What Do Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Have to Do With You?
ACEs may have everything to do with you and the life you are leading right now. You see, when you were a child, your brain was like a sponge taking in the world around you. Its function was to help you learn the language, the cultural and social norms, as well as your place in the family and society. Your parents, teachers, priests, ministers, police officers, dentists, doctors, nurses and every adult you came in contact with left an impression. The exchanges may have been positive, or they may have been more difficult. Those that were difficult or scary or heartbreaking may have left you with questions and in some cases maybe even residual fear. It’s possible that the resulting emotions are affecting the way you live right now—many years later. Let me explain.
The other day in an interview, a journalist asked me how it was possible I had been unaware of how ACEs had continued to play a role in my adult life. I can honestly say that I had no idea. I was aware that I had some challenges, and I did counseling around my “not good enough” issue. But it wasn’t until I started writing Let My Legacy Be Love, A Story of Discovery and Transformation: TracingAdult Issues to Childhood Hurts, that I understood and was able to come to terms with the root of my challenges.
Exploring the personal stories that I’ve included in the book was an incredible journey. For instance, there is one story where I tell my uncle that my mother wouldn’t be bringing me to my first day of kindergarten because she didn’t like me. In my adult life, the […]
