Andrea A. Atkinson-Perry

…Balance for me revolves around my mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. I’m not certain I can say one is more important than the other; all four have to be firmly in place. If the four legs are not touching the ground evenly, then I know for sure my life will be off-balanced, and it is not easy to stabilize it….

…Fitting in means that we mold ourselves into what we see as the norms, values, and expectations of a certain crowd and this happens to the detriment of our true self….

…I have found that when I see challenges as stepping stones, it helps me to grow. I learn from them, and as I said, I learn from other persons’ experiences. At the end of the day, we can’t control everything around us, so we focus on what we can control: our attitude and how we respond….

…When you say to yourself, “ I should be grateful for what I have and leave my life there. Why would you want to settle? Is it fear of failure or change? Is it the fear of stepping outside of your comfort zone?…

…While walls can help us, if we are not careful, they become cages that trap us in a never-ending spiral of pain and fear. They become a prison, and we find it hard to escape, especially when we didn’t build them with doors…