You Are More Than The Environment You Were Raised In

You are more than the product of your environment, you are more than the hand me down clothes you’ve been wearing and the shoes with holes in them. You are more than the bedroom you share with your siblings and you are more than the dirt on your hands. You are more than the addictions. You are more than the fights. You are more than doing what you have to do in order to survive. You are more than the lifestyle you were born into. I promise.

Just because you were brought up in that lifestyle doesn’t mean you are destined for it. Just because no one else in your family went to college or even finished college does not mean you can’t do it. It does not mean you can’t become a doctor or a lawyer or a writer or a teacher. You can become whatever you put your mind to as long as you believe in yourself.

You have to believe in yourself more than anyone else because those around you might not believe in you at all. They will tell you that you aren’t smart enough or that you don’t have enough money or that you’ll never be able to do it. But you can’t listen to those voices if you want to break the cycle you’ve been raised in, if you want to create a better future for your family and yourself.

When everyone around you is telling you that you can’t do it, you need to learn how to silence the voices and keep following your dreams.

These dreams have to be your dreams, you can’t do what your parents want you to do or what your uncle is telling you to do, you have to do what you want to do. You have to go after what makes you happy.

If working as a mechanic in a car garage makes you happy, become a mechanic. If being a teacher and inspiring others like you’ve been inspired yourself to do better is something you’re passionate about, become a teacher.

Become whatever makes you look forward to getting out of bed in the morning. Become whatever inspires you to live a good life and inspire others.

You are so much more than the environment you grew up in. You might not see that now, you might not be able to see it by being picked on at school or feeling insecure, but you are more than that, as long as you believe in yourself. Your future isn’t planned out for you, you can take your life in the palm of your hands and head in whatever direction you want. You can make the most of your life every single day.

Things won’t be easy, but if you have the determination and believe in yourself you can do it. You can definitely do it. You have to want to better yourself, you have to want to learn from your mistakes and you have to want to become successful. If you want those things you will have those things, you just can’t give up, even when life seems unfair.

You have to keep digging deeper and keep planting new seeds, even if the seeds seem like they’re being planted in concrete.

I’ve watched people succeed when the world was against them. I’ve watched people break the cycle in their families. I’ve watched kids born into bad situations overcome them. I’ve watched it and I believe that you can be next. Don’t let the negative voices pull you under, you are better than that and I think you know that, too.

You deserve to live a good life, a life where you are happy, a life where you know where you can afford to do things because you worked hard to be where you are. You owe that to yourself and you owe that to your family.

Just believe in yourself, push yourself and challenge yourself to do things you’ve never done before and you can have the world at your fingertips. I know life might not have always been fair to you, but you have the power to rewrite your future. It doesn’t have to be predetermined; you are more than the life you were born into. Rewrite your future and become the best version of yourself you can.