Great Expectations

A few things I never expected to be in my life:

* mentally ill
* a champion for mental health
* a divorcee
* a single parent
* a published author

It’s funny how life works out. All of the above have come to pass in my life. If you had shown that list to my younger self I would have taken one of them (I expect that you’ll be able to guess which). And yet, without any of the first four, the fifth entry on that list, perhaps my proudest achievement, would not have happened.

There is a saying to be careful what you wish for. We have heard many stories of people that have achieved all of their dreams, whether that be in sport, films, music, or by winning the lottery, only for it all to go wrong.

Sometimes it works the other way. Sometimes the very worst things that life can throw at you turn out to be the making of you, and lead you to the very dreams that you could never have expected. Me, an author? If you’d have told me that a few years ago I’d have laughed at you. Yet here I am. And here you are, reading my words. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Especially considering that my initial words on my writing journey were born of heartbreak and pain.

Yet out of such things can great things be born. I no longer have expectations of life. I got the things that I wanted and expected: marriage, stability, a great career. I also lost the thing that meant the most to me. My family. And, on two separate occasions, I lost the thing that is perhaps most precious and yet most easily taken for granted: my health. My sanity.

I have discovered something much greater. I have discovered a latent talent that is now my passion – writing. I have met interesting, inspirational new people. I have had the most wonderful opportunities presented to me. I have become more keenly aware than ever before of the unseen and infinite opportunities that life has to offer.

I know that on any given day that something wonderful and unexpected can happen – a new opportunity to speak, to write, to talk to someone new that can help to take my life in new directions. And still I face disappointments along the way. Of course I do, that’s life. But I can face the disappointments and overcome them far easier than I ever have before. Because I know that no matter what I have to put behind me, there will always be great moments, great days, ahead.

Through all of life’s ups and downs, many of which have been forced upon me during a short spell of my life, I have developed a greater sense of purpose through the seemingly unfair, unwanted, twists and turns in life.

And, more than ever before, I trust that life is what I make of it, and that with faith, persistence, hard work, and love, everything will be for the best.

This post was written as a guest post as part of the Neverland Blog Tour for my book, Something Changed. It is featured on Emma The Little Bookworm, here: https://emmathelittlebookworm.wordpress.com/2018/02/21/blogtour-guestpost-something-changed-by-matthew-williams-3dmathw-neverlandbt/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Matthew’s debut book, Something Changed: Stumbling Through Divorce, Dating & Depression, is available now Click here for info