A New Chapter Of Hope And Ambition

Please note: this piece contains descriptions some readers may find upsetting.

In my last year of secondary school at the age of just sixteen I found out that I had been abused since birth by my birth family. When I was growing up, I thought that the abuse I was receiving at both ends was normal – all the torture I came to know was nothing but normal. Every day of my childhood I had nothing but lies. This was not a childhood I once wanted or imagined. It was like a sentence of disbelief and heartache. For one I have been playing this all inside my head for years – nowhere to turn to get help. No child should go through what I had to experience but the truth is it did not only happen to me it happens to many other children all around the world not just in Scotland or the United Kingdom.

We live in a world of injustice, where voices are unheard and not spoken about enough. People feel ashamed of the world after something like abuse has just happened to them. We need to try and get to a place of hope.

How do you move on from something as dark as this in your life? For me, I found solitude in my writing when I wrote. I found a sense of hope and pride in my writing. I started to realise when I was younger that writing and reading books were both something I could do to escape from family and the abuse I had been receiving all these years. For me, life started to turn into a fairytale when I discovered that being myself was enough for me. I wanted to stand up for other people not just me. Fairytales do not just happen. They come from positive thoughts and attitudes. All of this leads to a vision of hope and ambition to make life better for myself. The hope you envision drives you forward to better and bigger things. You may even find words that inspire and reignite a great story you have been meaning to tell your readers no matter where they are in the world or whether they are able to read. There is always a way and support if you ask for it. Sometimes you are lucky enough to land great support and opportunities in your life through your darkest days. Remember this, never give up hope.

Eleven years after finding out I was abused I have since gone onto a bolder and brighter future and met lots of amazing people who have inspired me to grow and be myself. This brightness came from one of the darkest times in my life. I am proud to be growing and evolving from those times. Speaking and advocating for others, helping people who believe they are lost in life to find their voice and capture the voices of great change in the world. If I told you that you would also come out of your dark place, would you believe me? Probably not! I hope that you will because you also deserve good things in your life and to feel safe and valued for you. Feeling safe is one of the most important things you could do in your life, without this you will risk living in fear and torture throughout your life. Our safety in life must be a priority. Our right to be respected and loved for who we are is immensely important to being positive and achieving our goals. Without hope where is our drive to get out of bed, advance in life and work? Hope sparks ambition and sets the bar high for true change to happen.