I recently went back to visit the last two hostels I stayed in during some of the hardest chapter of my life. I hadn’t been back in years but something in me needed to return. One of them had residents who’d been there over 10 years and they were gone and I remember praying and hoping they are ok. I remember how they used to tell me I’d be great at support work… but all I did was listen, show love, and be present all the time looking back now it was healing me.
Back then, I had no idea what coaching was. No idea I’d one day be building a life around helping others move forward. But going back… it stirred something deep. The other hostel held around 50 people Still, I stood there and knew with full clarity I would either fill those spaces with purpose again or find another way to return and serve the people behind those doors.
These streets shaped me. The trauma, the pain, the survival… but also the resilience, the rawness, and the heart. To be back now no longer stuck in survival, but building a mission from it feeling so blessed numerous times I could of died.
This is what it means to give back. To turn your story into service.
And I’m just getting started...