[Introduction]
LIFE CAN BE HARD
Hardship comes in many shapes and sizes. Tough times strike everyone.Everyone. Sometimes it seems that no one understands what it must be like to walk a mile in your shoes. All people struggle to understand hardship, but none of us escapes it. Some give in to it; they collapse. Others fight and hope that someday they will find satisfying responses to unsatisfying circumstances. Some people thrive in spite of hardship. They are not lucky or smart or blessed or anything you and I are not. They work to overcome their circumstances. Truth be told, all people trudge through situations not of their making or choosing:account
People handle hardshipdifferently.
Somefight.
Some givein.
Somefreeze.
Somewithdraw.
Some actout.
Some runaway.
Some turn onthemselves.
Some turn onothers.
BUT… Some survive…some bounce back…some become leaders…some remake themselves…some do well, reallywell.
Some peoplethrive.
Alexis grew up in a tough world. He never knew his real father, and as a kid didn’t like his mother’s choice of boyfriends. An uncle occasionally took him to ball games or to the park, but he was unreliable. At times Alexis’s mother worked and paid the bills. At other times she was unemployed, and money was scarce. It embarrassed Alexis to admit to his friends that his family relied on food stamps. As a teen, he did well in school, played sports, and his teachers liked him. Things changed, however, when he moved into adulthood. He gravitated toward the wrong crowd, abused drugs, and couldn’t keep a steady job. When his girlfriend told him she might be pregnant, he got scared and left. His reputation plummeted, and so did his conduct. By the time he was 30 years old, Alexis had already been to jail twice, once for theft and onc