Not one single soul in this world makes it through life unscathed.We all have scars, some you can see, some you can't. We all have stories. Stories of perseverance. Stories of strength. Stories of our weakest moments. Stories of when we felt we would shatter from it all. Each of us have moments in life when the sheer magnitude of what we must face drove us to our knees and left us breathless. We didn't think we could get through it. We couldn't find our way through the darkness. Some days, we didn't even know if we wanted to. We lose our light. We lose our confidence. Our heart and soul feel broken. We lose all hope that we can make it through whatever it is we are facing. We do not believe we will ever feel happy or content again. We don't trust the world.We don't trust love.We don't trust tomorrow. Most of all, we no longer trust ourselves. So we dig into our unhappiness, mistrust and brokenness. It becomes a safe haven for us. We are already hurt - so bring it on. Until that moment in time when a shimmer of light seeps through our defenses and we want to be better. We want to allow the light to flood back in to scatter the shadows and we desperately want to grasp ahold of the most elusive emotion of all - hope. Hope for healing.Hope for love.Hope for tomorrow. Hope that we will be ok.Hope that we will eventually find our happiness.Hope that our strength and perseverance will bring us through the darkness to the Other Side. We want to make it. We want to believe. We want to dig deep, square our shoulders and face what needs facing, deal with what needs dealing with, and once and for all walk away from the trauma with healed scars that tell our story.We came. We conquered. We healed. We made it to the Other Side of life. Where all the life lessons from our past are put to use for a brighter, happier future. Come with me on a journey through these pages and slowly you will see and believe in the possibility of getting through everything you are facing in life. You can do it. You can face it. You can make peace with it. You can heal from it. Then, when you are ready, you will move on from it.I wish I could hold the hand of everyone working through something, facing something or recovering from something and walk along beside them. But as I have learned, it is often a journey you must do alone. However, trust that you will always find guides to help you when you are ready. Thank you for allowing me to be one of those guides
About the Author: Who is J.V. Manning? She is at times her own best friend and at times her own worst enemy. Some days she has her stuff together. Some days she is a hot mess. She drinks way too much coffee, but always seems to be tired. She thinks a lot - probably too much. Her brain never really shuts off. She is quirky. She is a bit random. She is a tad bit crazy at times. She has been to hell and back and isn't afraid to write about it. She is a bit outspoken, probably too blunt and tends to speak her mind. She refuses to break regardless of what life throws at her. She likes to make people think. She is the woman next door, the chick at the coffee shop, and the one singing in her truck at a traffic light. She is a wife, stepmother, sister and friend. J.V. is simply a woman who has seen both the darkest of days and the brightest moments that life has to offer and who one day decided to write about them. J.V. Manning is the author of the wildly successful blog "Random Thoughts n' Lotsa Coffee." Her first book, "Random Thoughts n' Lotsa Coffee: A Collection of Writings Inspired by Real Life," was published in 2013. J.V. lives in Gorham, Maine, with her husband and stepson. She can often be found down at the coast - coffee in hand - contemplating life while staring out at the deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean.