We've all been hurt, we've all got it wrong, trusted the wrong person, made the wrong bet, turned the wrong way, made THAT mistake. What we've experienced is important, it defines us. But what is more important, and often forgotten, is that we decide how it defines us. The experience, decision or moment itself does not. Others will almost always try and define you by past transgressions more quickly than your past successes.
I've made mistakes, I've been someone I'm not proud of plenty of times. I've fallen down. I've loved the wrong person. I've failed. I've been hurt. I've hurt. That's life! In life we are going to get it wrong....alot. What I've tried to do and still try to do each time though is recognize those mistakes and mould them to my advantage. Make them a way to better myself. We've all had a bad experience thanks to someone else. Don't let that bad experience decide how and who you are. Don't let it hold you back from love or success or giving something a go. Don't vent your pain onto or at others in an attempt to bring them down and hold them back and cry your fury to the world. Don't let it turn you into the monster that hurt you.
Use that experience! Run with it. Take the sum of your past and make it your tool to approach the future with. Move forward and love the experiences you have, use them to define you and make you the best version of yourself that is humanely possible. Your life is yours and will be whatever you want it to be. Love, grow, pursue, strive, challenge yourself.
Be afraid so that you can be brave.
The video above is what positive forward motion, determination, bravery, strong will, dedication and self respect looks like. This is my Lucy. She is one of the best stunt women in the world. She has defined herself. She continues to define herself. She grows, everyday. She is Lucy Cork because she says so.
