Melanie Sanchez — Getting Back Up to Not Get Stuck in Life Challenges

Wilfry Gil Ventura

Wed, October 07, 2026 4:35 pm MST

Photography courtesy of Melanie Sanchez.

Discouragement and life’s trials can cause a person to feel down. Melanie Sanchez learned that she could overcome her challenges and avoid getting stuck in them. Her present life did not come out of nowhere. She faced various life difficulties that could make her feel down. Instead of letting these experiences make her give up on her dreams, she decided to move forward and find better opportunities. Each past challenge and trial has shaped the person she is.

Life philosophy

Melanie does not stay down when she falls. She learned from her parents never to get stuck in a problem. They taught her that there will be problems in life, but she must find the solutions as soon as she can. She said, “I see the problem, but I look for the solution. I learned it by example; to this day I've never seen them (her parents) get stuck in a problem or live off it."

She felt that being raised by teenage parents helped her receive support in every step of her life. She described her experience as growing up alongside her parents. She learned with them as they raised her. Moreover, she considers helping others one of the most important things in her life. For this reason, she is currently pursuing an associate degree in medical assisting. She dreams of becoming a psychologist someday.

Overcoming family hostility and friction

She became a strong-willed person who cares for others because of her several life experiences. One of these experiences happened when she was just a little girl. She was raised in her grandmother’s house. Even though her grandmother treated her with love, she describes the experience as a hostile environment between her grandmother, aunts, and her mother. She could feel how her dad’s family treated her mother as a threat, as if “they felt that she was taking away a member of their family”. She knew it was not a healthy family environment. Because of this hostility, she learned to overcome the family friction.

She built resilience by facing these challenges and problems at a young age. She focuses on solutions rather than problems. As a result, she doesn’t let problems set her down; instead, she finds the motivation to keep improving and achieving her goals.

Competitiveness

She also increased her resilience by participating in competitive activities. She practiced modeling until she turned 10. As a result, she has always felt attracted to caring for her physical appearance and even considered studying fashion design.

As a teenager, she started practicing some sports. The sport that most marked her life was obstacle racing. She has been doing it with her parents for several years. Despite the pain she experienced in some competitions, she learned two important lessons from this sport. The first one reinforced her parents' teaching never to get stuck on a problem. She described it as never staying down when she falls. The other lesson is that life will always have obstacles. She learned to be brave enough to face those obstacles and find a way to overcome them. Some of the obstacles were very high, and she had to use ropes to climb them. Sometimes she lost the strength in her arms just as she was about to overcome an obstacle and fell. But Melanie did not stay down; she got up after that fall with the determination to overcome it.

Emigration and learning another language

A few years ago, her family decided to emigrate from Chile to the United States. She was excited. A new season of her life was about to start; new challenges that would test her limits and help her to reach new goals. When she arrived in the United States, her most difficult challenge was learning English. However, she did not let that obstacle stop her. Melanie improved it by taking a job that forced her to learn the language. She also had good friends who served as a rope to help her overcome the obstacles to learning English.

During this season, she met Jared, who helped her make significant changes and learn new things. This man became her best friend and motivated her to start college. He also gave her more reasons to keep her motivation. He has been an anchor, helping her strive to do better each day. He later became her husband, as you can see in the picture on the left. Even though there were financial difficulties before getting married, she decided those difficulties would not stop her from achieving her goals.

People sometimes think that life is so difficult and that they cannot get out of some challenges or problems. However, Melanie is a great example of resilience. She does not let life’s obstacles bring her down. She overcame a hostile family environment, physical obstacles, and the challenge of learning another language. As she continues to grow in life with the same mindset, she will achieve more goals.