Knowing your Worth
We talked to Yvonne about how she found hope after losing her dad when she was 13.
““Nobody is perfect and no one can predict the future so know your worth and how important your life is.””
These days, 17 year old Yvonne is studying full time at Auckland Girls Grammar, and works part-time at a popular Auckland eatery. But things haven’t always been easy for Yvonne.
When Yvonne was just 13, her dad passed away. “I completely lost interest in any aspirations that I had in life. I didn’t want to continue. I just lost someone that kept me going strong with school and life – I felt like I didn’t belong. You don’t realise how special someone is to you until they are gone and it hurts each time I think about it."
Not knowing how to cope, Yvonne turned to alcohol and drugs and dropped out of school. “I felt so much pain. I felt betrayed, I didn’t know who to trust. I was lost and couldn’t even count on myself”.
It wasn’t until Yvonne went to a creative arts programme, Nga Rangatahi Toa, that she learnt to love herself again and to feel that there was hope for her future.
It was through this programme that Yvonne created a powerful spoken word piece, 'Push stop, Not repeat' sharing her story to the world.
We asked Yvonne to share what she has learnt from going through such hard times to emerge as the force she is today:
- I have learnt that every problem or obstacle that you go through in life will always have either a good or bad outcome depending which path you wish to take. I learnt that if I choose to take the good pathway, then that includes making good decisions and friends too!
Being honest earns people's trust and also creates stronger bonds with each relationship you have in your life. Growing up, I use to lie about most things. Mainly because I didn't want to go through all of the fuss of getting into trouble so I'd always lie to get myself out of certain situations. I realised how much it affects the people that I love and our relationship when I lie to them. It makes you feel bad that you don't even know how to make things better.
- Going through hard times also teaches you how to prioritise things in your life and knowing what is more important to you. You are not going to be friends with everyone you meet and you don't have to.
Every female in this entire universe should be able to know their worth on this planet even when they are doubting themselves. I never used to love myself, I never saw any worth in me being in this world anymore. I just abandoned myself and those surrounding me and to be able to learn how important and how much worth I have in this world is such a great feeling.
We all make mistakes, we sometimes make decisions that we never wish we had done, we sometimes wish we'd never met certain people and sometimes we are grateful to have met great people and that is life, that’s us being humans, what we are made for.
- Hold on – pain ends
