Alex Elman runs a big business — something difficult to imagine after she lost her sight in her twenties. But Elman says that losing her sight helped her focus on finding success.

Elman’s father planted a hillside vineyard in western Massachusetts in 1981. It’s where Elman fled during the darkest period of her life. When she was 27 years old, she went blind due to complications from juvenile diabetes (糖尿病) 17 years ago. She recalled, “I hid in my home. I hid in the place. For me, that was the safest place in the world.”

Elman is now the founder of Alex Elman Wines, a growing portfolio (系列产品) of organic wines from all around the world: Chianti from Italy, Torrontes from Argentina. Elman doesn’t work alone. Her assistant, a guide dog named Hanley, is something of a wine snob, and quite a beggar. Hanley travels to all of the wineries that Elman does, from South America to Europe.

At first, Elman resisted the idea of a guide-dog. Now it’s hard to imagine her life, or her business, without him. She said. “When someone tells me something is organic and I don’t really believe it because I taste something funny on it, I’ll put it in front of his face and if he likes the wine, he’ll go to sniff it. If it’s not right, he’ll turn his head away. He gets in the dirt with me. He scratches around. He makes sure that we see earthworms and butterflies. That’s how we know that the soil is actually organic, and that there are no chemicals.”

Elman told CBS News she believes the loss of her vision was a gift. She said, “It allowed me to pay attention to what I thought was important and also to be able to teach people that the broken hang nail is not a big deal, you know what I mean? Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t sweat the big stuff either.”

Growing up, I had always been told that girls only take the money from their parents but never look back to taking care of them. I always wondered if it was true.

I got married at the very early age of 22. I had always been a quiet girl, but with a loving heart I wanted to have a huge family. I found a husband but as we grew older things changed. I have been judged, accused, and blamed over and over again to the point where I was broken down emotionally. I was not able to make anyone understand what I felt. I would just keep on smiling and just focused on taking care of what was necessary, which was my family. Whenever I needed a friend to talk to, I felt judged to the point where I felt that opening my mouth was wrong. I lost my self-confidence, my belief, my faith, and my trust.

One thing I never gave up on was reading, because I have learned that to cut down the negative in life I had to keep adding positive things in my life. Sometimes reading did not help me right away but I knew it was working internally. The Secret Book is one of my favorite books that I have on my phone and next to my pillow. I am a firm believer in the saying, “There is light at the end of the tunnel.” No one knows how long the tunnel is, but yes, there is always light at the end of it. My tunnel was filled with judgments, accusations, and blaming. I have not overcome it completely yet but I know that I will overcome all of it soon to become the best version of myself.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is to never judge anyone without knowing the real story. I have also learned to always encourage and pour positive things into people to build them up.