I know this because I have been there.
The first 20 years of my life went like this…
I grew up in Oakland, CA at the start of the crack epidemic, and 6 months after I was born my Mom got addicted to crack…
The first 8 years of my life I bounced around from crack house to crack house, I was molested, I attended 14 different schools by the time I graduated high school…
I met my Dad for the first time when I was 8 and he told me “you’re coming to live with me” and that relationship was abusive from the start…
Then when I was 17 years old, I took off to the military hoping to leave all that trauma behind but wherever you go, there you are…
So at 18, I married the first girl that said she loved me, was physically, mentally and emotionally abusive to her until she got the courage to leave (and rightfully so)...
When she threatened to leave I locked myself in the bathroom, took a loaded shotgun and pulled the trigger…
Luckily for me, the gun didn’t go off…
Then at 19, I married the second girl who told me she loved me, got divorced and turned to alcohol to solve my anger issues. I got on the wrong end of the law, and was wrongfully convicted as a felon by 20…
Then, I met a man named Hank who changed my life and introduced me to personal development. He said, “Young man, your life doesn’t have to go the way it looks like it’s about to go if you just change how you see yourself.”
Now, at 38, I run a 7 figure international coaching business, speak on international stages, 2x author, married to my best friend who I’ve never laid a hand on, father of 2, travel all over the world, and am one of the most emotionally healthy people you’ll ever meet.