The song by Everlast always serves as a reminder of why I have learned to embrace my journey instead of hide it. I have been through more than the average bear in 48 years and some of those tales are not ones you put on BLAST! But it has made me WHO I am forget about what...it's irrelevant...I am absolutely someone that know "what it's like" to live in many environments. I have seen the worst of the worst and I have wined and dined among the best of the best and ultimately I love where I am, I love WHO I am because I do know "what it's like"...
to be in love with an addict and lose
to work for it and win
to have to decide and to have to choose
to be fat and thin, healthy and sick
to be poor and to have enough.
I have been a single Mom, I have stood in a food stamp line, I have sat in a clinic to get care for myself and then my child, I have worked for every single thing I have achieved and this is why I can understand. I have the privilege of having the depth of an understanding that while attaining it I could never have known I would look back with gratitude for the experience.
Walking in the many shoes I have worn has helped me in my roles as mother, wife, daughter, friend, leader, neighbor and any number of other hats I wear. I understand things that others are quick to judge. I get it. My empathy is real. My mess has always been my message because they were momentary; every setback always had a comeback.
I conclude with my favorite line in the song, which no surprise is; " You know where it ends, yo, it usually depends on where you start".
Life as I live it - L.