Have you ever had one of those years where life seems to punch you in the face? Where one thing after another knocks you down, over and over, until you start to feel like you are never getting back up. Well, that was this past year for me. People I trusted betrayed me. Plus, I was living 150 miles away from my husband and son, alone in Boston during the week for work. I never saw my friends because I was too busy working. I wasn’t exercising. I wasn’t taking care of myself in general. Honestly, I felt really lonely all the time. And looking back at pictures of myself from that time, it’s easy to see all of that in my face. I think we all know that the greatest lessons in life come from the most challenging things that you face. And while it’s true, it’s not easy when you are in the middle of it. This past year taught me 3 invaluable lessons, and today I’m sharing them with you. I know you’re going to nod along because you know these lessons are true. I don’t know why they are so damn hard to learn, but my hope is that by sharing what I struggled through and what I learned from, it will save you the headache and heartache that this year put me through. Xo Mel In this episode, you’ll learn: 0:24: The gory details from the hardest year of my life 7:02: Lesson #1 from this year 8:30: The journal prompt that gave me a wake up call 11:43: How to identify the friction in your life and a major warning if you don’t pay attention 15:21: Lesson #2 from this year 16:55: How this podcast almost never came to be 22:36: The epiphany our son Oakley had 27:04: If you’re tired of your excuses… try THIS 28:49: Lesson #3 from this year 32:31: The mental health crisis I experienced this year and what it taught me For full show notes, go to melrobbins.com/podcast