Aim Higher: Turning the Storms of My Past into My Biggest Accomplishments

By Haifa Blanchard

2020 Book Excellence, Finalist and Reader's Favorite 5-Star-Seal

 A near-death experience at the age of eight would be only the first challenge Haifa Blanchard would face, and over time, she learned we all have two choices: We can wallow in negative emotions or we can rise above them. In Aim Higher, Haifa reveals the challenging life events that led her to rock bottom, the inward journey that she embarked on to rebuild her faith and life, and the meaningful lessons she learned along the way. Join the author as she shares how we can all take control of our lives to achieve success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781982219451

Haifa Blanchard

Haifa Blanchard graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in accounting. She excelled in her career while embarking on a spiritual journey that has led her on an adventure inward. Her successful quest to define her spirituality and live a fulfilled, authentic life has helped her live a life of purpose. Haifa currently lives in Miami, Florida.

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Copyright © 2019 Haifa Blanchard.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-1939-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-1940-6 (hc)

ISBN:978-1-9822-1945-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019900164

Balboa Press rev. date: 04/30/2019

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

About The Author

This book is dedicated to you, dear reader. May you raise your standards and aim higher to live the fulfilled, authentic life that is yours.

Also, to my one true love, my life partner since I was fifteen months old: my sister, Laetitia, who has never let go of my hand on this journey of life.

PREFACE

FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE, I was aware that I had a story to tell. This inner knowing came in and out of my life over many years. I did not pay much attention to it. While I knew how the story started, I had yet to figure out how it would unfold.

I timidly shared with a few family members the thought that I was meant to write a book in the future. Then I completely forgot about it until my early twenties. I was catching up with a friend who was in town to visit when I stopped him midsentence and confidently stated that I would write a book one day. I was struck once again by this inner knowing and inspiration. He looked at me surprised and asked where this was coming from. I had no idea and completely dismissed it.

Ten years later, when attending a Tony Robbins event, I was asked to write down some of my life goals. I caught myself adding the book to the list without really thinking about it. It felt as if I was not the one who wrote it down; it was coming from a higher place. I had not thought about it in the past few years, and I had no plans for writing it any time soon. During the meditation that followed this exercise, I started seeing flashes of my future life and a very particular scene which was related to the book. At that moment, I understood that I needed to start immediately.

As I contemplated the journey I had gone through in the past few years, I realized that the story had unfolded. It had a beginning, middle, and end. A sense of duty drove me to put it in writing in the hope that it would inspire others as much as I was inspired by it.

Over the pages that follow, I will share with you a very personal story—a story about resilience and determination that I kept to myself for too long. I will walk you through the challenging life events that led me to rock bottom, the inward journey that I embarked on to rebuild my faith and life, and the meaningful lessons that sprang from it.

INTRODUCTION

IT WAS MID-JULY AND A perfect beach day under the Miami sun. I planned on spending the morning by myself enjoying the water and napping on the sand. Being close to the ocean had always calmed me, soothed me, and reenergized me.

Lying on the sand and lost in my thoughts, I was startled by the sound of my cell phone ringing. Although I was reluctant to spoil my tranquility, I picked up the call. It was a friend who was going through a tough time. She needed some advice and was on her way to join me.

I had known her for a few years, but she knew only bits and pieces of my past. I was fiercely protective of my privacy, and very few people who were not in my life at the time knew about my journey. However, as I listened to her lamenting over her life, I felt compelled to tell her my story, hoping that in some way it would move her to take action and get out of the funk that she had been in for the past few years.

PART ONE

IT ALL STARTED ON JULY 4, 1992. I had recently celebrated my first communion, and I was counting the days until my ninth birthday. Two months earlier, random bruises had started showing up on my body, mostly on my arms and legs. They were light blue at first and darkened with time. They appeared randomly, disappeared suddenly, and reappeared in different places. They were not painful to the touch, because they were not caused by injuries. My mother grew concerned and took me to the pediatrician, who did not provide a diagnosis but suggested she monitor me.

As time passed, the condition did not improve; if anything, it got worse. Besides being covered with bruises, I started seeing red pinpoint-sized spots, medically known as petechiae, on my chest and legs. I remember my heart racing as I discovered them and worrying about what was happening to my body.

On this fateful morning of July 4, my mother and I returned to the doctor, who ordered an expedited blood exam. After the blood draw, we went home to wait for the results.

A few hours later, a call came from the doctor’s office. The results revealed that I was suffering from an extremely low platelet count that was causing superficial bleeding, hence the bruises and petechiae. It was imperative that I be treated immediately to prevent a cerebral hemorrhage. I was living in Haiti at the time, and there were no proper treatments there to address my condition. Flying to Miami was my only option.

I still remember the chaos in my house after the diagnosis. My mother frantically tried to reach my father on the phone to let him know that we needed to travel right away. Cell phones were not popular at the time, but she was able to reach him at the tennis club where he played on Saturdays. There were only a couple of flights leaving Port-au-Prince in the afternoon, and we could not miss the last one.

My mother and grandmother went up and down the stairs, packing suitcases, looking for passports, and running like lunatics around the house. I started feeling anxious and asked what was happening. My mother calmly told me that my father, she, and I were going to Miami for a few days, just like we had on our previous summer vacation. I suspected that she was not telling me the whole truth, because we were leaving my sister and brother behind. But I did not ask any further questions and kept to myself.

Fortunately, we were able to catch the last flight, which landed early evening in Miami. I can only imagine the pressure my parents must have been feeling while in the air—putting their lives on hold, leaving two young kids behind, and being uncertain about my health. Until recently, I had not thought about their side of the story and the way my siblings’ lives were altered by this circumstance. As the one whose life hung by a thread, I focused solely on how my life was affected.

Being young had its advantages in this case. I was so carefree that I never considered the worst-case scenario. I looked healthy. If it were not for the bruises and petechiae, no one would have guessed that I was sick. I felt great. I was active and had lived a healthy life until then. However, my insouciant attitude toward my health ended when I got off the airplane. I walked in front of my parents and passed the airport staff lined up with the wheelchairs. I heard my father ask me to come back and sit in one of them. He pretended that it was a way for us to avoid the long line at immigration.

My heart sank to my stomach. I felt like someone had dropped a bucket of cold water on me. I instantly knew that I was seriously sick and life would never be the same again.

From the airport, we went straight to the emergency room of a children’s hospital. A blood count was done again. I had around 4,000 platelets. The normal range started at 150,000. I was immediately admitted to the hematology and oncology floor and later diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura. Commonly referred to as ITP, it