Journeys With Jani

Yes, no doubt, I’ve dealt with a whole lotta crazy in my life.

The kind of crazy that would make a great miniseries—equal parts drama, dark comedy, and “did that really just happen?” moments. But here’s the thing… who hasn’t been through something?

Life is a buffet of hard knocks, served with a side of “you’ve got to be kidding me.” We all have our share of trials—some folks just get them supersized.

And I’ve noticed something about those of us who’ve had our plates overflowing more than once:

We tend to handle the unexpected better.

We’ve learned to pivot.

Now, I’m not talking about the frantic kind of pivot—like Ross from Friends yelling PIVOT! while wedging a couch through a too-narrow stairwell, all arms, panic, and poor planning. That’s the pivot of people who have never been in that hallway before.

I’m talking about the kind of pivot you learn from experience. The calm “turn here, shift there” move that comes when you’ve been in enough tight spaces to know where the corners are. It’s changing course when the map gets ripped in half. It’s laughing when you want to cry and making a new plan when the old one blows up in your face.

Truth is, those curveballs life throws? They don’t feel quite as catastrophic once you’ve already survived a few fast pitches to the head. You start to realize you can take a hit and still move forward—sometimes even in a better direction than before.

And here’s my take:

If you’ve lived through chaos, heartbreak, loss, betrayal—or all of the above—you develop this unshakable confidence that you’ll figure it out. That’s the gift. Not the mess you went through, but the knowing that you can land on your feet no matter what.

So yes, life’s still going to throw the occasional sucker punch. But I’ll be over here doing what I do best…

Smiling, rolling up my sleeves, and—

Pivot

XOXO, Jani