By Richard Ray:
You have zero control on so many elements of your early development.
You have no control over what continent, country, city you are born and raised. You have no control over who your parents are… if one or both are in your life and positive and supportive figures. You have no control over your skin color… your race, ethnicity or religion and culture you are born and raised into. You have no control over how much money you are born into (or better said born without).
All of these elements surely shape who you are. You may indeed start from a proverbial bottom or point of disadvantage, but those facts and factors should never ultimately define who you are and can become as a person. Easier said than done sometimes of course, but that really is the point in life… rising above to achieve sometimes in spite of the hands we are dealt.
I preface this to say that this is especially true for anyone in the United States. I have written a lot lately about how divided and dysfunctional the country may be, but it is still a land of opportunity where anything is still possible. Kids born in the slums of Calcutta (Kolkata), Freetown in Sierra Leone and Rio Di Janeiro may be more likely to be forever trapped in their circumstances, but if you have the access to read this, you fit in that demographic that has the opportunity to overcome.
For those of us lucky enough to be born in parts of the world where there is any opportunity for upward mobility (especially the United States), no matter how difficult our circumstances or the obstacles that seemingly impede our path, ultimately we are the controlling factor in defining who we are… not our original circumstances. Again, this is always easier said than done, but it is tantamount that we all understand the ultimate control we have in defining the outcomes of our lives and who we are in spite of any impediments or obstacles that may have originally existed.
We define who we are… We control our own destiny…This is not to say that our paths become easy with this mantra or understanding, but you can never lose sight of the positivity that you control in shaping and defining who you are in life. Your color, race, ethnicity, wealth, being poor, having good parents, having bad or no parents… those are circumstances that shape your starting point in life. Some may put you further in the hole than others, but ultimately you must understand those circumstances do not have to define who you are… you and only you have that ultimate final say.
If you enjoyed this be sure to read others within diaryofamadmind.com
#overcomingadversity, #inspiration, #definingourselves, #destiny, #control, #noonedefinesyoubutyou
