Source:  Likehack.org

I’m grateful for every bad thing that has ever happened to me (and before you think I’ve had some posh, always happy-go-lucky-life) let me assure you, I have not). I didn’t always feel this way. There were stages of pain, grief, anger, resentment and more of that cycle. But then my dad gave me some of the best advice that I’ve possibly ever gotten. ‘Choose not to be a victim.”

He made me promise.

And so I did. I started looking for hope instead of pity. …For direction instead of distraction.

Today I can clearly see how the very best things in my life are a direct result of the very worse. I can see that I wouldn’t have the blessing that I do had I not experienced what I did, and I would gladly go through any of it again to have my life. I can see my ability to recognize good and opportunities because I so clearly knew their opposite. I can see my lack of natural talent and book-smarts made me not afraid to fail. I was more than familiar with failing, getting the answers wrong, having to find a different way. Now I can see that this has trained me to not stop when I don’t get it right, I expect it and so I keep going and going. It’s strange, but I find answers because I use to think I was stupid. Had it all come easy, I believe I would be afraid to look in hard places.

Life is a series of choices.

We can hold onto the past with all our might, sure that it defines our future and, well we’ll be right. Or… We can let our past teach us, build grit and tenacity with in us and set a fire under us.

Instead of letting your past prove you’re broken, let the broken prove just how sharp and brilliant you’ve become.

Broken crayons still color.