Hardship Equals Joy Imagine having three small children and feeling so exhausted you can’t get out of bed even after you slept for 9 hours straight. After having my third child in four and a half years, I hit a wall. My body decided it had had enough. Eventually, through my own research, and visiting three different specialty doctors, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. This was the beginning of my battle with a chronic disease I will have for the rest of my life. This diagnosis was a hard hit to my mental health. I struggled not to feel overwhelmed and depressed about caring for my own needs and the needs of my family. At the time I was diagnosed, my husband worked long hours and was away from home most of the week. I was home alone caring for three small boys. I realized, that as their primary caretaker, I had a choice to make. I could spend my days focusing on the difficulties of having a chronic disease and the debilitating pieces of that disease, or I could rise above that and be an example to my sons of a mother who works hard and overcomes hardships. You see, my mother taught me a valuable lesson; she taught that hardship equals joy. I decided to adopt this motto into my own life. A few months after my diagnosis, I started my own business. I started an e-commerce business that sells grocery products on the Amazon marketplace. This entrepreneurial journey also changed my life. Yes, all of my symptoms of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis were still there. But I was able to focus on building my business up, instead of letting my chronic disease affect my mind and body, and pull me down. Now, seven years later, my boys have grown, and they now help me run my business. We have truly turned our business into a family affair. My boys work alongside me several times per week. On the days my chronic disease is flaring, my boys pick up my slack and do their best to fill in for me. They have learned that we all have hard things happen in life, many things that we cannot control, such as chronic illness. But we always have a choice. We can let these hardships pull us down, or we can allow these hardships to create joy. I never thought I would say this, but I am grateful for my chronic disease. My Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis has taught me that I can overcome hard things and truly find joy if I look for it. My chronic disease has made me a better mother and business owner. Because I have good days and bad days, I try not to take my good days for granted. It has taught me what is important in life and to focus on that. My family and my business are the most important pieces of my life, and without my chronic disease, I might not have either one.