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One Thing You Need to Find Happiness

This is for those that think Grant and I are perfect. Let me tell you something, real love isn’t perfect and it is far from pretty. Real love hurts and will break you down, but sometimes you need to be broken down. I’m going to tell you a little story. This isn’t a terrific tale, it isn’t social media worthy because it’s not a lovey dovey story – it’s a REAL love story.

I’m writing this book right? Build an Empire, how to have it all. It takes me 10 months to write a book and for him to write a book, it takes 10 days. I. Wanted. To. Kill. Him. One night, we get into an argument about it. For some reason, he had the audacity to mention how long it’s taken me to finish this book, like it’s any of his business. I’m giving him all of these legitimate excuses and he just isn’t buying them. He’s unfazed and proceeds to let me have it. The badgering is completely and utterly relentless. There’s no mercy during this argument. Grant did not show me one ounce of sympathy.

He ends the argument with:

You know what you are, You’re a lazy, and a coward.

After I pick up my jaw from the floor, I am stunned. Taken back. I could not believe what just happened. I could not believe Grant, my husband, called me a lazy and a coward. I was furious. I hated him. But he knew I would stop everything I was doing and finish the book. And of course, what did I do? I stopped everything I was doing and I finished the book. When I was finished, I was so proud of my accomplishment. I handed the book over to Grant and said, take that; from a lazy and a coward. You know what he said, I will and congratulations.

He then said:

By the way, I never for one second, thought you were a lazy or a coward.

That’s what our love looks like. Like I said in the beginning, it’s not always pretty. It doesn’t always fit the perfect picture of what society expects for it to be.  I am not a hard person – I am none of those things, but I know what is in that man’s heart. I stay by his side day in and day out; I back him. He can do things I can’t do and I can do things he can’t think with. In the end, it’s very simple why this worked:

It doesn’t always feel good to get to greatness but we are happiest when we are achieving our goals.

Build an Empire, 

Elena Cardone

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