SelfHelpCollective.com

Inspirational Single Mom

by Antonia
(Finland)

Antonia's inspirational story begins with her becoming a single Mom at a young age. She was happy to become a mother, but still believed her future lay in getting a good education. And, yes, juggling motherhood with getting a degree has been hard, and life is still difficult, but the journey continues to be worth it for sure.

(STORY THEME: Perseverance)

Struggles of a Young Single Mom

I got pregnant when I was in my first semester at college - far away from home.

It was a happy surprise for me, because I always loved children, but I was totally not prepared for how my life would turn out to be.

Having a baby and moving from country to country because of the international fashion design program I was doing, really was difficult.

I love my son, and was (and still am) prepared to do anything for him, but I was also determined to finish my studies, because I knew it would be important for our future if I did.

Taking care of my son and staying up all night working on school projects was not easy. Not to mention how we had it financially.

I had to rent out rooms in every apartment that we ever lived in, just to be able to pay the rent. It was many times not fun to live with so many other people and have so little space and private life, but I had to do what I had to do.

I also did long hours of babysitting together with my son (I had to have a job where I could take him with me) just to be able to put food on the table.

Even though I was working really hard, the money I earned and got from renting out rooms were never enough. There were many days where I would not know in the morning if we would have enough food in the evening.

Now many years have passed, my son is now 9 years old, I am done with my studies and have my degree.

And even though I now work, my salary is unfortunately not that high, so I still struggle sometimes and have a difficult time giving my son all he would need.

I never buy myself anything. If I ever buy anything it is for my son.

I continue to believe that life will continue to get better.

And so it was, one day, whilst I was searching for info on how to make your own website online, that I found a really good web host that is also a small business solution. So now, apart from my regular job, I have been building my own websites in the evenings for about a year and a half, and have started to earn money from them. Not so much yet, but the money is starting to come in - slowly but surely. This has really given me a lot of hope.

Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel after all? I really want to hope so!

All the best,

Antonia