Why I Chose Not To Give Up, Despite It All

 “I was dragged to the pits of my own personal hell, left there, and then asked by the Creator to find my way back. I questioned if it was worth it at times, but I never questioned my ability to defeat the demons I was facing going through prolonged trauma and chaos.”

I was recently asked to offer up a deep dive into my story to give a clearer picture as to what drives my desire to create change in this world and do the work that I do. The opening statement you read is a glimpse of the entirety of my personal journey. In truth, haven't so many of us been there before? Is it not a common theme, story, life experience? We can ask ourselves, WHY? If there's a desire to be simplistic the answer is that because "that's just the way life is." For me, there's a craving for depth in explanation, it's just the way my brain works.

What many of us on this Earth are uncovering is that this place is like one big school. We came here from the ethers knowing fully well that in this Earthly mission we were going to be "tested". Sounds silly right? Perhaps not so much when you start to understand that everything we go through is truly building our capacity to be with the magnitude of Life. This is no small feat. How would we really learn to live and appreciate life if things were comfortable and dandy all the time?

Sure we'd learn, but there would be so much missing. The art and skill of navigation requires being shown circumstances that we may have thought we'd never be able to overcome. To be witnessed in our journey and share it to one day help lift someone out of their own personal hell is what helps create the bridges I believe humanity needs. The more we can say "this is what I went through, and this is how I know you can make it through too", the more those we love, and those we may never even come to know personally, have a way to be seen in what they're similarly navigating. Thus, finding the inner strength to become the hero in their story. And maybe, just maybe, one day the Earthly journey won't require the painstaking hero's journey. Maybe those who come next will get to enjoy this world in it's innocence and purity. Simply because we made the conscious effort to change the story.

This walk of life is quite simply not just about me. It's about us. If I want to win, I want others to win with me. The countless Souls who came before us and are yet to come are watching. What choices will we make in our lifetimes to either uplift, or further harm ourselves and the rest of humanity? One small act of kindness matters. Our stories matter. How we share our stories and how they can change the trajectory of the human collective matters. I ask you to remember this: We are all in this together. So let us truly show up for one another. Let us be the answered pray of our ancestors, and become the ancestors our future grandchildren are itching to tell the stories of.

In Truth and Love,

Ashley