A few years have passed since I’ve been through death and back. For the most part, it’s been only my parents who knew about it, as they directly witnessed the accident. The three of us rarely go back to that day because it always brings the dramatic memories. That unforgettable evening, just minutes after teaching yoga, was the most traumatic and yet profound moment of my life. What I experienced on the other side continues to be deeply emotional for me. Because I was aware that the subject of near-death experience is not an easy one to understand or explain, I preferred to keep it in the silence of my heart.
I spent a lot of time in lonely solitude digesting the profundity of the experience. I wished to know why my soul chose to return to its human form, after already being on the other side and experiencing the greatest love there is. I understood that one of the reasons why I got back was to reach out and share with others what I have experienced. Staying in isolation, as much as I needed it at the beginning, would not best serve the intended purpose. This new realization helped me to open up and inspired the idea of creating the website.
In my understanding, building a website was a quick and easy task to accomplish, considering the tools available nowadays. To my benefit, I knew many people who were either professional or semi-professional web designers. I believed that with their help, my site would exist in no time. I however, soon discovered that reality didn’t appear quite as optimistic as initially thought. For a few days, I searched for a local designer whose style would appeal to me, but none in particular caught my attention. In addition, the site’s intended content still held a lot of emotions for me, and I strongly preferred to work with someone who either knew me personally, or at least resonated with the content’s theme. That way, I would feel more comfortable in revealing the details.
I connected with a college friend, whom I knew from 20 years ago, who upon hearing of my NDE story and feeling how genuine was my intention to share it, offered help in building the website. With no prior experience and hardly any specialized knowledge, he courageously stepped into position to face the challenge. As he much later admitted, his willingness to help me overshadowed his actual ability.
So here we were, with no skills at hand, only a burning desire to accomplish what, at the moment, appeared impossible. The research showed us that the most commonly used platform for building a site was with WordPress, so we decided to give it a try. Perfect synchronicity put me in touch with a dear yoga student of mine from many years prior, who happened to be working particularly with… WordPress! She confirmed its amazing versatility and offered us useful beginning tips. Her great encouragement strongly pumped us up for action. In our minds, we had found someone to soon impress with our quick results.:)
Well… maybe not that quick. After many days of intense trial and error, we hit a dead end having made hardly any progress. In this situation, my friend decided to move on and try to build the site in html code instead. The smallest of things required beyond intense research and he was basically learning as he went. His unimaginable patience allowed him to face the constant challenges and move right through them. He found some of the page elements to be easier achieved in WordPress however, and despite our site being almost completed, we opted to give it a second attempt. Unfortunately, the transition from html to the module-built platform turned out to be not as smooth as expected. In the midst of the struggle, another friend reached to me recommending a web specialist, whom I didn’t know beforehand. That person happened to offer the very solution we needed at the time! Additionally, my college friend sought help from a local company, whose owner upon hearing his advanced questions, mentioned a possibility for working together in the future! It was the greatest validation of his efforts and the knowledge, which he so quickly acquired. It provided him with a strong motivation and incentive to forge ahead.
The site as it stands today, with its simple look and opening content, is a story of love, friendship, and of never giving up while going after one’s dreams. In sharing this story, I feel absolutely amazed upon God’s perfect plan behind our collaboration. When we started, we were completely unaware of how intricately orchestrated it all was. My friend’s greatest desire has always been to learn a coding language, but despite having a 660 page learning manual on his desk, he never found the time to read past its cover. Creating this website provided him with a real and valid reason to finally go after his dream! At the same time, his trials and errors fulfilled my heart’s wish to have a site of my own!
Michael… there are no words to express my heart’s gratitude towards you. You’ve again been an Angel who never let me down, in the 20 years we’ve known each other…
I also extend a big THANK YOU to everyone who, in any way, contributed to the existence of this website.
I am eagerly looking forward to share more of what my near-death experience has taught me, and how my perspective on life has changed afterwards.
by Hanna Isabelle
English