Life is more than the cards you've been dealt

Maybe, life is simpler than we give it credit. Maybe it's possible that life is more like a game of cards. Some times we get lucky and we are dealt a hand of cards that is easy to work with. We are able to play those cards a round or two, and win some. Other times, the deck gets shuffled and our round is a loss.

Today I was asked how would I handle it if I was insulted and placed on a social media account where their sole purpose was to tear down and demean other humans. I laughed. Looking back at the face of truly shocked girl, I smiled and pulled a Jesus and didn't answer but told a story.

See, the thing is, my life is less than a fairy tale. Instead of answering her directly I said, "I have 3 ex- husbands. I have two children that I raise predominately on my own. I have been homeless. I have been abused in my own home multiple times. I was nearly killed by my 2nd husband. I had to face him in court to get a VPO just to get him to leave me alone.  I have been broke to the point I had to ask strangers for food.  I have had my bank accounts cleaned out and my sense of safety removed. I have experienced not one, but two lumps in my breast that have to be checked routinely for cancer. I've been assaulted at work. I've been alone and lonely (those are not always the same thing). I have loved another person more than I have loved anyone else. There isn't anything that some random stranger can say about me on social media that probably hasn't already been said before. I know who I am. I know all the things I have survived and had to overcome."

I know what I am made from. I know that I am in control of my reaction to bad things. I can not control other people any more than I can control the weather. At least half the time, my own family disagrees with my choices.( and those are just the times that I am aware of.) I can control my reaction to other people. I can play this hand of cards that I'm dealt. I never know the next card that gets flipped. None of us do. No one knows the next car wreck, death, emergency, life change, loss, or health scare that will flip the cards at hand.

Some people will tell you that life isn't fair. Life is fair. Life is equally as random and unpredictable to everyone. Every single day, millions of people wake up and experience some new struggle that they never saw coming. Each day there are also people who fall in love, find out they are having a baby, get married, and eat the last slice of cheesecake. Life doesn't hand you a guideline book of rules and regulations when you hit a certain age. Every single person that you encounter is making it up as they go. No one gets out of life alive.

Sometimes we get dealt some rounds that feel like we should just give up and fold. Those are the rounds that really show the true character of who we are. Anyone can win at a round of cards when their deck is stacked. It takes someone willing to risk it all to win on a round of poorly dealt cards.  They must risk. They must bet on themselves. They must be willing to give up things to gain new and unseen cards. When dealt this difficult hand,  choices must be made to preserve the game and keep the player in the game.

We all are given moments that define or break us.

We are all one round of cards from failure or happiness.

Some are blessed with a poker face and strong backbone that keeps others outside of their head. Some others of us have a face you can read as easily as a book and absolutely no chill when it comes to moments of "character building." The reasons I don't judge others typically has more to do with all the hands of cards I never let people see me play. The moments of shock and fear, the moments of failure, the hands of cards played in the dark where I am sure I wont survive. I've learned that once you are playing a round of cards in hell, you keep playing. Playing cards in hell isn't the play to fold or bow out.

No one has the rule book or deck when life is dealing us moments that change us.
We all get the choice how we react and how we treat people regardless of if we know what they are holding in their hand.

I have no idea what card is gonna flip up next. I have no idea if it's a round that will bring me to my knees or fill my pockets. I know I'm ready for the cards to keep flipping and I'm content with the hands I've been dealt.
Hit me.
I've got a few more rounds left.