Saturday, November 21, 2015

FTSF - The hardship I'm most thankful for

There probably isn't anyone who didn't at some point in their life think they had some kind of a hardship.  The challenge at Kristi's blog hop, Finish the Sentence Friday - The hardship I'm most thankful for, wants us to write a post on that subject before linking up.

Looking back, I think I can safely say through all my hardships, challenges, and trials, or those things I may have viewed as such, I have learned something beneficial.  I know that some of those experiences proffer more than one lesson, not necessarily being taught in hindsight even at the same time.  As a child, there are things that seem hugely insurmountable at times, and of course often a few years seem very minor considering what one has come to know later.

Until I was in my teens, I knew I lived on a farm and had daily farm chores to do and didn't get to go play at the homes of friends or to invite others to our home.  There were always chores to be done and with my parents' working away from home and their rotating work schedules, it wasn't possible to be driven to go to other homes to play or to invite friends to our home, except on rare occasions.  That was life.  

When I went from a two-room school to a large junior high in the city, I quickly became aware of cliques that probably had already begun within the walls of the larger elementary schools and carried over into junior high.  I was very shy and I didn't know where I fit in. Students that were in my very small class in sixth grade elementary class seemed to be in entirely different classes than I was in junior high. Because of the dynamics of my family and maybe thinking that there wouldn't have been anything they could do to help me, I didn't speak about my feelings with my parents. It wasn't until a number of years later that I learned that probably the majority of kids felt insecure during their junior high years for various reasons.  It was only much later that I learned how helpful it is to be able to give voice to one's feelings.

I remember wishing I could live in town, somehow thinking that would make my life so much easier and I would somehow have the opportunities that some of the other kids did.  Of course I didn't  realize that those opportunities didn't come without a price.  In reality, there were many school buses which drove into the countrysides outside the city limits to pickup and deliver students from and to their homes.  Some students lived on farms and some didn't.  Most students probably had at least some chores to do.  There were probably some kids who wished that they could live on a farm, thinking that it would be wonderful to ride horses all day, or having some other entirely unrealistic view of farm life. 

Reviewing that period of my life, with all the experiences, I can now be grateful for the many sacrifices my parents made that gave me opportunities to learn some important lessons.  These lessons continue to come, although the format changes from time to time, depending on what I need to learn at that given period of time.  Such was and is my life, and I'm grateful for it.



 

10 comments:

  1. Oh how very refreshing. Nicely put. The lessons are there - we just have to look for them.

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    1. Thank you. Yes, they are there. We not only have to be willing to see them, but to accept them.

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  2. I love the fact that you realized later that so many kids felt just as insecure as you did. I'll bet some of those city kids envied your country lifestyle!

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    1. I have no doubt they did. Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. So many beautiful lessons in here, Pat - you possess such wisdom. Being able to voice our feelings is so important. I tell my Daughter all the time that if she doesn't speak up to me, to a teacher, to a friend, etc., about how she feels, no one knows what's in her mind and heart. And always true, I think, that we imagine others have a better situation than we do, but you are so right that they may be feeling precisely the same. And there's a lesson, too - appreciate what you do have and don't spend all of your time wishing for something else.
    Love your post!

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    1. Thank you, Lisa. You are right. It is so much healthier for body and mind not to dwell on what you don't have, but to be able to see all that you do have. Some people learn that lesson quicker than others.

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  4. Thank you so much for linking up. I, too, really wish I'd known in junior high and high school that most kids feel insecure and wish I'd talked about how I felt with my parents more. I hope that my son will continue to tell me how he's feeling - it really does help. I hope you've had a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Thank you, Kristi. I'm glad that you host this blog hop. It certainly makes me think, and to remember.

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  5. Hugs to you Pat! Such a heartwarming post! You are amazing and wonderful! Communication is such an important thing and as older parents, we're always anxious that my son should tell us how he feels. Hardships do build character!

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    1. Thank you Vidya. I appreciate your comments. I agree that hardships do build character.

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