I know I’m getting into personal territory with this post, and want to begin by stating that I know people react differently in tough situations and there is no one right way. What I wrote about here was my way, and if I help someone by providing a new or different perspective, then I feel like I’ve done a good thing. But I digress. Yes, indeed I had a house fire that destroyed my home. At the time I was married with two young daughters, and living in a neighborhood I loved and a house I was happy to call home. It may sound like a cliché, but It was gone in a flash. No one was hurt and once I realized what “could have been” everything else immediately seemed less traumatic, or at least it did at the start! Let’s just say that owning an Allstate agency was an enormous benefit because I had the right insurance protection and was fully knowledgeable about the action steps that needed to be taken. These two critical facts - no one got hurt and I was knowledgeable about the plethora of things that needed to get done – helped to pave the way to rebuilding life as I knew it. Or so I believed. At about the same time my marriage fell apart and so the rebuilding stage was not exactly what I envisioned.
But rebuild we did, and now, 5 years later, life is beautiful. My daughters and I are thriving in our home, and I have a fabulous partner and a blended family with his wonderful sons.
My ex-husband and I share custody of our girls. He was and is a good father and we always agreed that we would never involve the girls in our troubles. Our Plan B is different than the Plan A we started with when we got married and had our children, but Plan B has turned out very well.
I won’t lie and say that it was easy, but when life throws curveballs you must figure out how to move forward.
My strategy included:
Surrounding myself with caring friends and family
Staying on top of what needed to be done at work because falling behind wasn’t an option
Making certain my girls felt safe and secure
Meditating and exercising daily
Getting enough sleep
Not being reticent (well at least TOO reticent) about asking for help
Celebrating the wins throughout the rebuild of our home
If there is one thing I learned, it’s how critically important it is to have the right insurance. Without my coverages, rebuilding my life could have been much more difficult.
It doesn’t have to be so.
Can I help?