Different

Sometimes I realize that I'm different, that my life is different. Sometimes those moments drop me. They hit me like a slap across the face. I feel the sting as old emotions resurface and I realize that regardless of where I'm at now, I have a past.

I have a past and though it is one that I have overcome, there are still scars that I carry, insecurities that have left their mark, uncertainties that now and again leave me with questions...

This week I had one of these moments.

...I worry...

I try not to, but it's what I do. I may be in a good place, a great place now, but I wasn't always. I struggled, I tripped, and I made mistakes as I worked toward this place. I remember how hard it was for me. I see my little brothers going through the same things now and I worry. How do you motivate a person? How do you make someone care and realize what's important? How do you watch people you care about, people that you've helped raise make bad decisions?

I'm not sure, but as I worried about these things this week I had one of those moments. One of those moments that cause me to realize once again that my life is different... But this time, it didn't drop me.

Nobody's life is perfect.
I have so much to be grateful for and that's not just something that I'm saying, but something that I truly believe. I'm so grateful for my friends, my family, where I'm at, and what I'm doing and it was this realization that struck me.

...This week I realized that I am different...

Different than I used to be. Stronger than I used to be. Happier than I used to be, with a different perspective than I used to have.
I may worry, but these worries don't consume me anymore.

...This week I realized that I am different....
...This week I realized that it's good to be different...