Traumatic Events That Changed My Life

Traumatic events can often shape life moving forward for some. Many of these events are phases in growing up as a teenager or adolescent and learning how to make better decisions. I know personally as a young black male, the road to manhood wasn’t without challenges. Throughout my journey from childhood into manhood I made it through many events that helped mold a better future. Three specific events that had a major impact on my life were being committed to state custody, losing my granny, and being confined in a juvenile detention center. After surviving these traumatic events I knew I was destined for greatness. In life there are good or bad events that occur and after they pass they become sources of influence for the future. Growing up in a single family low income home came with many challenges. Mom made ends meet but at times we went without the things we felt were essential as kids. My sister was 2 years older than me but she frequently had to play

From a child I was always told to be a leader and not a follower. My mother emphasized how important it was to stay away from trouble and away from the wrong crowd. “Trouble is easy to get into, but hard to get out of,” she implied. I eventually learned what she meant the hard way. In the summer of 2004 I followed the crowd, made a bad decision, and ended up in big trouble. This type of trouble landed me in a juvenile detention center for 2 months. Upon release I was assigned an ankle monitor, community service, and a probation officer. A restriction was associated with my monitor and if I was not home by 6 p.m. it would send a signal to my probation officer to let her know I had broken my curfew. This experience definitely taught me the most valuable lesson I had learned yet. I felt as though I let my self down and my Granny. Although my life at the time was in a downward spiral, I knew this was all the motivation I needed to get on the right