What It Means to Struggle

"Without struggle, there is no progress." Frederick Douglass

Sitting in my London hotel room this morning, I am amazed at what my life has become. I am currently fulfilling my lifelong dream of backpacking through the UK and Europe. I didn't start out with this much privilege. As someone who grew up in abject poverty in the United States (a land known for opportunity and chances), I know a thing or two about what it means to struggle. I remember the struggle meals that were our go to, grocery shopping at a time when food stamps came in a physical booklet like paper money, getting hand-me-down clothing and having to use the same backpack and shoes until they were so ragged and torn we had no choice but to buy new ones.

My mother, second-youngest member in a family with 13 children, also knew struggle and became a single mother of three by the time she was 23. Mentally unwell and fighting addiction, I knew it wasn't easy for her. She always relied on other family members and after school programs to help in the raising of myself and my siblings. Can I blame her for trying? No, of course not. Do I wish it was different? Absolutely. Sometimes, I wonder what my life would have been like had I not had a dysfunctional upbringing and all of my physical and emotional needs were met. The reality is so far from the dream, it only comes out as a vague picture in the back of my mind.

We knew Struggle very well, almost akin to that unliked family member at Thanksgiving, always there and barely tolerated.

Struggle even followed me into adulthood where I ended up homeless multiple times, even coming close to forcing myself out of existence more times than I would like to admit to. And thanks to whatever God you believe in that I wasn't successful. Nothing could have prepared me for what my life would be like today. I had fought tooth and nail and it wasn't easy! I had to leave my comfort zone and wander beyond country borders to figure out what my life is supposed to be. I am capable of achieving so much, I just had figure what I wanted and how far I was willing to go to get it.

Though my privilege came with a hefty price tag, I know there are plenty of others who say that my struggle was easy compared to theirs. Struggle can be subjective and there are no rules when it comes to hardships; it's a big world and no two people are going to have the same life journey.

However you define struggle, don't let it keep you stuck where you are. Follow your dreams to ends of the earth, and I don't mean that in a literal sense. You don't have cross a big ocean like it did (unless you want to, of course.) to find your path in life. Just keep moving forward!

Until the next Spark,

Korey