Growing up, I had the kind of parents who made me feel as though doing my best was average and anything sub par was basically the equivalent of failing. There's a famous saying that goes something to the effect of "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Whoever decided that was the convicting case obviously was full of lies in their mouth or was naive enough to convince themselves of such a ruse.

Words do hurt, and they hurt immensely and anyone who has ever grown up with verbally abusive parents is very well aware that those 'words' can scar you in all the ways that matter, the older you become. Those words can profoundly shape your adulthood, and alter your subconscious mind in ways you may not ever realize, forever damaging the nature of your self-esteem, and often times, self-worth. I cannot even express the number of times I contemplated suicide before I reached the age of 10. I convinced myself the idea of a God couldn't possibly exist when my life was given these wretched excuses for parents.

I heard it all growing up, my mother's mouth held nothing back. If you could think of the infinite ways you could verbally abuse a child, I swear she knew each way to make me feel worthless. She would constantly permeate in my brain, this idea that I was a failure at life, and on more than numerous occasions, she would never hesitate in telling me that she "wished I was never born."

If my report card said I had three A's and one B, I was a disappointment. If I wanted to play sports, I was stupid because sports were only for boys. If I was staying late at school to complete work or photograph sporting events (when I was editing for my High School Yearbook), I was wasting my time because homework was more important. I was constantly reminded that my cousins were better than me at everything, because they went to a private high school, because they got straight A's, because they wanted to go into the medical field...the list could go on forever on every reason I just wasn't good enough.

Despite such a tumultuous childhood of verbal and mental abuse, I surprisingly turned out as normal as one could possibly turn out, given the circumstances. I only did so because of one young girl I befriended at the age of 13 who suddenly made me feel like my life was worth living, who made me understand that nothing my parents could say was remotely close to a granule of truth. I wasn't a failure, and I was worth loving, even if my own parents failed to see my life as a blessing.

Years down the road, I enlisted in the military, and it was no surprise that my parents were not supportive in any way, shape or form. They felt the necessity to provide their unwanted input about my choices, comments such as "military is only for people who don't graduate high school or who are dumb" or "you're wasting your life away, you've amounted to nothing." They were so opposed to my decision, they didn't even bother to attend my Naval basic training graduation, and felt no such remorse for the matter, thus leaving me to graduate alone and as a mass of families awaited their graduates, I had no one.

But the ironic part remains, my Naval graduation was the most liberating feeling I had ever experienced in my life. When my parents would constantly remind me I was a failure, I accomplished a feat that only 1% of Americans are even qualified to claim, graduating from basic training and being a member of the United States military. For the first time, I truly felt like I had not failed in life. That moment changed my life substantially and in a way, made me feel invincible and impervious to my parents daggering words.

I won't say I never have moments of regret in my life, or moments when I don't have a failing complex that haunts my very thoughts and existence in days I doubt myself. I won't say I don't ever have days where I don't believe my parents when they said I would never amount to anything. To admit such things would be a fallacy of my own judgment.

At the end of the day, I'm only human and yes, sometimes I have those moments in my life. But then I think to myself, "In a world of misguided opinions, the only opinion that matters is the one you have of yourself, and if you think you're damn good enough, then nothing else matters."

I graduate with a multi-dimensional Undergraduate Degree next year, I proudly served my time in the military, and now I work in my dream job, working for one of thirty NBA Teams, the Orlando Magic. I guess I'm not really failing in life after all.