Have you ever had something hurt so bad that it almost destroyed you? Do you remember a time in your life when you just wanted to give up? You tried to do something and it was difficult. You tried to make it work and it just failed over and over again. Did this happen to you? 

It happened to me. I was an eleven-year-old child and my mother was always busy buying and selling crack. She would have our motel room door closed because she was afraid of the police. My brother and I would be locked in the motel room with her. We had a refrigerator. Unfortunately, salt and ketchup were the only foods available in our refrigerator. I remember how hungry my brother and I would get. We would sneak out of the motel room while my mother was sleeping and go to the grocery store. While we were there, we would steal bread, ham, and cheese. We made sandwiches and drank water until we were full. I remember that hunger drove us to risk our freedom. 

I remember the hunger that my brother and I experienced while living in the motel room with my mother. Such events have made me reconsider my entire life. I knew when I was young that I had to change. That I had to do something different because I could not live like that in my adult life. 

What are you experiencing at the moment? What is it that is taking away your passion in life? Today is the day that you take steps to change that problem. If the pain is bad enough, you will change your situation. You can and you deserve it.

Terrance Thomas