If there’s one truth life keeps teaching me, it’s this: The universe will never throw you something you cannot endure. Even when it feels impossible. Even when you’re exhausted. Even when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. You are stronger than you think. And you were built to rise.

For a long time, I tried to control life enough to protect myself from pain. After years of anxiety, panic attacks, and even PTSD, I believed that if I just did everything right, I could prevent more trauma from happening. I thought preparation could shield me. I thought control could save me.

But life, in its wisdom, had a different initiation planned.

The Chapter That Cracked Me Open

After my son was born, I faced something I never expected: postpartum depression and anxiety. It swept in quickly. Quietly. Powerfully. And suddenly everything felt harder than it should have been. I had moments where I genuinely wondered, Is this the thing that might break me? I felt like I was teetering on the edge, unsure of how to keep going, unsure of how to anchor myself. I felt blind,  like I was being led down a path with no visible steps beneath my feet.

But here’s the thing: Even then, even in the darkest moments, something in me kept whispering: Keep going. One breath at a time.

And so, I did.

My Phoenix Moment

Looking back now, I call this chapter my Phoenix moment - the time in my life when I felt like everything was burning, yet what was really happening was a rebirth. Postpartum depression and anxiety cracked me open… But it also rebuilt me. It created a stronger connection to my family and friends. It softened me into deeper empathy and gave me a newfound understanding of the adversity some of my loved ones had previously experienced too. It strengthened me and helped me discover the resilience I didn’t know I possessed. And it taught me self-compassion in ways no book ever could.

Because adversity gives us gifts we can’t earn any other way. These are the gifts that guide us into our next chapter. These are the gifts that make us rise.

Why We Must Move Through Extraordinary Things

I spent years believing that if I healed enough, I could prevent life’s hardships.

But now I know this: to live an extraordinary life, we must move through extraordinary things. The joyful things, the magical things, and the deeply challenging things. Those hard chapters aren’t proof that something is wrong. They’re proof that you’re human. They’re part of your becoming. And even when you feel fragile, even when you worry you might break, You won’t. You can’t. Because you’ve already survived 100% of your hardest days and you will continue to survive every challenge you face.

If You’re in a Hard Season Right Now…

I want you to know this:

You are not behind.

You are not weak for struggling.

You are not failing for having moments of doubt. 

You are not alone, even when it feels like it.

The universe will never give you something you cannot walk through.

It may not feel like it now, but you will rise from the ashes, through the discomfort, into a stronger, softer, wiser version of yourself. You have a Phoenix moment, too.

It might be today. It might be in the days ahead. It might be the chapter you look back on one day and say, “That was the moment that changed me. That was the moment I rose.” And when that moment comes, when you recognise just how far you’ve come, I hope you feel proud. I hope you feel the strength that has been inside you all along. Because you can do anything. You can endure anything. You are becoming more extraordinary than you know.