In the last few months, life has dealt me some pretty strange cards.  I’ve worked through my share of bullying, a new management team, a full load of graduate school course work, family illness, and most recently, a resignation from a company I grew up in and loved.  I have had a few conversations with myself in which I keep saying, “Get it together, Mely! You can do this!” Even with self-pep talks, I can’t begin to explain how many times I asked myself, “Why is this happening to me?  What did I do to deserve this?  Why me?”
I used to joke with my friends and say this is all an episode of Punk’d. That one day Ashton Kutcher would jump out and yell, “Mely, you’ve been Punk’d!” Then everything I was going through would make sense.
Through those tough times I surrounded myself with fabulous women who reminded me that women are survivors and motivators.  I brought myself to the realization that when you stop asking “Why me?” and take action instead, you also take a leap of faith and become a leader. You might be thinking right now, Mely is just saying that, this story is nothing like mine. But it’s okay to fail. If we didn’t fail or question ourselves, we wouldn’t be able to succeed.
I recently learned that one of the best female comedians of the 20th century, Lucille Ball, was told by her acting coach that she wasn’t funny. She didn’t give up and went on to have an extremely successful career. She once said, “I’m not funny. What I am is brave.” It takes digging deep within yourself to find the strength and bravado to persevere. It takes effort to find happiness in whatever is happening to you and to be grateful for the lessons it teaches you, but it is worth it.
 Ashton Kutcher hasn’t shown up yet, and I learned from all of this is that I can finally say, “Thank you!” for every experience I have, good or bad.
When you start thinking “why me,” use that steam to make you stronger.   Have you ever said “Why me?”  How did you turn it around?
Onward and Upward!
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Melissa was a mentor in 2010 at Florida International University.  She currently lives in warm Miami, Florida where she is pursuing her MBA in Applied Sciences, and loves to embrace those “why me” moments.