The Women's Initiative

2013 Challenge into Change Essay Contest The Women's Initiative

Transforming challenging life circumstances into positive growth and change is what this volume is meant to celebrate and hopes to inspire. This book shares a selection of inspirational essays (and poems) written by women who entered the 2013 Challenge into Change Essay Contest. Together, they explored such themes as: physical and mental abuse, mental illness, depression, disability, discrimination, violence, poverty, abandonment, job loss, starting over, teen pregnancy, raising children, faith, and finding a purpose. Everyone has a story to tell. But not everyone tells it. Fewer still write the story down, read it before an audience, or allow it to be published in a collection like this. Yet personal stories of triumph over adversity are the most compelling stories of all. They are wisdom stories. Shared with others, they awaken compassion and remind us of our similarities instead of our differences.