The beauty of abuse, how ridiculous that must sound! The thing is, without the horrible childhood I had, I would not be where I am today without it. This is my absolute truth!

When you come from a life of hell, you usually end up going one of two ways. You either continue a life of hell because that is all you know and can relate to – or – you get the hell out! You take huge leaps of faith and jump as far away from the chaos and dysfunction as you possibly can.

For those who are stirring in their past and still playing the blame game for your misfortune, please stop and think about it for a minute. What good does it do for you to continue to wallow in the history that you cannot change? How about you think about accepting that it happened and that it is your “previous” life situation. Beyond acceptance, contemplate if this is the way you want to choose to continue to live. Seriously think about it…. because, the next moment of your life is entirely within your control. Every little teeny-weeny choice you make is yours and no one else. How does this feel?

I know so many people who came from a close to “normal” childhood. No violence, no abuse, mostly happy and decent memories. I feel sorry for these people! Again, I know this sounds odd but hear me out.

When you come from what I call a “vanilla” life, you continue to live as vanilla! I came from Rocky Road and knowing it is a road I will never go down again; I had to leap. When you are vanilla, you go about your life, day after day, existing. You think about wanting more, but you are okay with being where you are. There is nothing there forcing you to change anything! You exist.

I do know many people who were in the midst of living their ordinary vanilla life when something horrific would happen. It was that “thing” that happened that changed their lives and they were no longer swirling in vanilla. They became movers and shakers; butter brickle, cookies and cream, Spumoni and Neapolitan!

When you no longer hold on to your “old story,” you can begin to write a new one.

Those of us who were thrown against walls and held out of helicopters desperately try to change our life situations. We know we don’t want to repeat what we came from so we claw and crawl to get out from the history. We will not let history repeat itself (again, I am not referring to all of us, just the ones who know we cannot stay in chaos).

Although my childhood was horrible, without it, I don’t know where I would be today. Because of it, I found a place of inner peace I would never have believed could exist. It took a lifetime to get me to where I am, but it is by being here that I know what I will be doing with the rest of my life.

My life’s mission is to help others release their history and let it go completely. When you no longer hold on to your “old story,” you can begin to write a new one. You realize you have the power in your ruby slippers to do anything or be anything you could ever imagine. Your dreams can become your reality.

The first and hardest step is realizing that you have to let go of the old story. For many, this is incredibly scary because that story is what has defined you your entire life! The only way you can move forward – ever – is to let go and take a leap.

It’s wonderful over here living in bliss. I hope you join me.