Life lessons - Creative Nonfiction in The Ink Well: Prompt #4

My mother has always been a strong and hardworking woman. She has shown it since she was a little girl, since she was only 13 years old when she already had responsibilities such as taking care of her three little brothers, shopping at the market, working in whatever she could to help at home, studying, among many other things.

Throughout her life she overcame every obstacle that came her way. She helped her parents as much as she could, as well as her siblings, and despite many of her responsibilities and impediments, she managed to graduate with honors from college with a degree in human resources, which opened many doors for her in the workplace.

For a long time she had an excellent life; she fell in love, got married, had 2 daughters, worked in big companies. She was a very successful woman.

She worked a lot; but nothing in excess is good.

When I was 16 years old I noticed the changes in her. She was very stressed because she was overworked, staying more than five hours overtime at work; this was definitely taking a toll on her, both physically and mentally.

Several months went by until one day she came home very crestfallen with the news that she had been fired. That day I felt very helpless; my mother had put so much effort into her work that she was simply fired.

Months after that news she continued to look for work, but for some reason she was not being hired and she could not understand why. However, she was a happy woman being a housewife and taking care of us, her daughters.

But days went by and I realized it was just a facade, because at night I would hear her crying, worried about not having a job, wondering how she was going to support my sister and me. I admired her a lot because at night she would cry but the next day she would wake up with the biggest smile on her face.

Until no longer...

Little by little something changed in her, she didn't smile as much, she cried more, she didn't sleep, she was always worried or nervous. Soon we realized that she was depressed. With my family we wanted to help her to get out of it and make her feel better, we also took her to a psychologist who prescribed her a treatment, which helped for a while but then it had no effect. We did so many things to help her, and sometimes we saw improvement in her, but you can't help someone who doesn't want help.

I spent a lot of time watching my mom being sick, adjusting to these new conditions and lifestyle, with these feelings of sadness that overcame me when I saw her like that, that made me wonder if I could end up like that too. But one day I made a promise to myself to never fall into that illness, no matter how sad or anxious I felt, I always had to get up and keep going. And so I did.

Today my mother is still sick, I never lose hope that someday she will recover from this illness.

I, like her at the time, have overcome every obstacle that has come my way. My mother's illness, and the responsibilities that come with it, have not prevented me from achieving my goals. I graduated from high school, I got a job to help my sister and my father, I am studying at the university to become a graduate in economics and to be able to achieve many more of the goals I have set for myself.

Undoubtedly, the circumstances that my family is going through, and my personal circumstances, have taught me a lot in this life at my young age. But without a doubt I have learned that I am much stronger than I thought, to appreciate and love the people who matter most to me and above all, that things always happen for a reason and you don't have to worry too much because God knows everything and he is the one who is in control of everything.

This is an old photo of my mom, it is my property.
I hope you like my story and that you can learn something from it.