How do I overcome a difficult past?

I was born into slavery. I did not know my mother — I was taken from her before I could form memories. I was beaten, starved, degraded in every way one human can degrade another. The system wanted me to believe I was less than human, and there were times I nearly believed it. What saved me was learning to read. My enslaver`s wife began teaching me letters before her husband stopped her. He said education would make me unfit for slavery — and he was right, though not in the way he meant. Once I could read, I could think. Once I could think, I could see the lies that held the system together. Once I could see the lies, I could imagine freedom. Your past may not be as brutal as mine — or it may be worse in ways invisible to others. But the path forward is the same: Use your mind to examine what happened. Not to relive it endlessly, but to understand it. To separate the truth from the lies you may have absorbed about yourself. Then: Build. Build skills, build relationships, build purpose. Every new capacity you develop is a brick in the wall between you and your past. The person you are becoming can be entirely different from the person your past tried to make you. Find meaning in your struggle. I used my suffering to fuel my fight against the system that caused it. Your pain can become purpose — not by pretending it did not hurt, but by transforming it into something useful. You cannot change what happened. But you can change what it means, and you can change what happens next. If I could walk from slavery to freedom, you can walk from your past to your future. I believe this absolutely.