story — focusing on our triumphs vs. our defeats. To refute the declaration that life happens to us and claim, instead, that it happens for us. We may never understand the “whys,” but we can learn from what happened. Grow. Celebrate victories. And continue to share our message. Don’t drink and drive.

Does life happen to you, or for you?

Photo by SOULSANA on Unsplash.