What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?

We asked folks a question that led to many surprising answers – some sad, some thought-provoking and some funny. We’ve highlighted a cross section of those responses below.

Hurst

As a kid, I believed life had to follow a set of rules — the ones handed to me by the church, my community, and the people I wanted so badly to please. I thought if I stuck to the script, I’d “win” somehow. Turns out, life doesn’t work like that. Read more>>

Ashley Baer

As a child, I believed that I was unlucky and misfortune always seemed to find me. I felt unworthy of happiness and undeserving of good things. I suffered as a child from grief and experienced many traumatic events, which I rationalized were happening to me because I was bad or didn’t deserve happiness. Read more>>

Che’ Houston

As a child, I believed I didn’t really matter because I never seemed to fit into any circle. I was a creative, inquisitive soul who matured beyond my years, and my thought process often strayed off the beaten path. Because of that, I felt like I wasn’t being heard and was constantly being silenced. Today, I know that I am worthy. Read more>>

Harley Pogue

As a child, I believed that having a job was the end goal — that success meant working for someone else and getting by. My parents were unmarried and from a poor neighborhood where survival was the focus, not legacy. No one around me was building empires — they were just trying to make it to the next Friday. Read more>>

Frederick Brockington

I believed as a child that I could not accomplish anything like receiving a doctorate degree. I thought I would just work at the local store or company and that was going to be my life which there is nothing wrong with that career path. Read more>>

Candice Keilin

As a child I thought that everyone could see a spaces in their mind and transform them. I didn’t realize that although I appreciate music I can’t write music, likewise although a person can appreciate a well decorated space not everyone achieve this level of design. I can see a room in my head with the furniture in the correct spaces. Read more>>

C.J. Stewart

As a child, I believed that the barriers the world placed on me—as a young Black boy growing up in Atlanta—were permanent and would ultimately limit my potential. I no longer believe that to be true. Not because those barriers don’t exist—they absolutely do—but because I’ve learned that the right relationships can remove them. Read more>>

Ashley Overholser

As I child, I grew up hearing from family, friends, even teachers that I was ‘too much,’ that I was ‘too curious,’ had I had ‘too many questions.’ It was a label that made me feel small, like there was something wrong with me being loud and curious and emotional and alive. Read more>>