ReCharge Your Life
It was a privilege to be invited to the Recharge your Life podcast for another meaningful conversation. The Recharge Your Life podcast with Dr. Keri Ohlrich & Kelly Guenther features inspirational stories from everyday people who have made a decision that recharged their lives. It’s about going beyond your comfort zone and taking risks. On this episode, I reflect on childhood memories, talk about the decisions I have made in my adult life, my journey to finding courage, finding my voice and more.
Positive Habits
After introducing me as the special guest, the host asked: What do you do when you want to push yourself and expand your thinking?
Each day I invest in me. I get up and have a mindful and a quiet 5-30 minutes with myself and God. I try to make sure the choices I make are the best for me. So that no matter what situations or circumstances arise during the day, I can go through them just as effectively and passionately.
My adopted dad would always say. ” Be mindful that people will forget your name, people will forget your degrees, people will even forget your title, but they will never forget how you made them feel”. So I always keep that in mind and I push myself every day.
The host asked how did I create these habits?
It was a process. I went through a lot of things that didn’t work! lol. Most things that helped me through the book was the anxiety, the worrying, being stressed, and overcompensating for my kids. I had to continue to be mindful of what affected me negatively and make a choice because this was not how I was getting the best results. I had to do a lot of praying, understanding, and accepting the essence of me.
We all have personality traits. We all have different characteristics and backgrounds. We all have a story. Sometimes we have to reach deep inside ourselves and invest in ourselves and reflect. I have always had a loving spirit, but I have never taken the time to understand who Kim was? and who Kim is? I also wanted to know where these flaws came from. The repeated negative behavior. The abandonment. That is how my book came about. Accepting my foundation which was shaken and broken and I had to take the time to invest in me to rebuild. To transform. To Invest in a better quality of life. I had to make that choice to go ahead and make me the priority.
Memories of Childhood
The host asked me to speak about what decisions changed the trajectory of my life and how I was able to work through them.
It was finally getting the courage to accept my story from the beginning and embrace everything else.
The host pointed out that not all of us have the strongest foundation but some of us use it to become even stronger and more inspirational. How was that process and journey for me? How did that courage come?
It was very hard. It took me to gain the courage in my later years of life. Putting my truth all on paper for the rest of the world through my memoir to free me and free others.
I had bits and pieces of my journey throughout my life that I would share with others. From memories of childhood abandonment to the abuse. I was raised with my adopted father who tried to build that foundation in me to tell the truth. He thought me that you don’t have to hide your truth, you don’t have to hide your smile. Don’t be scared to tell your truth.
On the flip side, even though I was taught to tell the truth, I was still raised with the idea that what was done in the home stayed in the home. No matter what was done, good or bad, you do not go out in public and talk about what was going on in the home. That was a different era and when there was anything that needed to be addressed, they will go to the local pastor. I remember having a meeting with the pastor after I had my first child at 15. The pastor was very compassionate but it was still a mental anguish for a young 15 yr old to have to sit down and reveal…
I shared my childhood memories from my story of being dropped off. I was never reunited with my biological mother, siblings and father. I was taught by my adopted mom to not reveal the truth of being in kinship care. I knew the truth because I stayed with my real family until I was 5. I lost my voice and had to find it.
Finding A Voice
The host asked how I was able to find my voice. A lot of time we don’t see people of color and women represented. What was my journey to finding it?
Once again, I had to go back to the foundation and accept that my silence triggered other events. I had to accept everything I went through that triggered this mentality in me that my voice did not matter. I had to learn to be vocal and stand for my truth. Choose what life I want. What life I deserve…
The host asked what do I have to say to the young ones or people who are as old as we are who are still struggling?
“Be as real and authentic as you can be to know that your voice does matter.”
Besides the support of my mental health therapist, the number 1 factor was choosing the freedom, the acceptance and the release. Once I’m free, I’m free indeed. I’m not going to go back into that bondage.
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