When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?

Almost everything is multisided – including the occurrences that give us pain. So, we asked some of the most enlightened folks in the community to share how they have harnessed their pain to help rather than hurt them.

Abby Pennington

After writing all the poems to ‘Fruitful Chaos,’ I kept them to myself for several years because the words held the darkest parts of myself. Every poem felt like a piece of me that I wanted to keep from the world. But, as I started to get healthier, I realized that maybe those poems could help someone else. Read more>>

Zhanae

I’ve had a lot of really dark moments that I’ve had to experience alone in my life and for a long time I was taught that everyone doesn’t need to know what you’re going through or to not look like what you’re going through. Read more>>

Rashonda Harris

I stopped hiding my pain the moment I realized it wasn’t weakness — it was wisdom. For so long, I carried the weight of growing up in the projects, surviving instability, and navigating life without the safety nets many people take for granted. I learned early how to push through, how to smile through, how to keep going even when life felt heavy. Read more>>

Sue Tran

I never shy away from my pain; by confronting my failures and embracing my struggles, I’ve learned to navigate through life’s challenges and emerge stronger on the other side. Read more>>