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Chapter 8: Don't let your past define you...!

"You can let your past define you, or you can let it refine you. You can let it hold you back or make it push you forward. You can let it be the thing that keeps re-living your yesterday's or you can let it become a stone to build a better tomorrow. Just because your past didn't turn out as you expected it doesn't mean your future can't be better than you imagined it."

                Who am I? That's the question we ask our selves our entire lives. Am I who people think of me? Am I what my past says I am? or Am I something more? It's hard but you are the choices you make in life. That's what makes you the person you are and the one you'll become. 

                We've witnessed how orphans with such a heavy past can become business mans. Or even how someone who people thought was trouble and wasn't qualified made a huge impact n society and shut a bunch of mouths. Ex-bullies who have now change the world with their speeches. Ex-gang leaders who leave that life behind just for the sake of their families and now are respectable and honorable men. See your past doesn't define you unless you give it the power to. It's true your past will haunt you but it's up to you to let it win or not. 

                We define ourselves through the decisions we make in the present. Your past ia a part of you who you are today but that doesn't mean that is what makes you..... you. Your past can never define because the past is simply gone. Memories is all we have left of our past, sometimes we think back to the decisions we made and think of a way that we would've made the situation better and that is exactly what haunts us. Knowing that we can't go back and fix our mistakes, our wrong choices and we only have left the thought of moving on and looking forward.

                Throughout our lives we find ourselves making choices, some of the harder than others. Those choices we make can either build us up or tear us down. It's scary to actually think that our lives can change in just a second either for better or worst with just one decision we make. We can get our hearts broken just with one decision, but we can also get a promotion with the right decision. See where I'm trying to go? Our lives revolve around in the choices. Wether we are good people or bad people it all comes down to one thing decisions. 

                Not only choices but also our actions throughout our existence are what makes us who we are. How we act, how we talk and even how we express ourselves is all part of it. Our past shouldn't haunt us. Just because shit happened in your past doesn't mean thats who you are today.

                In september 20th, 2017 one of the most horrendous tragedies happened in Puerto Rico. My little island was destroyed by hurricane Maria. It was horrible from hearing the storm roar literally to not having electricity for almost a year. I can honestly say that was the worst experience of my life. It was agonizing and maddening what we had to go through for more than 24 hours non-stop. Our Fauna an flora completely destroyed, countless of deaths all of them we felt as if they were our family, millions without a home and even up till this date almost 2 years after Maria there are still people without electricity. After that event we became a big family, all of us. It didn't matter where you were from we were all going through the same thing and that was enough to make us unite and make a better Puerto Rico. We decided not to let that event define who our island was and not only our island but our people. We knew who we were and what our island was worth and that was enough to make us work. The strength of this little island is in our people.

               Where am I trying to go with this? We didn't let that define who we were. Instead we got back up stronger, more united because that's what we are. Strong minded and determined people. We are courageous, and we never let little thing tear us apart. We always fight, Puerto Rico is now at the top. One of our many beaches is part of the top 10 in the world. People from all over the world come and visit this small island and always feel at home while doing it. We are the island that when you leave immediately want to come back because you already miss it. That is who we are, not what the news painted us like after Maria. We are not victims and even worst we are not people who faked tears just to get some help. We suffered, struggled and many lives were lost in the process. To be honest I can honestly say that even though it was a horrible experience, it was one of the best. Technology-free, playing outside and even riding our bikes in the streets throughout the day because we had nothing better to do than just going out with our friends and neighbors. 

                See where I'm getting at? Your past doesn't define who you are. It helps you build up who you are meant to be. Just because everything went wrong doesn't mean its not going to have a great outcome. You are the one who defines yourself, who determines your value and what you are worth. Don't ever let your past haunt you again, and people who just remind you every single day all the shit you did in you past and how everything went wrong let them go. If they don't see who you are now and who you'll be in the future get them out of your sight, for the won't stop until they see you destroyed, hopeless and all alone.

"Your past doesn't determine your future. You determine what, how and where you'll end up. Don't let your past define who you are."