The passing of my cousin, Chris Banba, and my house burning down on my 17th birthday have had a big effect on my mental health.

My cousin and I had been very close up until his passing, him and I walked hand in hand with my journey of becoming a college athlete. Right before I was going to commit to a school he had drowned and that affected me in a lot of ways.

When my house burnt down, I had lost most of my childhood belongings and memories that had come with it. This left me in a state of uncertainty, but also allowed me to be grateful moving forward because I now value the things that I do come across.

After my house had burnt down it is tough to place a single feeling on it. I have had a life filled with trauma and am now able to move on quickly and find a way to turn it into motivation for my goals.

I have gained the vantage point of taking nothing for granted and being fully present in any moment.

I have never looked for outside help. Instead, I have found ways to fully come to terms with the cards that I have been dealt and the traumas that I have went through, and use each and every one of them for motivation and as reasons why I am strong enough to reach my goals.

Rather than running away from the things I have dealt with, I found ways to fully accept the events that have taken place and keep them in my mind as reasons to keep going, rather than letting them hold me back.

Working out both basketball and fitness, in general, have been great outlets for me.

The reason I want to discuss this stuff is that there are a bunch of other female and male African American individuals who go through similar things and in turn make wrong decisions such as drugs, alcohol, and much more.

I want to show that traumas can be used as positives moving forward and give hope to those who feel like they don’t have any.

Some people I have spoken to, whether older or battle-tested people have really respected the faith, fight, and hope that I have displayed throughout my life.

I believe people around my age will react similarly. I am very excited to use this platform and impact as many people as possible.