{"id":295,"date":"2022-07-22T03:03:15","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T03:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/22\/theres-always-hope\/"},"modified":"2022-07-22T03:03:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T03:03:15","slug":"theres-always-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/22\/theres-always-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s always hope"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Sometimes I think my best quality is my eternal optimism.<\/p>\n<p>I could stare in the face of failure, pain, and horrible, gut-wrenching mistakes and think, she\u2019ll be right. Like that time, I totaled a work car on the biggest job of my career (at the time) or when I got dengue fever in Sri Lanka (omg, the worst), or when I low-key had a <a href=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/2020\/02\/heart-attack.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">heart attack<\/a>. Then there was that time the world imploded, and <a href=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/2020\/03\/lost-job-coronavirus.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I lost all of my work<\/a> when COVID began or when <a href=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/2020\/04\/grief-and-loss.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">my stepdad passed away<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Or all those innumerable days where I couldn\u2019t get up and face the world. Or even open my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve struggled with <a href=\"https:\/\/depression.org.nz\/get-better\/who-else-can-help\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">depression<\/a> and anxiety all of my life; I\u2019ve spent many days hanging around rock bottom. In fact, rock bottom is a familiar place. Oh, hello there, dark and gloomy pit of despair, here I am again. Well, there\u2019s only one way out of this, and it\u2019s up.<\/p>\n<p>I think in many ways, my stubborn (perhaps even blind) optimism has saved me from true defeat. Optimism and my family and my friends. And definitely NOT the healthcare system in New Zealand, which does not support mental health enough (not ready to fully write about that yet). Thank fuck for my friends, family, and my stubborn hope; that\u2019s all I\u2019m saying.<\/p>\n<p>I know what it is to feel alone, abandoned, unheard, overwhelmed, sad, and worthless. I know that horrible pain very well, the one that sits low in your gut like you\u2019ve eaten a bad oyster, that voice that whispers hate in your ear late at night when the world sleeps, that feeling of abyss.<\/p>\n<p>I know it well.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30463 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy.jpg\" alt=\"hope\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy-650x433.jpg 650w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A8538-copy-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"_a9zs\"><span class=\"_aacl _aaco _aacu _aacx _aad7 _aade\">A few weeks ago, I got an email that my final (final, FINAL, DEFINITELY FINAL) draft of my book went off to the printers; let me just say, it\u2019s left me speechless. I cannot believe that I wrote a book. Actually, come to think of it, have I mentioned I wrote a book here? In case I haven\u2019t, then yes, I wrote a book. It\u2019ll come out at the end of the year, and it\u2019s still a secret.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"_a9zs\"><span class=\"_aacl _aaco _aacu _aacx _aad7 _aade\">It actually chokes me to say this, but I am really proud of myself. I can\u2019t believe I managed to make my biggest, oldest, scariest dream a reality. And I managed to do it when I was in a very low, rock bottom place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"_a9zs\"><span class=\"_aacl _aaco _aacu _aacx _aad7 _aade\">Two months after I landed my book deal, <a href=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/2021\/12\/heartbreak.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">my life completely fell to pieces<\/a> when my partner and I broke up. My world was smashed, and I didn\u2019t know which way was up. All the things that gave me comfort were gone, packed up in a cold storage unit, and home was with whatever friend let me crash at their place. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"_a9zs\"><span class=\"_aacl _aaco _aacu _aacx _aad7 _aade\">I was lost, sad, heartbroken, depressed, and totally in the worst position ever to undertake my biggest project to date. Or was I? Dun, dun, dun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-30466\" src=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy.jpg\" alt=\"hope\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy-650x433.jpg 650w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/017A9106-copy-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"_a9zs\"><span class=\"_aacl _aaco _aacu _aacx _aad7 _aade\">Rock bottom became the foundation for my book, and writing became the beacon in my swirling world of turmoil. It kept me sane. Having a deadline gave me purpose. Writing daily was a routine. It was the perfect excuse for why I ran away to Wanaka. Don\u2019t get me wrong, writing a book is very overwhelming. There were days I thought I was a complete fraud. But hope kept me going.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"_a9zs\"><span class=\"_aacl _aaco _aacu _aacx _aad7 _aade\">My friends picked me up and helped me break it down into manageable tasks. They read my drafts and held me accountable. And while I managed to achieve the top writer\u2019s award of missing just about every deadline I was given, in the end, it was done, polished, and a joy to behold \u2013 in my opinion, of course. I can\u2019t wait to share the details soon of its launch, I can safely say that you guys probably can\u2019t guess what it\u2019s about \u2013 please try in the comments!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>At the end of last year, I didn\u2019t know how I would make it to June.<\/p>\n<p>Hell, I didn\u2019t know how I\u2019d make it to the weekend. But I got by with my friends who I leaned on, letting go of my pride, talking with my family, and getting up every morning and washing my face. I grasped at whatever straw of optimism I could, going through the motions of recovery until it finally felt like real recovery.<\/p>\n<p>And I think I am very close to understanding that I\u2019m a better person for going back down to rock bottom and coming out of the other side. Guys, there is always hope. Always.<\/p>\n<p><em>How do you find hope in the darkness? Have you struggled with this too? Share!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30462 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"hope\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2-650x433.jpg 650w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Photo-21-06-22-6-06-19-PM-copy-2-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/2022\/07\/hope.html\">There\u2019s always hope<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/youngadventuress.com\/\">Young Adventuress<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes I think my best quality is my eternal optimism. I could stare in the face of failure, pain, and horrible, gut-wrenching mistakes and think, she\u2019ll be right. Like that time, I totaled a work car on the biggest job of my career (at the time) or when I got dengue fever in Sri Lanka [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[]},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myholidayradar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}