Jane Eyre and me

So, I've been reading a modern retelling of my favorite book, Jane Eyre. The book I'm currently working on is called The Flight of Gemma Hardy, and it's very nearly a mirror of the Jane Eyre story, but set in 1950s England and 1960s Scotland. I've really loved living through Jane Eyre again, but in a new, and sometimes surprising, way.
Tonight at work, I was feeling incredibly down. It was 8:00, and I felt like I was no where near being ready to head home. My desk was piled with things that my boss had left for me to finish, and I just felt overwhelmed. When I'm overwhelmed, I think about all the millions of things in my life I'd like to change, and then, insult adds to injury, and I find that I can completely depress myself in a matter of seconds.
Well, as I was bemoaning my current state, the story of Jane/Gemma came to mind, and I felt something that seemed a little bit like hope.
In most every other book I read, I find that people get what they want. It may take a while, but generally, they are given those happy endings that the rest of us long for.
Jane Eyre gives us a different perspective on this. Yes, at the end, she does get her Mr. Rochester, but the ending is bittersweet. Neither character is untouched by the passage of time. Really horrible things have happened to both of them. Answers don't come easily.
So, that is where I found hope tonight.
I think that, if I were Jane Eyre, I would have just woken up from my sickness in the home of the clergyman and his sisters (or in Gemma's case, the postman and his sister). I would be muddling through life without the person I once loved, trying to find beauty and meaning on my own.
I don't believe that I'll ever have S back, and truthfully, after a few epiphanies recently, I don't want S back (which is a huge thing for me to say), but I do think that I'm living in a valuable moment right now.
Life is rough. I'm scraping by on a tiny salary, working countless hours every day, feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, but Jane Eyre caused me to remember, "This is not what the rest of my life will look like."
Things can be better. Things will get better.
Right now, I'm just learning and healing and growing. And growth seems to always be accompanied by pain. But pain seems often to lead to something greater.
Here's hoping for greater things!