Working To Be Happy
Mary Guy has been working towards finding happiness in her life for a long time. She lives in Amboy, has three sons and five grandchildren. Her middle son has special needs and lives in a group home. Mary works at two part-time jobs, seven days a week to make ends meet.
Mary has come through some tough times. She was in two very bad car accidents within the last 7 years. The first one, in 2005, she was hit by a teen driver who fell asleep at the wheel. The second accident, in 2007, she was hit when a driver, in a stolen vehicle, ran a stop sign. Due to these accidents, Mary has many physical issues, and eight surgeries. She also has a traumatic brain injury which has created difficulty with her short term memory. Through all of these difficulties, Mary has been working to find happiness.
Mary was encouraged to enroll at Life-Work Planning Center by a good friend. She attended our personal growth workshop series, and is currently attending them for the second time. She has also worked on writing a resume, filling out job applications, and creating an email address.
Mary talks about learning skills that help her manage in her life. Managing her life well makes her happy. She has learned a lot about setting boundaries in her life. She says she is much more aware of how others have personal issues in their lives – and their issues belong to them. It isn’t up to Mary to fix other people’s problems. Mary says it is a big turnaround for her, learning to be more focused on herself, instead of on others.
Mary has also been working on her self-esteem. She realizes the stronger she is, the better she can handle issues as they arise.
She says she gains more self-confidence with every success and goal she accomplishes. She is happily working on her physical health. She has lost over fifty pounds, and is now working on strengthening her body so she has more energy to play with her grandkids.
Mary used to think poorly of herself; she now believes she can find a better job and a healthy relationship with a companion who is fun, interesting and emotionally healthy. She has a two-year financial plan, realizing she needs to set goals she can accomplish to be successful. She has let go of negative relationships that were bringing her down. She says she finds and focuses on her positive areas of personal strength to feel good about herself.
Mary says working on her personal growth has allowed her to feel good about herself for the first time in her life. She is happy. She states “I am going to have an awesome rest of my life!”
– Jill Hahn, M.S., Peer Counselor
