“The person who might take us out of the ice, who might psychically free us… is not necessarily going to be the one to whom we belong. It may be… another of those magical but fleeting events that again came along when we least expected it, an act of kindness from a passing stranger… 

Whatever it may be, it is a time when [that] spirit, in one way or another, feeds us, pulls us out, shows us the secret passage…” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés

My second year of university was one of the loneliest times of my life. After the excitement and freedom of being away from home wore off, and the pressures of school closed in around me, I lost my sense of self. I felt uprooted, disconnected and alone. 

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was on the brink of a new phase in my life: adulthood. But on a deeper level, the self that I had known up until that point (my childhood) was falling away, and I didn’t know yet the woman I was to become. 

Two people got me through that difficult time: my Mom, who supported me over the phone for hours throughout those days; and an acquaintance – a woman who noticed my sadness, my loneliness, and took the time to check in on me and encourage me. She was a bright light in a dark time that eventually helped me find my way. Although I barely knew her at that time, she later became my best friend.

Sometimes the gestures of a stranger – or a near stranger – can be the most powerful of all. ...Continue