A Girl's Story
As Life Coaches, we often don’t get the entire story of our youth prior to meeting them for the first time. For most, it usually takes a few ‘one-on-ones’ to build the foundation for deep conversations to where our youth can trust us to share their most dark secrets. Not this time. This young girl had a story she needed to share and for more reasons than one.
For many of us, it is very hard to imagine what thousands of youth have to do to survive in our communities across North Texas. Unfortunately, some of those steps of survival include poor decisions that come with deep consequences.
My time with this young girl wasn’t “scheduled,” rather I had just happened to be where she was living and she asked if she could sit with me. As she began to talk, her bottom lip began to quiver. She grabbed it quickly with her top teeth. There was no way she was going to break. So many of our kids have such “layers” that carry such deep scars and pain. It takes time to peel back each layer in order for the healing process to begin. Not this one. She didn’t have time for healing or anyone to help do the “peeling.” As she gathered herself, she rubbed her hands together rather harshly, cracking her knuckles and took a few deep breathes, then she paused. She looked me straight in the eye and said, “Ms. Tracey, I’ve never told anyone what I’m about to tell you.” I was sure the pounding of my heart was visible. I prayed every moment through that conversation that my facial expression would reflect my deep commitment to stay by her side.
Let me pause for a moment. As a Life Coach, the words, “I’ve never told anyone this before,” are words that a Life Coach strives to hear. This often means that the relationship between the Life Coach and the youth have reached a place of vulnerability that can bring about change. This relationship is not conditional. We never cancel! No matter what the circumstance, we promise to be there. We commit to being their ‘consistent influence.’ Statistics show that 1 in 3 youth go through life without an adult to help them navigate the day to day struggles. We want to walk beside those that are that “number 1 out of 3”.
As we talked, she came to realize that the only option was obvious. It wasn’t going to be easy, but, she knew what she had to do. As you can imagine, she was terrified for the unknown, the consequences to come!
The beauty of “this time,” she knows what is right and wants to fight each and every day for a new life.
As her life coach, I hope and pray she never has to climb these stairs again, but, this time, she knows she’s not doing it alone.
Because of your support for ‘Together We Thrive,’ she carried my number in her pocket, and we were able to visit every day by phone. Please keep her in your prayers as she is still in the middle of her story, but we know there is hope and a bright future beyond the clouds of today.
With you, we get to impact more lives! Thank you!
