The Quiet Rise: How We Reclaim Ourselves Through Adversity
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
By Italia Tornabene
There's a version of success that doesn't show up on highlight reels. It's quiet. Gritty. Built in the dark when no one is watching.
It happens when a woman chooses to keep going-after heartbreak, after failure, after losing everything she thought she needed to survive. And somehow, she begins again.
That's what rising through adversity really looks like. Not the loud, polished version we're sold online, but the slow rebuild – the kind that starts with tiny, private wins. Washing your face when you don't feel like it. Sending that email even when your hands shake. Letting yourself hope again, even after life gives you every reason not to.
So many women know this version of strength. We don't always talk about it, but we carry it. It's the reason we can hold the weight of our families, our dreams, and our own healing all at once.
I've lived that rise.
Not in the way that ends with a perfect bow, but in the way that strips you down and forces you to meet the most honest version of yourself. My past is full of chapters I wouldn't want my daughter to repeat, but I would want her to inherit the strength they gave me.
Adversity didn't break me. It shaped me. And it showed me that transformation isn't about becoming someone else, it's about remembering who you were before the world told you to shrink. It's about looking in the mirror and deciding, I still have more in me.
In the toughest seasons of life, I learned how to build-businesses, new routines, new visions of what life could look like. I learned that we don't need permission to evolve. That the past can be both painful and purposeful. That our healing doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful.
The rise isn't about proving anything to anyone. It's about finally choosing yourself.
If you're in a season where you feel stuck, this is your reminder that forward doesn't always mean fast. It can be gentle. It can be one decision at a time. It can mean resting today so you can run tomorrow. You don't have to be fearless to be powerful. You don't have to be polished to be worthy. And you don't have to have it all figured out to begin again.
Some of the most unstoppable women I've met are the ones who've lost it all and still managed to show up-with shaky hands, open hearts, and wild faith that something better was still possible.
If that's you – keep going.
The world may not always see the strength in your softness, the power in your quiet rebuild. but you know it's there. And that's enough.
We rise, not because it's easy, but because we refuse to stay where pain left us. We rise because we've learned:
There is no timeline for healing.
There is no shame in starting over.
And there is no limit to the woman you can still become.
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