“If you’re to choose to paint your life today… What will it be? Remember, you’re the artist, not the canvas.”
― Val Uchendu

We ARE the artist. That’s an important concept for us to understand. It means that we all have it in us to choose how our life will be. We may not be able to choose all the circumstances we live in,  but we can certainly choose how we will react to them. It sounds easy doesn’t it? “I’m tired of living life this way. I think I’ll do something different today.” That is exactly what we have the ability to do. We CAN choose the path we will walk today and we CAN choose how we will react to things today.
 
The problem with that is that life is crushing down upon us today. It consumes our thoughts, our actions , our decisions and our emotions. So, how do we overcome that pressure and get to the place where we can actually begin to choose our own reality? It is this question alone that is responsible for the creation this blog. I want to have a conversation about life, its hardships and its lessons.
 
I want this to be a conversation, because there is much that I can learn from you and hopefully the experience and wisdom I have gained over the years will be of some benefit to you. While I do not claim to be an “authority” in these matters, I do know what it is like to be abused, both as a child and as an adult. I have known depression so powerful that for a long time it was impossible for me to find my way out. I know what it is like to lose hope so completely that the decision to end it all seems to be the only choice left to you. I also know what it is like to put all that away and choose happiness and joy.
 
In my career I who was at that crossroad. One young single woman used to frequent the convenience market where I took my coffee breaks. I knew her well enough to say “hello” when she came by. Then one Saturday morning I was sent to an apartment to welfare check the occupant. Welfare checks are important assignments. They are important enough that if I don’t get a response by knocking I am authorized to enter by forcing the door, or window. I was able to get in by climbing on to the second floor patio and opening the sliding glass door. In the apartment everything was quiet. There were no answers to my calls to the occupant, so I began to look around. When I got to the bathroom I found her. It was the girl from the convenience market. She had taken her life.
 
I think about her sometimes and I wonder “if I had talked to her more, or had been more aware, would she still be alive.” It makes me sad that I did nothing. In my career I have come across many people who, have either taken their life, or were headed in that direction. I have myself been there. I know what drives you to that depth of despair and I know how to choose to overcome those feelings. We were not sent to this earth to live in despair. We are that we might have joy. It is the goal of this blog to chat about this side of life.
 
In as much as this is a blog I will start conversations and I would like you bring your thoughts to those conversations. I also put a contact page where you can make suggestions, or state your opinions, so let’s talk together.