I am living my best life. Most mornings, I wake up and I cannot believe that this is my life. I live in a beautiful house nestled into a valley of mountains looking out at the Pacific Ocean. I have a family that I love dearly and who adores me everyday. But this was not always the case.
My childhood was full of contradictions. There was feast (with an abundance of food) and there was famine (we were accepting groceries from the food bank). There was joy (singing and cooking with my mother) and complete terror (witnessing physical domestic violence). Security (growing up in a beautiful custom-built home) and insecurity (living in a car in a parking lot). Love (countless hours of laughter and play with my siblings) and there was terror and complete betrayal.
The point of this article is not to focus on that. Truthfully, that part of my life is so far behind me that I no longer identify with it. I have done the work. The healing has taken place. I am at peace.
What I want to focus on is hope, love and success.
No child should live through what I lived through. But boy did it make me strong. It gave me the drive, determination and focus to succeed.
If you’re reading this and have been through something similar, know that you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You are also not broken. Your spirit in untouched and perfect. You are capable of so much. It is up to you to find the courage, take responsibility and get your life back in order.
With Aloha,
Dagmara