I think It would be fair to say that my upbringing has not been the most typical. Without getting in to too much detail I have had A few hills to overcome. Some have been of my own making and some I have just been unlucky.

I was the only child of color in the town I grew up In, This was the cause of a significant amount of ostracization and general racism growing up. My biological father was in prison and my mum who was 18 years old when I was born, she was often away when I was young and grew up with my Grandparents. By my early teens, my two best friends had committed suicide (this was linked with drug problems that they both had). I did not really deal with this properly and found my coping mechanism was Drink. About two years after they died, I tried to take my own life. I left school with no qualifications and flunked out of college which is no surprise as I had gone through most of my school years with undiagnosed dyslexia. By the time I was 17 I was depressed and had nothing, I had moved out of my home and was living with ‘friends’.

If you had asked me then what my life would look like in another 17 years’ time it would be nothing how it looks now. I got a job as a Chef, I worked the 100 hours a weeks that are required in the industry, to this day I don’t know why but no matter what was going on in my life I found that I could concentrate on work and the more I worked the less I drank. After a couple of years’, I tried my had at computing, it is the one natural gift that I have been blessed with. I found I was quite good at it, my work ethic carried over from being a chef and I consumed more overtime than is legally allowable in the UK. By this point the less I drank the more my depression lifted, this was all noticed by my employer and I was picked for some extra projects, these projects allowed me to go for better jobs. This went on for the next couple of years until I find myself in the position I am in now. In my current organisation I met my partner who helped me realize it was OK to be a little selfish sometimes and that I can be happy. Once I met her, I started finding other reasons to be happy and the happier I became the more confident a grew. I now have an amazing partner who was able to see past all my issues, two amazing step kids whom I love, Quite simply the best most loving dog in the world and some amazing friends. I drive now (this is a bigger deal than it might seem) and finally Today I was promoted for the third time in 4 years, I now earn just over three times the average salary in the UK. I am debt free for the first time in my adult life and we are looking to extend the house. I know there are a lot of things going on in the world and I probably should be more worried but at the moment I just cannot be sad. I have more than I could ever have dreamed of and more than I deserve.