Are You a Super Hero?
- Shawna Herberger
- Jul 6
- 3 min read
Someone once said, “If you can list all the fucked up things that happened in your life and they didn’t break you, then you have something in common with every hero of every story ever written.”
And honestly, I've never heard anything that felt more real.
We’re so quick to look at hardship as a punishment.
We say, “Why me?”
We think life is unfair.
But what if all of that bullshit isn’t ruining us — it’s building us?
Some things that happen are just an inconvenience.
Some things are a real, soul-crushing trauma.
And yet — if you survive it, if you move forward — it doesn’t mean you’re unlucky.
It means you’re stronger than most people will ever realize.
Think of it this way ...
People who haven’t experienced significant challenges in their lives don’t have the embedded grit in their soul to move forward stronger, smarter, faster, better.
They’re fragile because they’ve never been tested.
They don’t know how to rebuild themselves when life inevitably hands them a wrecking ball.
But we do.
⸻
I used to think that getting shit on by life made me unlucky.
But what if it’s actually my superpower?
If I didn’t have those struggles —
If I didn’t have to build my business from scratch —
If I didn’t have to figure out how to attract clients, balance my finances, educate myself, become one of the industry’s top leaders without a damn map —
If I had just followed the leader like everyone else —
I wouldn’t have what I have today.
I wouldn’t have built a business from the ground up..
Redken wouldn’t have asked me to be an educator.
I wouldn’t have opened a salon company.
I wouldn’t have this mindset that keeps me moving forward,
regardless .of what happens.
Nobody tells you when you open a salon that being a stylist and being a business owner are two completely different jobs.
Nobody stops you and says,
“Hey, maybe you should get a degree in business first. Maybe you should learn tax laws. Maybe you should understand payroll, budgeting, profit margins.”
They just say, “You’re a great stylist, you should open a salon.”
And then they throw you into the deep end with no life jacket.
It’s taken me six years — six long, messy, beautiful years — to even begin to understand my business.
And it’s a small, simple business compared to some.
But every faceplant, every sleepless night, every fuck-up taught me something.
And now?
I’m not just surviving.
I’m building something stronger than most people ever even dare to dream about.
⸻
Even at this moment —
Recently, I visited the doctor, thinking my concerns were minor.
It turned out to be something far more serious.
My condition, a neurovascular issue, is causing unexpected challenges.
The doctors are uncertain if it will improve.
Perhaps it will, perhaps it won't.
It might take weeks.
It might take months.
Being an educator, salon owner, and stylist, hearing that your health is compromised?
That's not just scary.
That's gut-wrenching.
Because in our world, your body is your business.
And when it stops cooperating, it doesn't just threaten your career-
it threatens your identity.
It could be a pause. It could be the end of a chapter. It could also be the beginning of a
completely different chapter.
In situations like this is impossible to not have thoughts race through your mind,
unprovoked.
But you know what doesn't cross my mind?
Quitting.
Giving up.
Saying, “Welp, guess it’s over.”
No. Not in my vocabulary.
My first thought was:
“How do I figure this out? How do I pivot? How do I build something even bigger out of this?”
What's the lesson here ....
If life’s going to throw punches, I’m going to get really fucking good at rolling with them.
Because I’m not the person who gives up.
I’m the person who gets knocked down 147 times and stands up 148.
So yeah, life handed me another shitstorm. Life is going to keep handing it to me.
But it also handed me another opportunity to prove who the fuck I am.
And spoiler alert:
I’m the fucking hero of my story.
The plot twists don't scare me anymore.
Because heroes don't fold.
They fight.
They rise.
They rewrite the ending if they have to.
Because it's their story and it's worth fighting for.
