I spent a chunk of time homeless as a child. My mom died when I was nine years old. Poverty, violence and injustice were major themes for most of my life. I had no handouts or ways to leverage, and nothing good seemed to last. I lost a lot of people, including myself, many times.
I contemplated leaving it all because I couldn’t bear the pain. I looked around often, only to witness more tragedies. My life felt like a horror show or a thriller featuring an endless number of villains. I promised myself I would find a way out.
Our personal life story is the most profound, unique, and valuable thing we can offer the world. We all have one, but what makes your story awe-inspiring and influential (to yourself and others) is your relationship with it.
When you can look back and find the lesson in the pain, the letdowns, and the blatant lack of fairness you may have experienced, your life looks more like a hero’s journey and less like a tragedy. That shift in perspective makes it all worth it.
If you weren’t offered sources of unconditional love, support, and encouragement, you had to dig deep to find it. You had to curate reasons to keep going because no one was handing them to you. You’ve created your own path because no map was given to you.
And because you know what that journey looks like, you have emotional, spiritual, and mental tools to offer those around you who are still searching for that source of unconditional love. And all that love you were denied or kept from, you can find within yourself, for yourself. Once you’ve accessed that, there is nothing you can’t do.
Despite a dark environment, you can be the light. And it only takes one bright bulb to fill a room.
So as you remember where you came from and what moulded you, be grateful for all the lack, all the rejection, and all the loss…they are the very reasons you can find yourself sooner, generate your own source of love and hope, and ultimately, help others do the same.
