On the
path to success
I
haven't always been an adventurous
person. In fact, I was a timid person who preferred to follow and bail
out whenever I got too afraid. I got tired of being left out and I
wanted to have fun. I wanted to be the cool, fun person especially to
my own children.
Four years ago my life began to dramatically change. I had separated
from my husband and took a leap of faith living on my own raising our
two children. It was the scariest time in my life yet I was beginning
to have fun. I worked at a nursery (plant) at the time as the office
manager. I had just been promoted to that position after working there
for the past four seasons.
I had learned over the years how to drive a skid loader, load mulch and
eventually how to unload ball & burlap trees from the trucks. I
then learned how to drive the small dump truck and was able to deliver
mulch on the weekends to homes in the surrounding area. People thought
that was cool because I was female. I thought it was just fun learning
new things.
Long story short I got pregnant after getting involved with my boss.
Because I refused to have an abortion my job ended and I was lost for a
time. It turned nasty for a time resulting in the legal system getting
involved.
All the while I was preparing for my third child and picking the pieces
of my life back up and putting them together.
I vowed my life would get better and the way I wanted it.
After my son was born, I decided I wanted to go back to college.
That became a reality in January 2006, nearly 10 years after I had last
attended.
My children and I returned to church and became deeply involved. That
is where I attended a discipleship class called Making Healthy Choices
moderated by Mike Strawbridge.
At first glance you would first think that Making Healthy Choices is
about eating healthy. Well, some of it was about that. Mostly though,
it was about improving your daily living, your well being. After
several weeks, the class ended. But soon afterwards Mike approached me
about being my life coach. After thinking about it for awhile I decided
to give it a try. http://www.mikestrawbridge.com
That was the best thing I could have ever done for myself and for my
kids.
A new side of me gradually evolved. I slowly gained self confidence
learning to stand on my own two feet and to take care of myself and
focus on my dreams and goals.
Once a week Mike was stopping by to visit with me and give me new
challenges to complete.
Mike was the main person helping me to focus on getting straight on the
pathway. I also was seeing a christian counselor and every three weeks
visiting with my mentor from the crisis pregnancy counseling center I
had been going to since I found out I was pregnant.
All three of these people made a difference in my life and without them
I would not be where I am at today.
It's been a year now since I stopped going to New Hope, the crisis
pregnancy center although every so often I'll go back and say hi.
I stopped the counseling sessions last summer as Mike and I
became closer and I felt confident enough to be on my own, completely.
I still visit with Mike although he feels confident enough I am able to
take leaps of faith without assistance.
My kids and I are now attending a different church that has given me
the opportunity to focus on them and their self confidence. I am so
glad I found Unity of Chattanooga http://unityofchattanooga.org
.
Last August I transferred to a four year university to tackle getting
my bachelor's degree in Organizational Leadership. It's gotten harder
but I enjoy having challenges that keep me on my feet.
In September I took a small, part time job assisting a company with my
services to maintain their Ebay auctions and Ebay store.
Then in October 2007, I took a huge leap of faith by moving out of
public housing and two months later getting off of government
assistance. For two and a half years we had been mostly depending on
government help.
So far, building my financial stability has been the biggest
accomplishment in my life. W