Our blog shares stories of real people showing how they overcame their personal challenges with positive results to empower others
It gets better.
I never talked about it.
Now I do.
I was born and grew up in a very violent home.
My father regularly beat my mother, and I was forced to grow up very quickly in order to patch up wounds and make sure that no one died.
My dad taught me that the only way to get attention was to take it. I learned how to swallow all of my emotions, in a cold hollow place
I was a violent bully; I loved being in fights and unleashing all the rage and hate I felt into my fists.
When I could find no targets for my anger, I bullied myself to be harder, sharper and stronger. I took risks, dangerous, self-destructive risks with drugs, and violence with each fight and each drug more dangerous than the last.
I lived for revenge against the world, against God and against my father.
After some years, I was ready. I was going to finally make my father pay, and I was going to make him suffer.
Then he did something unexpected.
He had a heart attack and died.
All that rage and anger and nowhere to go.
It took me a long time and a lot of training, a lot of talking, to be able to let go of my hatred.
I was only able to start healing by reaching out.
I still have days, moments when the anger and sadness reach into my life, but I have support, and I’ve done the work.
Misery thrives on secrets.
Talk about it and move forward.
Talk to a teacher, a trusted friend or a relative.
I’m thankful for all the work that this charity does because it gives people the chance to escape the violence in their lives.