Allstate’s “Good Hands for the Good Life” – Moving Towards A #GoodLife

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Allstate. All opinions are 100% mine.

My Facebook profile lists "a slice of hell called Catholic school" as the high school I attended. It's not an exaggeration. I recently received an invitation to my 31st high school reunion. I felt sick after reading it, then got so angry that I contemplated burning it. I tore it up instead.

I've mentioned before that I was bullied in high school. Verbally and emotionally. I graduated high school in 1982. To this day when I drive by the building I get a knot in my stomach and I get angry. It's impacted my life enough that at times I didn't even want to meet new people, because of the potential risk of being hurt again.

Allstate is a company that knows there are risks in life. Enter the Allstate Good Life program. They're created the “Good Hands for the Good Life” program. If something bad happens they want to step in and take are of you. Kind of like classmates that stand up for and with students that are bullied.

I've always known that I didn't deserve the treatment I received in high school from my classmates. Noone stood up for me. It took me a very long time to start to like myself after high school – many, many years. It's taken me until now to realize that it's time to let go of the anger, and basically stand up for myself. I don't like carrying the anger around with me, because while it occasionally feels quite vindicating, it's just ugly. Life should be something beautiful, not something ugly. I should not be wasting my time thinking about things in the past that I can't change. By doing that I am letting them win. Trust me when I say, the very last thing I want in life is for those people to win.

Inspired by friends and some relevant lyrics to a favorite song, I've come to realize that it is time to try to let go. Those experiences shouldn't define me, but in a way they sort of have. By starting to put events from the past behind me then I'll be taking steps toward having a better life – a good life. I have many things to be proud of, and fortunate for. I have two beautiful sons. I have amazing parents. After spending some time on my own Facebook page I realized that I have some pretty awesome friends, friends that accept me for who I am. Friends that have been there for me for good, bad, sick, health, and just plain silliness. If someone doesn't like me for who I am, it's their loss and not mine. I like the person I am now and am proud to be that person. It's time I stop thinking about the negative and enjoy the positive. This is the first step of my journey.

Have you created any Good Life moments yourself? I'd love to hear about them if you did, or maybe if there's something you're working on letting go of.