Articles - Human Success Project
Living with and Managing Your Health (part 2)
Discussion started by Adam Rangihana 8 years ago
The Human Success Project
Living with and Managing Your Health (part 2)
how my thoughts affected my health
Where does understanding health begin for me…
In my early twenties I fell 3 stories head first into a concrete floor.
As stated before, with all people who have suffered major health issues I have had a unique journey in my life which includes all types of abuse, health problems a major head injury. All of which has brought me to an understanding of health in a specific way which I wish to share in hopes that it may help you to reconsider how you may understand what health means to you.
And may I say I do not wish to take away from anyone their pain and suffering and the story of their journey but nor will I take away from my own sense of self the journey of my own soul and the pain and suffering that is rightfully mine to own.
My Story continued...
When my father and mother separated in the approx. 1970 Mum took us to live with our
relatives in the city. It was then a particularly poor part of town but it was all Mom could afford. I remember there were 6 of us who slept in flea ridden bedroom with another family in the next room sharing kitchen and facilities with everyone. I can still remember waking at night to mom killing the many fleas that were fat and lazy as they feed on our blood.
These were some of the most difficult times in our families lives and especially for our mother. About that time I remember Mom’s favorite song was Misty Blue sung by Dorothy Moore and how every time it came on the radiogram Mom would stop to listen. There were three families living in this small house and there were many arguments and much agitation. Somehow we managed to live through it all. These days we would probably all get counselling and help but back then there was no understanding.
In the 1970’s the average wage was $95.00 per week (equivalent to $850.00 per week in 2010). Minimum wage was $1.95 per hour. But we knew nothing of this to busy finding games to play than listen to sports, T.V or heaven forbid politics. Our days were spent as a gang exploring abandoned houses or climbing atop 4 or 5 story buildings. Very exhilarating but scary and it got us away from the turmoil of the house.
Dad for some reason got custody of my older brother and I sometime later and we went to live with him. At first it seemed alright but one could never tell when you were so young. Plus we thought it was just the way life was. Sometimes people say you can’t keep blaming things on your parents well in this case there is a lot that must lie and the feet of my father and his parents. We somehow sensed we had to do better than he did and achieve something more, whatever that was. And although he seemed to function with a reasonable semblance of the ordinary caring father he was indeed tortured by many demons. And it was to this subconscious nature and tripping over our own growing pains that set the stage for which we or at least I aspired to understand.
As I grew I found many of my school friends had firmly decided their future whether in further education or working life, I was completely lost. It is a scientific fact that abused children have a smaller brain size when compared to those children from a more normal family upbringing. Whether this is the case for me I am unsure. But I can confirm that I still had within me a driving consciousness or even at times a burning need to understand something that I did not know. The more I learned the more this feeling grew.
This sense as I travelled through my twenties became a greater feeling of emptiness. As I remember the sense of it at times seemed like dappled sunshine continuous but interspersed between the consciousness of a teen growing into a young adult. A young child damaged by the unseen abuse of life's dark amusements.
to be continued...
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