I'm OA.
And every day.
I'm becoming more of who I was created to be.
My story doesn't start with success.
It starts with uncertainty. It starts with pain, it starts with betrayal, it starts with heartbreak,right when I took my very first breath.
As a child, I moved from place to place.
From one environment to another.
never feeling like i fit in,feelin misunderstood,feeling never enough.
I learned at a young age.
How to adapt,How to survive.
By the time I was 14, years old.
I realized I couldn't wait for someone else to come save me.
I had to learn how to stand on my own two feet.
I had to figure things out on my own.
I had to become my own support system.
But through everything I went through.
I made a choice.
I could let my experiences harden my heart.
Or I could let them teach me compassion.
I chose compassion.
I learned that hurt people.
Hurt people.
But healed people. Can help heal people. I learned that someone's past may explain their pain.
But it doesn't have to define their future. I learned that,Mom,Dad,
Sisters,Brothers,Aunts,
Uncles,Cousins,Grandparents,
Even children you helped raise.
Can act like you don't exist.
I learned that speaking your truth.
Will offend some people.
So.
Keep Speaking,LOUDER!
Be brave,be strong
I'm not standing here because I had an easy life. I'm standing here because life tested me.
And I kept choosing love.
I kept choosing growth. I kept choosing to believe!
There was something better ahead.
The struggles I went through didn't destroy me.
They shaped me.
They taught me empathy.
They taught me patience.
They taught me that sometimes.
The person who needs someone to believe in them.
Is the person everyone else has forgotten. Everything you search 4 is within you.
Life is going to throw some messy things at you.
Sometimes it won't be your fault.
Sometimes people will disappoint you.
Sometimes life will hand you pain you never asked for.
The question isn't whether life gets messy.
The question is..
What are you going to do with it?
I always say.
"The world may hand you poop.
Are you going to clean it up.
Or are you going to smear it?( giggle)
Don't become what hurt you.
Feel it.
Learn from it.
Heal from it.
But don't let it change.
The best parts of who you are.
I was given every reason to become bitter.
But I chose..
To become better.
I was hurt.
But I refused.
To let hurt decide who I would become.
Your past is a chapter.
Not the whole book.
What tried to break you..
Can become the very foundation..
You build your life on.
The world may leave scars.
People may leave wounds.
But don't let pain steal..
The greatest thing you carry..
The love in your heart.
Keep growing.
Keep loving.
Keep becoming.
Because your story..
Isn't over.
I'm still becoming.
Still learning.
Still discovering who I am..
Both as a person..
And spiritually.
My name is OA.
And this isn't the end of my story.
It's just another chapter..
In becoming who I was always meant to be.
This is OA.
Reminding you.
Don't let the world dim your light.
IAMTHEOA
