Many times throughout this journey, we fail to take a step back and look at where we've come from or how we've changed. This is not done to be prideful about whatever you might be currently doing to better yourself; rather, this "step back" is to look at what you have been through in the past and use those past experiences (whether good or bad) to help you make wiser decisions.

I know, that sounds pretty deep and cliche. However, let me explain:

When I was younger, I really didn't see some of my siblings after a certain time. One of my sisters and two of my brothers were gone after I was about 8 or 9 years old. My parents told me that they had moved to live with their respective parents (one of my sisters and one brother, named Kimberley and Andre, moved to live with their mom. My other brother, Collin, moved to live with a girlfriend in New Jersey. For years, I thought that they just moved because of school, work, or some other simple reason. I should probably state that I am the youngest, by far, out of all my siblings. My oldest sibling is 42. The one closest to me in age is 32, and I am currently 24. After about 3 or 4 years of neither seeing nor hearing from any of them, I finally found out the real reason why they left. I won't go into detail with it, but they were upset with my dad for the most idiotic reason. They were beyond rude to him and my mom; I have such high respect for my parents, so hearing this really angered me, especially since I was younger. Furthermore, they didn't really care about myself or my other sisters (one of which has a mental disability). They have not contacted my mom, dad, or any of us on birthdays, and when my dad was hospitalized a few years ago, not a single one of those siblings even gave him a call. We almost lost him, and they couldn't care less. Why? Because they were too busy being rude, inconsiderate, and immature towards my parents when my parents should be the ones being rude to them.

I know that this is really deep, but I'm sharing this for a reason. I went through a time when anger was, by far, the only emotion I seemed to have because of everything that was going on. I never thought I could or would forgive them. As we get older, we are constantly getting wiser and learning more about ourselves and others. After an extremely long time, and after constant prodding by my parents to stop being so angry, I wrote them a letter to explain all of my feelings towards them. It honestly did make me feel better, and I forgave them. I haven't really spoken to any of them since, but in all honesty, I don't care. I have moved on, and I will continue to move on and grow.

If we continue to hold onto things from the past that bring up nothing but negative feelings, we are constantly going to be weighted down and held back from moving any further in your life. Now, I am making great strides in my musical career and I will be graduating soon and going for my MBA in Business Management. Letting go of the anger and actually making a conscious effort to change helped me move on and become a better me. One of my sisters who was always around, Renee, is now working towards a high level position with her company, Me & My Big Ideas. Negativity and hatred solves nothing. if more people nowadays were willing to agree with me on this, maybe there wouldn't be so much violence. Maybe people wouldn't be as shady and deceitful; thus, creating real relationships with real people worth being around. Don't let anything or anyone hold you back from achieving what you think you can and more. Live your life with no limits.