this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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For better or worse. Small scale or large. Personal or shared. What is an event you've experienced that changed the way you act, live, feel, etc. It could be short-term or long. Share what you feel comfortable with. Triumphs and tragedies alike.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (7 children)

I'll give you the incredibly brief version.

When I was seven my mom kidnapped me.

I managed to get a hold of my dad 6 years later, but nothing bad ever happened to her because of it.

Following that, my mom and stepdad essentially locked me in my room from the time I was 16 until I graduated high school about 2 months after I turned 17.

I was the valedictorian, a year ahead of my class. Kind of neat huh?

Only, my stepdad would occasionally come in and just attack me. I was punished for not doing enough school work by being forced out of my bed at 6:00 in the morning to go and dig up stumps in the backyard or to pick up a 40 to 120 lb Rock and carry it from one corner of the yard to the other corner of the yard where there was a pile of rocks, pick up a different rock out of that pile carry it to the third pile and then back and forth over and over and over until sundown.

Then I would come in, be fed, and then have to do more school work.

I lost all of my friends. I lost all of my self esteem. The day after I graduated, I left with my dad, who was not aware of this because my mom lied to him about it.

I was pretty wrecked and my dad didn't know how to cope with that so he gave me a truck and sent me back after about 5 or 6 months, and not having anywhere else to go I moved back in with my mom.

Literally a month later my stepdad tried to pull some shit and told me if I didn't go to work when they were leaving that I should pack up my stuff and not be there when they get back, so I packed up my stuff end of the truck my dad gave me and left.

I was homeless for about 2 years couch surfing with friends and trying to get my shit together and I was reaching out to God for help.

And on the first real date of my life I went out with this girl, we saw a movie, we got high we came back to my room at my friend's house and had sex.

And it was not very good all the way around, but then after I took her home and dropped her off it was like the scales fell off of my eyes, a bolt of lightning came down from the heavens and struck me hard in the heart, and I became aware of all of the sins I had committed in my life. All of my failings. All the things that were wrong with me.

And I was so broken I couldn't even cry, honestly I may have actually cried once or twice since then.

I was devastated.

And it's like, all the things that I thought I would be when I grew up went away. I could deal with the shit my mom and my stepdad pulled and I could deal with not being understood because I had a destiny and I had a dream and I was going to make it, and then I found out I was just a piece of shit, a crappy worthless human being whom, if I had never been born, the world would be a better place.

And there's a lot I'm leaving out but yeah, from that I started trying to rehabilitate myself. I've gone from being a worthless piece of shit to being useful fertilizer I guess.

I still have a long way to go and I don't know if I'll make it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

@bizarroland @cashmaggot Hey, I don't know what this will mean to you coming from a complete stranger. You've clearly never had a mom, though, or a dad, so let me share with you what they never did.

You are not your past. You are not your things. You are not your circumstances. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.

Those experiences don't have to define you. No one else is allowed to tell you what your worth is or who you'll be. The person you were yesterday is dead, and the person you are tomorrow doesn't exist. There is only today, there is only ever today. So somewhere inside of you, I want you to think really hard about who that person is, who you are. If you don't like what you see, that's okay. I think we've all been there. What's important is that you decide what matters to you, what your values are, what your worth is, who you're going to be, and then you live it. It takes time and practice, but what doesn't? Who was born knowing how to ride a bike, or swim, or count to a million, or anything else? Just work on it, every single day, and you'll make it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Big love, you love bug <3!!!

I ended up restoring my relationship with one of my parents, which has been nice because I'm a goober and I love a good phone call. And while I've put a buhjillion miles between my birthplace and my current spot - I do like talking with those I reconnected with. But also, my partner lacks a family. Which makes us substantially weaker as a whole against the support network of others. Which is rough, to be honest. But she always says we're like monkeys helping one another up the tree. And to be perfectly honest I love her to death, even if she drives me batty-bonkers.

I agree with you though. Although I will say I am a heavy reminiscer, and have battled this mental math of existence only being this moment (be here now). But I sometimes think of it as a super power, because I can recall things that most forget and can give play by plays. And while I know memories can be faulty, I like that there's some part of my brain that likes to record things. Because it makes for great fodder for better or worse with creative endeavors =P!

Big hugs, big love! Keep sharing the good stuff and keeping people afloat!

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