Life has a way of throwing us curveballs when we least expect them. One moment, everything's ticking along nicely. We've got our plans, our routines, our sense of control. Then boom. A life bomb explodes, and suddenly everything we thought we knew gets scattered into a thousand pieces. Maybe it's a relationship ending, a health diagnosis, losing someone we love, or a career that suddenly doesn't fit anymore. Whatever it is, these moments stop us in our tracks and force us to question everything. Then whilst we're sitting in the mess of it all, it's almost impossible to see how any of this could ever be good for us. As devastating as they are what if I told you that these life bombs are actually redirecting you back to yourself? And that’s the importance of understanding where grateful comes in.
Life Bombs Are Change in Disguise
Let's be honest: we hate change. We spend so much energy trying to control our lives, making sure everything goes according to plan because we think that's what keeps us safe. But a life bomb? That's change on steroids. It blocks the path we were on and forces us down a different road entirely. And yes, it's terrifying. But here's what we often miss: that blocked path wasn't actually taking us where we needed to go. It was taking us further away from ourselves.
Life bombs pause everything and give us two forks in the road. One's blocked now, so we've got to take the other one. And whilst we're walking that new path, we walk through a gateway of a new version of grateful, and something shifts. We become different and become deeper. We start supporting ourselves in ways we never did before. The life bomb isn't happening to punish you, it's happening to reconnect you with your soul and redirect your story.
You're Not a Victim. You’re Being Asked To Transform.
When something awful happens, our first reaction is usually, "I can't believe this happened to me." We look at it from the outside in, focusing on what was done to us or what life took away. That perspective makes us feel like victims, and when we feel like victims, we make our world smaller. We shut down. We stop experiencing life fully because we're too scared it'll hurt us again. But what if we flipped the script?
What if instead of asking, "Why did this happen to me?" we asked, "What did I learn about myself from this?" That's where the power is. That's where the transformation happens. Every life bomb teaches us something. Maybe it's about trusting our intuition more, setting better boundaries, or realising we've been people-pleasing our way through life. When we shift our focus from what happened to us to how we're different because of it, we reclaim our power. We stop being defeated and start being empowered.
Being Grateful Doesn't Mean Being Okay With It
Now, I'm not saying you have to be okay with what happened. Some things are just not okay, and they never will be. The beautiful truth though is that you can hold two things at once. You can say, "I'm not okay with that experience, and I never wanted to go through it," whilst also saying, "I am stronger, wiser, and more connected to myself because of it." That's the shift. That's where gratitude lives. Not in pretending everything's fine, but in recognising who you've become.
Maybe you're more guarded now, but in a good way. Maybe you've learned to protect yourself better, to listen to your gut, to stop giving yourself away in relationships. Those changes? They're the gold. They're the reason the life bomb happened. Not to break you. But to wake you up. To bring you home to yourself. And when you can see that, when you can celebrate the version of you that emerged from the rubble, that's when you step into your authentic power. Having gratitude - mindful way, isn’t being grateful.
Grateful is about honouring your resilience, celebrating your transformation, and recognising that whilst you didn't choose the experience, you do get to choose what you do with it. Being grateful is about you. It's about being proud of yourself for getting through it and becoming someone stronger, wiser, and more connected to your truth because of it.
Your Story Is About You
At the end of the day, your whole life story is about you. It's about learning how to support yourself in how to see yourself, and in how to love yourself. Life bombs are part of that story. They're not actually random acts of cruelty. They're experiences designed to help you find yourself again. So, take a moment and revisit some of your life bombs. Not from a place of pain, but from a place of curiosity.
Take a moment to ask yourself:
- How am I different because of this?
- What did I learn?
- What part of me woke up?
Here you'll find that buried in the devastation you experienced is a version of you that's more authentic, more resilient, and more beautifully you than ever before. And that's worth being grateful for.
*If you're ready to unpack your life bombs and discover the powerful shifts they've created in you, the Come Back To You Retreat offers a soul-affirming space to reconnect with your story and find clarity in the bigger picture. It's time to come home to yourself.