Today, I was fortunate to meet someone who has left an impression and showed me the true meaning of optimism and faith. I didn’t receive the initial phone call, but when I found a note on desk for a story idea, I called back and was a little hesitant to the interview I agreed to. I knew very little about this person, I knew she was a drug addict, lost her husband and now her life has forever changed. I wanted to know more, and the interview could have gone a million different ways, but today I felt fortunate I said yes to this story.

She walked in and we went to back room so I could interview her, and the first thing she said to me was that she loved my outfit. Immediately, I could tell she was a kind person and also very nervous, but we once we sat down she opened up and told me her traumatic story. She had a history with drug abuse and when she and her husband experimented with heroin for the first time, she has no recollection of the night. She woke up in a hospital three weeks later to find out that her husband had died, she missed his funeral and their heroin was mixed with lethal amounts of meth, cocaine, rat poisoning and paint thinner. Suddenly, my “problems” felt minuscule and vain.

Today, a year and a half after the incident, she is planning on going to school to become a juvenile probation officer and she wants to share her story to help others and hopefully prevent them from following her past. I think it’s admirable how she was able to put her life together and open up to me honestly about her life and struggles. At the end of the interview, she wiped her tears and I asked her how she managed to stay so optimistic. She admitted it was a struggle, but she is tired of being sad and she is “living proof that miracles exist.”

I know it’s easy to get bummed out over anything, and I am totally guilty of this myself, but after speaking with this woman today, she showed me that life still goes on, even when it feels like it’s over. She showed me that picking up the pieces takes time, but it’s possible, and anything can always be so much worse than it is. She taught me not to take a single day, or anyone in my life for granted, and she may not know it, but she truly made an impact on my life today.

Steal my look today: Forever 21 striped top: Forever 21, Urban Outfitters jumpsuit: Urban Outfitters