Renee Larr, my co-editor at Dish-y.com, has been one of my best friends for more than half my lifetime. It was a little over a year ago that my dear friend suggested to me that we work together to start a blog. We share similar interests surrounding food, entertaining, and the like. We thought we could turn some of our experience into advice, inspiration, and encouragement for women going through life’s transitions like getting married and having babies.

Writing a blog struck us both as a refreshing idea, particularly since we were each facing some personal struggles and needed a positive and uplifting change in our lives at that time. Right before Renee suggested to me that we start a blog together, she had been unjustly dragged into an ordeal that would end up costing her a job, causing a lot of undue stress, and temporarily defacing her reputation.

→ Also Read: Renee Larr is Not Defined By Her Search Results

I’m not here to tell the gory details of what my friend has experienced over the last year. But I want to talk a little about the silver lining that has emerged as a result of the situation.

See, having the ability to come through a difficult situation and identify the silver lining can help a person to extract joy from life even in a time of intense pain or discomfort. That’s a quality that Renee and I share, and we are each stronger women today because of it.

The long and short of it is that Renee was accused of adultery by the wife of a high profile Indianapolis business man in 2013. This accusation surfaced a little over a year after Renee was newly married. Luckily her husband, Austin, is a smart and compassionate man, and their marriage has remained completely unscathed as a result of this ordeal. He has been there every step of the way to support her during the suffering she endured as the cyber attack unfolded and developed.

Austin, you are a good man. Thank you for taking care of our girl.

Renee has spent the last 16 months trying to get this tremendously ridiculous situation resolved. Finally just last week, the woman who calls herself VeeVee posted a public apology on her website, admitting that none of her terrible accusations and inappropriate comments were ever based in fact. Since that post will likely soon be removed from her site, I captured a screenshot showing the public apology for the viewing pleasure of any who may read this story. We’d hate for you to miss it.

This was an intensely painful and stressful situation for my dear friend, Renee Larr. She enjoyed none of it. So, how could anything positive come of it? Where the hell is the silver lining?

Well, that’s the thing about positivity. People who practice it manufacture joy even in the depths of their most shitty life situations.

Renee and I, in the midst of our suffering and in response to our personal struggles, created a blog that has become a very positive influence in our lives. Aside from the personal enjoyment, this blog could someday turn into a source of income for both of us—potentially replacing that job Renee lost. How’s that for a silver lining?

Padding the silver lining is a happy side effect that boosts our new blog’s performance. This whole ordeal has made “Renee Larr” our best-selling and most popular keyword! I’d almost like to shake the woman’s hand and thank her for the publicity that has driven a handsome handful of visitors to our site. Effortless site traffic, and I’m an SEO junkie. I love it.

Even though I know that when someone searches for Renee Larr and lands on our site, they are probably looking for the scandalous, made-up story. But I like to think that perhaps people are more intrigued by the story we tell on Dish-y.com. That’s because we spend our energy trying to help people enjoy their lives. We focus our time on helping promote the feel good factor. You’ll find anything but that if you pursue the lies. Which do you prefer?

Renee Larr and I created beauty during one of the darkest times in our lives. That in itself is the perfect silver lining for this situation in my humble opinion. Now that the darkness is fading, the wonderful, positive influence we made for our lives remains. And we’ll just keep creating more beauty and extracting more joy from it.

Call it glass half full, optimism, positivity, a silver lining, faith—whatever you want. We call it the best way to live life to the fullest.