The Shocking Truth

I have been deliberating for some time whether or not to write this. The tipping point for me was when I received an email from a guy in the US who talked about his past and how he didn’t really feel he could realise his dream of running his own bakery and felt the things he went through were holding him back.

Now this post isn’t going to depress you, instead it’s designed to show those of you who dream, but deep down think you won’t be able to make it, you absolutely can make it, I’m just like you and I’m doing it! So here goes, a post that is a little bit different, but 100% InfoPreneur;

• 6

6 is the number of times I was homeless between the ages of 9 and 16. When people think of the homeless they usually only visualise the person sat on a piece of cardboard by the train station asking for change. This wasn’t me, I was a boy so I still had school to go to, but every now and again it wasn’t safe for me to stay at home. Being raised in a house of alcohol and abuse you get used to a lot, but every now and again you know when it’s time to get out.

I used to sleep in squats, then go to school in the morning. When I got to school I made out I was really interested in home economics (cookery class) so I could stuff my face with (overcooked) pasta and bread. After school had finished I played Basketball because they had a water fountain, after a day or two it was usually safe to go home.

• Lonely

I cooked my own meals from about the age of 8 years old. I’m no Gordon Ramsey, it was beans and toast all the way. I then rushed my food upstairs into my bedroom and lock myself away for the night. The house was in a bad area, which meant once it was dark I couldn’t go anywhere unless it was vital to get out.

I loved basketball as a kid and used to dream of being the next Shaquille O’Neil, I used to draw the number 32 on my trainers and my ball, that dream turned into a mini reality when a local basketball player said I should start playing for my school team, that led to me having trials for the U18’s England team at the age of 14.

• Drugs

I used to hang around older kids from another local school, I loved those guys and one of them even made it into professional rugby. I mentioned the guy who made it into rugby because he was the only one who made it out. I say out because as all young lads do, who have no guidance and no good influence, we ended up in trouble. Drinking was my thing, cheap larger, awful spirits anything that we could get the older kids to buy us. My thing was drink, their thing was drugs and at the age of 15 I saw my best friend hit by a bus after he was high as a kite.

The very next day I went to the Military careers office and spoke to a recruiting officer.

• Birthday

I remember the most important lesson ever learning was being taken by my dad to buy me a birthday present. I knew he had been drinking, but into the taxi and towards the shops we went. ‘I wonder what he’ll get me?’ Minutes later he was screaming at me, the taxi stopped and the driver threw him out and my dad lay on the pavement swearing about  god knows what. I got out of the taxi, but being a 10 year old boy I had no idea where I was or how to get home, but I started walking.

That taxi driver got the house keys out of my dads pocket gave them to me and drove me straight home. He didn’t leave me behind.

Now I remembered this when I was on a school trip (paid for by my friends mum) in Belgium, we did the educational tours, then one day we went to the beach. There were no warning flags out, so we went out into the sea. One of the girls got stuck on some rocks and couldn’t get back to shore. I was the closest person to her so I started swimming towards her to see if I could help. My teacher (who had a really strong Liverpool accent) shouted at me to bring her to the shore quickly because the tide was coming in fast.

I got to that girl, helped her off the rocks and she started swimming back then boom, I got him with a wave and then I got stuck. To cut a long story short I ended up severely cut from getting bashed about on the rocks and a life guard stopped me from drowning with a quick rescue breath.

Why did I do this? Because that taxi driver never left me.

Now look at the end of each of the bullet points I make. Out of despair comes victory and out of solitude comes friendship.

Was this a terrible childhood? No of course it wasn’t, granted it wasn’t pleasant but people go through a hell of a lot worse every single day on this planet. People rise above it, adapt and conquer those fears. This site is my way of helping people, it’s mine and I’m extremely proud of it. If you have a dream, no matter how big or small keep hold of it, because in the end, only you can break you.

This is a different post, but hopefully it will help some or all of you in those times of doubt.

What does everyone think?

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