When I was 27 I got pregnant from a one-night stand and decided to keep the baby. I had to move back home with my narcissistic mother and bi-polar brother who tormented me almost daily. I decided that since I was already as broke as I'd ever been, I'd go to college and try to get off the poverty hamster wheel. During this time I was on Medicaid and food stamps. I went to school on Pell grants and had a couple of hundred dollars left over each semester for things like gas and diapers. I was able to get a little run down garage apartment with the help of HUD Section 8 and another program paid for my son's daycare so I could attend school. Two years later my son was diagnosed with Autism.

Fast forward 26 years, I work for a huge consulting firm and make very good money by anyone's standard. I have no debt and plan to buy a house in the Spring. I pay more in taxes each year than the combined total I ever received from welfare. My son also graduated from college and now has a very good job.

Nowhere in the midst of this was there a happily ever after. I was married, declared bankruptcy, divorced. My son obviously had a lot of challenges growing up that took a lot of care and energy to help him navigate. I've restarted from zero more times than I can remember. I strive for a baseline of contentedness. Happiness is just a spike, like sadness is just a dip.

For whomever needs to read this right now: We all see life through our own prism. I've found that if I every so slightly rotate my "prism" I can often see a different solution to what may seem like an otherwise unsolvable problem.

The real "secret" is to just keep going and don't give up. Every day do one tiny thing that progresses your goal.