My Supports

            Currently, my main supports are my husband, my mother, my church, my close friends, and my mother-in-law.  My husband provides emotional, practical, and physical support.  My husband is also my best friend and he provides me with emotional support whenever I need it in addition to practical support through monetary support.  Since I am healthy I do not require much physical support however, he does provide me with physical support when I need since he is taller than me.  My mother, my church, and my friends provide me with emotional support.  My mother-in-law provides me (and my husband) with practical support in the form of monetary support since my husband cannot work right now due to a disability.  These supports provide me with numerous benefits such as having someone to talk to, reducing stress, helping me overcome challenges, and having the opportunity to go back to school.

            My life would be very difficult without these supports.  I would probably be very stressed out, unhealthy, and unhappy.  I would be stressed out and unhappy because I would have no outlet for expressing my feelings and no way to receive love or comfort. 

            The challenge that I chose is complete loss of monetary support.  If I lost the monetary support from my husband and mother-in-law my life would be radically different.  Without the monetary support from my husband, we would have no way of paying our bills.  Last year my husband and I moved in with my mother-in-law because her husband had recently passed away and she did not like living alone.  The move also helped my husband and I because my husband injured his back on the job and I was laid off due to school budget cuts.  Without the monetary support that my mother-in-law provides, by giving us a place to live, I would have to drop out of school and settle for whatever job that I could find since no one is currently hiring elementary school teachers in my area.  I would probably also be unhealthy because the monetary support that I currently have enables me to maintain a gluten-free diet due to my wheat allergy/celiac disease, so I would be sick all of the time.  Fortunately, I would continue to receive emotional support from my husband, my mother, my church, and my close friends who would help me deal with the stress that this change would bring.