I am impacted.
Building Understanding:
This is both my story...unique to me AND a message of the importance of impact...the story of YOU. Options: read with a personal growth mindset (How will this impact you? And what will you do with that impact?) or stop reading. This is a story of resilience...I'm not welcoming you to a non-existent celebration or pity party.
Check yourself before continuing...
Moments of Truth:
*My mother died when I was 6 months old.
*I grew up knowing my grandparents as my parents.
*I existed amongst alcoholism, drug abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental illness, and divorce/break ups.
*I thought suicide was an easy choice.
*I was a teenage mom.
*I lost my son's father when I was 20.
*I lost my grandmother when I was 22.
*I lost my grandfather this year.
These are the things that are A PART of who I am, but they are not the sum of my being...
*I excelled in school.
*I graduated college.
*I own my home and my car.
*I work hard professionally and personally.
*I put my pants on one leg at a time (most days).
*I am on a journey of self-development.
*I have a servant's heart and a curious mind.
*I have lessons of impact being both the impactee and the impactor.
And this, my journeying friends, is "the why" to your reading...
We are not broken.
We do not need fixed.
We all have a story of our coming to be.
You are a part of the story of our being.
We need to be impactful.
Keep "holding my hand" (i.e. keep reading) because the following are real statements from a personal place of feeling and they are blunt, but purpose driven (or stop reading if your unprepared to own tripping over a few rocks on this reality path):
The "I" in the following statements serves as a collective statement for anyone who has felt what I am expressing. Assuredly, they are not my unique feelings.
Stop with the eyes of pity or glorification. I'm not your project. You're not my savior. I'm not abnormal. You're not profound in your knowledge of my story.
Continue with the eyes that see me as I am in the moment we are in together.
Stop with the prodding to draw my story from me. I'm not a case study. You're not a scientist. I'm not volunteering to confirm your research. You're not profound in your collection of other people's stories.
Continue with listening to what I choose to share in the moment that we are in together.
Stop with the psychoanalysis of and excuses for my behavior. I'm not infallible. You're not perfect. I'm not unemotional. You're not profound in the knowledge of my why.
Continue with impacting me by being present in my journey and recognizing the footprints you are leaving in it.
You can serve to either teach others about the kind of people they want to be or the kind of people they don't want to be. What impact are you making?
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