YoungHeart1980!

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well.

Looking back at my teenage years I wondered how I struck up courage to be in the spot I am in today? How life was so difficult when I only wanted to get a part-time job. I would question why I was given this life and now although I still do not have all the answers, this is my advice to my teenage self.

I embrace you each day for not giving up, you are not alone – I am here. The summer of 1996 she walked out of her house took the city bus and thus the beginning of her future – began the path she would walk alone. She relied on herself, trusted herself and her very first breakthrough to survive. Afraid and scared then, you no longer have to be. She hasn’t stopped working since. The drive and ambition, she still carries with her. A reminder to not forget the lessons and don’t do what others did to her. Take the good and leave the bad behind. She had no plans and no idea what was waiting ahead. As I look back at her she couldn’t have predicted everything that life brought, heartbreak, mistakes, failures, but also happiness.

I am proud of you because your morals and pride were present. You knew what was right for you, corrected your mistakes and started over even when the risk was high, you knew your self-worth, kept safe and you never gave up. You knew how to pick up the pieces and move on. Any place she knew she shouldn’t be or no longer wanted to be, she found the strength, had the anger and pain that forced her forward to the new, healthy and stable. Although it took you a while to realize and see clear, it was all divine timing. It was all to get you to the right place – the place where you belong. I am proud of you, giving up was not an option, didn’t become another statistic, made it out alive and better for it.

I am sorry you took the long path and that it was lonely, if not for it you wouldn’t know how to build your confidence and show up for yourself. You did great with the little you had. With Love, to my teenage self. All the Best!