Triumph: The Seven and a Half Year Journey

By Eileen Martin, See the Triumph Contributor
 
Here I sit, contemplating the vast amount of courage, strength, and tenacity it has taken me to arrive at this next crossroad of my life. Honestly, it probably began the day I walked out of my abusive 25 year marriage, but deciding to pay it forward by becoming a counselor to offer hope and be of service to others started my first day on campus in August, 2010.
 
Funny thing is, I got out of my car that day--at the age of 45--and took a few steps toward my new classroom. Like a bolt of lightning, fear struck hard and forcefully. I promptly turned around and started back towards my car to leave.
 
But I didn’t.
 
I didn’t let the weary narrative fraught with fear and insecurity of my first 45 years of life stop me from the growth and exploration of my next 45.
 
I was on a mission.
 
Instinctively I knew what I was called to do, the key was to keep my fears at bay while I worked through them and toward healing.
 
My journey has been one that is uniquely mine, full of energy, enthusiasm, great hope, moments of despair, longing, and brokenness. I have moved mountains, slogged through mud and travelled many miles to and from my destiny.
 
I have failed, been on my knees, and yet, here I am today triumphant. I am within a stones throw of having my degree and am now working as a counselor. This is sacred work and my heart is full and expanding with what I do each day.
 
As I consider my next path, fear still lingers from time to time, but it is more like a small rumble rather than lightning strike and I don’t think about turning around anymore, I move toward that rumble knowing who I am.
 
I am tenacious, strong, and imperfectly me. I am sensitive and feisty and sometimes stubborn. I am loving and hopeful and grateful for my path. I am triumphant.