Would You Marry Your Fiance If He Had Weeks To Live? An Amazing True Story Of Turning Pain Into Power And Loss Into Love
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When you face a terrible catastrophe or setback, how do you find the strength to get your life back on track? We received inspiration for how to overcome obstacles and tragedies from our guest on Invincible You, Ashley Jackson. Ashley is the founder of Timeless Dream Events (timelessdreamevents.com), an event planning company for chronically/terminally ill people and their loved ones. Facing the imminent death of her fiancé a few months after he proposed to her at Disneyworld, Ashley turned her pain into power and taught us amazing lessons of love and resilience. Here is what we learned from Ashley.
*Take a Cemetery Tour and Find Your Purpose: When Ashley was a teenager, her dad took her to a cemetery and told her: “Here lie many people of untapped potential and lost dreams.” This shook up Ashley and taught her the lesson that we don’t have time to waste in life. While we’re alive we need to find our purpose and pursue our dreams so we have no regrets when we end up in the cemetery. Start today to actualize your dreams and fulfill your potential. Don’t wait until later because later may never come.
*Write a letter to your fear (terminal illness, loss of love or finances, death): When her fiancé (future husband), Troy, was diagnosed with cancer, she was fearful, angry, and sad. To express her feelings, she wrote a letter to “Cancer.” She learned that. although it’s a terrible disease, Cancer taught her some great lessons, including “realizing who my real friends are,” and “As a caretaker who sacrifices a lot for others, I don’t need to feel guilty about taking care of my own needs.” In the same way, you can write a letter to your biggest fear, expressing your feelings, and seeing what you can learn from that fear.
*Find your pain point and create a Miracle of the Heart: After taking care of her husband, Troy, during his recovery from cancer, Ashley made an amazing discovery. She learned that her pain point (grieving over her husband’s cancer) could be turned into a great blessing when she started Timeless Dream Events (event services for chronically/terminally ill people). She realized that she could combine her loves (event planning and traveling) with her previous suffering experience (her husband’s diagnosis) to create a great business to help others. You can follow Ashley’s example by finding the pain point in your life—what has caused you the most suffering—and write down ways you can turn that pain into something positive. Perhaps, you can create a business or project to help others with the same problem. Maybe, you can learn how to connect with others in a more compassionate way. Or, you can develop more confidence and patience to make the changes in your life that you want to make.
When Troy proposed to Ashley at Disneyworld, he asked, “Can we chase our dreams together, forever?” His beautiful proposal was then followed by the pain and suffering of his cancer diagnosis, and finally by their triumph as a happily married couple. In the same way, you can recover from the pain and loss of the past to reach your dreams. Start by finding your purpose, writing a letter to your fear, and turning your pain point into a Miracle of the Heart. By doing this, you will be able to find your purpose and achieve your destiny of love, success, and happiness.