My daughter just turned 3 a few days ago and is starting school next month. I can hardly believe it. How time flies.

Thinking about it a few days ago, it took me back to three years ago when I was pregnant, alone and believing that it was the end of the world. If somebody had told me back then, that things would get better, I'd have thought they were crazy or just overly optimistic. At that time, my world was crushing around me. I was pregnant and not ready for it, not together with the father of my baby, unemployed, disgraced and embarrassed. Most of my friends from church did not care about me anymore. Nothing was going right. I think my disappointment in myself, however, was the most stressful thing to me. I just didn't know how I'd manage.

Here I was, a 23 year old girl who could hardly take care of herself, full of low self esteem and carrying a baby inside her. To be honest, many times I wished I was dead, because the responsibility ahead of me and my incapacity seemed insurmountable.

But here I am today. I may not have it all, but I can take care of my daughter even though it's never easy alone. I can't believe the small baby I held in my arms in tears when I just didn't know how to take care of a baby, is now 3 years old, healthy, safe and going to school soon.

No situation lasts forever, that's my message. In the midst of our pain, suffering, sorrow and despair, we always think and believe that there is no way out. We feel we will never come out of our situation, that it will drown us, overwhelm us, and overpower us. But the human spirit is so resilient, and is able to withstand so much more that we think. Day by day, minute by minute, change happens, as we take it a day at a time.

That, I have learnt is the key to overcoming any situation, taking it a day at a time. Too often we focus on tomorrow, on the future, on the obstacles we need to overcome and we despair and get scared. It's not easy for me as well, but we just need to make small steps in the right direction and get up when we fall and as long as we keep moving, it gets a little better as we go along.

That's what I would encourage anybody going through something terrifying and painful right now, it shall get better. All we need to do is keep trying, and also, give ourselves a break. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Just keep moving. You will fall sometimes, but when you do, pick yourself up, dust yourself up and start moving again. Don't give up on yourself. We fail when we stop learning, stop walking, and stop growing.

One step at a time...one day at a time...