Fortunate Life

I watched a video today about a frog. The speaker said that if you drop a frog into hot water, it will immediately jump out. But if you place it in regular water and slowly heat it, the frog will keep adjusting to the rising temperature — until it reaches the boiling point. By then, it’s too weak to escape. Sometimes, we are like that frog. We stay in situations that slowly drain us — relationships, work, friendships, or habits — convincing ourselves that “it’s okay” or “it will get better.” We adjust, and adjust, and adjust... until one day, we realize we’re exhausted. We call it patience, loyalty, or resilience. But sometimes, it’s just our fear of confrontation. Or our hope that people will change. Or maybe, we simply forgot what peace feels like. Boundaries are not walls; they are protection. They remind us when something is becoming too hot, too heavy, or too harmful. But when we keep ignoring the discomfort, we lose sight of where the line should be drawn. I’ve learned that ...

Resilience isn’t always about dramatic triumphs—it’s often about how we respond when life shifts unexpectedly, and what we choose to do next. Back in 2016, I was managing a premium client while handling four social media pages on the side. At that time, I was earning six figures—a milestone that felt like success. But managing multiple niches was exhausting. Even though I had hired someone to create images, the strategy, planning, and execution all fell on me. (there was no AI at that time) Every day felt draining, and I realized that if I wanted to grow in another direction, I needed to let go. When I decided to focus on training, I formally filed a three-week leave with my premium client. Before leaving, I made sure my team was fully trained to handle the work in my absence. I thought I had prepared everything carefully. But during my leave, a colleague sent me a message that shook me: our biggest client—the one considered the company’s “bread and butter”—had left for another mark...

  Resilience isn’t just about pushing through challenges—it’s also about how we frame those challenges in our minds. Over the years, I’ve discovered that one of the most powerful tools for staying resilient is something surprisingly simple: gratitude. When I’m in the middle of a stressful week—deadlines piling up, clients changing plans at the last minute, or projects falling through—it’s easy to focus only on what’s going wrong. I used to do exactly that, and it drained me faster than any workload ever could. Then I started a small practice: pausing each day to reflect on at least one thing I was grateful for. Sometimes it was something big—a client appreciating my work, a proposal finally accepted. Other times it was small: a quiet cup of coffee in the morning, a kind message from a colleague, or simply finishing a task I was proud of. These small moments of gratitude became anchors. They reminded me that even when things aren’t perfect, there is still value, growth, and posi...

  One of the first things freelancing taught me is that nothing is set in stone. Projects come and go. Clients change their minds. Proposals get ignored. Plans don’t always unfold the way I hoped. At first, I found this exhausting. I wanted stability, predictability, the comfort of knowing exactly what tomorrow would look like. But freelancing doesn’t always give you that. Instead, it teaches you how to bend without breaking. I’ve experienced projects being canceled or put on hiatus all of a sudden, with clients saying, “We’ll let you know when this starts again.” Or those dreaded Friday conversations where a client tells you not to come online on Monday because they lost accounts and had to let people go. Even if I had already foreseen it coming—like when I noticed they were losing clients—it still hurt. Especially knowing that my single fee could easily pay two people on their team. Those moments felt like a punch in the gut. But in hindsight, they also became small lessons in...

Hard times magnify everything. Disappointment feels bigger, silence feels louder, and setbacks feel heavier. I remember a season in my freelancing journey when rejections piled up. Proposals went unanswered, projects slipped away, and I started questioning if I should even keep going. Every “no” felt like proof that I wasn’t enough. But then I had a conversation with a fellow freelancer. Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?” she asked, “What is this teaching me?” That single shift in perspective changed how I looked at my own situation. Instead of seeing unanswered proposals as a failure, I began to see them as practice—each one sharpening my clarity, my confidence, and my voice. Instead of thinking, “Nobody wants to hire me,” I reframed it into, “The right client hasn’t found me yet.” The situation didn’t magically improve overnight. But how I carried it did. And sometimes, that shift is what keeps you steady until the better days arrive. Practical Ways to Shift Per...

We love the idea of growth. We talk about becoming better versions of ourselves, chasing success, and reaching new milestones. But what we don’t always talk about is this: growth doesn’t feel good while it’s happening. In fact, it often feels uncomfortable. Think about the first time you tried something new—your first client call, your first training session, your first big pitch. Chances are, you felt nervous, unprepared, maybe even like you didn’t belong. That discomfort wasn’t a sign that you were failing—it was a sign that you were growing. As a freelancer, I’ve sent proposals that stretched me out of my comfort zone. I’ve said “yes” to projects that scared me because they demanded skills I wasn’t sure I had. In those moments, I questioned myself: What if I mess this up? What if I’m not ready? But looking back, those were the very experiences that expanded my skills and confidence. Growth feels uncomfortable because it asks us to step into the unknown. It demands we let go of...

When people hear the word resilience , it often sounds like something big and heroic. We picture people who survive disasters, rebuild their lives from scratch, or overcome unimaginable challenges. And while those are true examples, I’ve learned that resilience doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes, resilience is quieter. It’s waking up after a night of self-doubt and still showing up for work. It’s hitting “send” on a project you’re unsure about, but finishing it anyway. It’s sitting in a meeting where your inner voice whispers, “You don’t belong here,” but you choose to speak up anyway. That voice—imposter syndrome—has followed me many times. It shows up when I start something new, when I put myself out there, or when I compare myself to others. It tells me I’m not good enough, not ready enough, not smart enough. And yet, resilience is choosing not to let that voice decide for me. For a long time, I thought resilience meant never breaking down, never feeling weak, and never admi...