Survival Day 1
- Jason Michaud
- Nov 1
- 2 min read
Surviving Myself: Three Years After Losing Everything
By: A 52-Year-Old Man Still Standing
Survival isn’t always out in the woods. Sometimes it’s in your own damn head.Three years ago, I found myself stripped down to nothing—marriage gone, family fractured, future blank. You don’t expect to start over in your fifties, but life doesn’t really ask your permission. It just knocks you flat and waits to see if you get up.
The First Blow
When everything falls apart, you start to realize how fragile your routines were.I woke up alone for the first time in decades and didn’t recognize my own life. The silence was deafening. The mornings were heavy. Every day felt like trudging through emotional quicksand.But I kept moving—because that’s what survivors do. One breath. One meal. One moment at a time.
The Hardest Wilderness
People think the wilderness is trees, rain, and bears. Try walking through heartbreak at 52. That’s real wilderness—unmapped, unforgiving, and brutally honest.You question your worth. You battle loneliness that bites harder than cold wind. You look in the mirror and see a man you barely know. But that’s the test. You either fold, or you start to rebuild from what’s left.
The Rebuild
Eventually, you stop begging the past to come back. You stop looking for closure like it’s buried treasure. You start doing the work—eating better, moving your body, fixing your mindset, cutting out the poison that used to feel like love.And little by little, you start to respect the man in the mirror again. Not for what he lost—but for what he refused to give up on.
Lessons From the Rubble
Adaptation is survival. If you can’t bend, you break.
Solitude isn’t punishment—it’s training.
Gratitude is armor. Find something good every day, even if it’s just breathing without regret.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean return. It means freedom.
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