This is the most humbling period in my life so far……

Wednesday link up with Deb Runs for Wednesday Word. Deb states:

Wednesday Word, a weekly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers. Each Wednesday you will have a single word prompt to write about.  Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post.

What I like most about this link-up is that I get to write about anything as the word applies to me even though most times somehow I still end up with a fitness/running component to it-ha!

For today’s post,  Wednesday Word is HUMBLE

For my post I will be using HUMBLE as a verb.

verb

1. 1.

   lower (someone) in dignity or importance.

   
   April 1, 2013-this day will forever stay in m memory and my heart! You see this was the day that my mother had a massive heart attack that should have killed her.  By the grace of God, she was in the hospital when it happened and they were able to catch it and transport her to a cardiac care hospital and save her life!

   During this time, I was the principal of a non-public all day special education school for children with emotional disabilities.  To say that every day as stressful would be an understatement.  Between work, my immediate family (husband and kids ) and my parents (mom’s heart/dad’s Parkinson’s), I was stretched thinner that a fine silk thread. At the end of the school year, I would resign from my position and go out on faith that I would find something that would allow me more flexibility, less stress and the ability to support my mom’s recovery.

   Fast forward 5 months and mom’s recovery was slow and not going as we had hoped.  Tests show that she would need triple bypass surgery.  Triple bypass surgery and rehab had her in the hospital for over a month.  My ‘day job’ became dropping the kids off to school and heading to the hospital to be by my mom’s bedside and when she was discharged to be at the house to help where and when I could.
   Remember how I had resigned at the end of the school year…..after my Paid Time Off money and some money earned as a ‘transition of knowledge’ contractor, the coins in the bank were starting to dry up like a wet spot in the desert!  Thus begun the most humbling experience in my life to date.

Here I am an established education administrator and educator and I couldn’t find a job.  I applied to too many positions to count. Went on more interviews that I have ever in my life and 9 months in an I was still not working a job that brought money into the household.

Talk about humbling!!! Getting the message/email thanking you for your interest, your interview however, you were not selected for the position. This became so common place that I stopped telling people when I had applied for jobs or got invited in for an interview.  Trying to play nonchalant about begin rejected was becoming too much to handle and fake.

Add to the fact that this also meant that we went from a tight but comfortable 2 income family to super tight not comfortable 1 income family. Super Humbling!!!

If you read by post on being independent (read it here), you can only imagine the feelings of sadness, depression, anxiety and fear that I was experiencing at this time. I the Independent Women had to ask for help repeatedly.  Not just help in every day tasks but financial help. LAWD JESUS this was hard and oh so humbling!!!

For over 6 months, I relied on the financial support of my parents, my sister, my brother and my girlfriend.  To this day, I don’t know what I would have done without them! I and my family would be without a car, hungry and homeless!

In July of 2014, I was offered my current position.  To this day, my humbling period continues as I reach out and make arrangements with my creditors to get back in good standing.  Having to call and again ask for help continues to be a challenge and a humbling experience for me.

What I have learned and continue to learn is that asking for help is not a sign on weakness! (This has been a huge humbling lesson for me!)

I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am continuing to be humbled by this period in my life.  I take every day as a lesson and how it is helping to build and development my character and my strength!

Do you have a humbling experience to share? Are you humble?