What Trauma Taught Me About Resilience | Charles Hunt | TEDxCharlotte

Both of my parents were addicts, then I grew up in foster care from age 5 until 18. I also used to visit my mom in jail. By the time I "aged out" of foster care, both my parents were dead. I had no one. Statistically I should have ended up in jail, addicted, homeless, or dead. I am none of those things. I have a Bachelor's Degree in English & am now working on my second college degree to pursue my dream of being a Veterinary Technician. I'm married and have a beautiful home. I'm healthy and work hard every day to become the person nobody thought I'd ever be. Much love to you and all you've overcome. Resilience is definitely one of the keys. Awesome talk. ✌

This guy is my neighbor! He’s an amazing guy off camera too.

"Don't sacrifice your future for todays pain" - AMAZING perspective

I am at my lowest and I came across this unexpectedly amazing talk. If you could bounce back and rise from the horrible situation you were in, I see no reason why I can't. Thank you for sharing your story, Charles, thank you...

I’m 29. I just discovered what mental illness is last night. The connection I had to it. I went on a scizo binge that lead to homelessness about 6 months ago. Little did I know I was subconsciously chasing my own healing. I was willing to loose everything to just sit and meditate and learn to love myself. All the ways mental health is connected to abuse and know one helped me. Im shocked at the ignorance and unsupport of my family. I’ve asked for help so many times in my life and after 29 years I’m the only one helping me. I learned to love myself more than anyone. I want to live, and to love, and feel unshaken and inspire others. I’m proud of you all who are fighting this on your own. Keep doing that. Hurt people hurt people. But healed people heal people. Peace is closer than we think, we are all worthy of purpose

"... without sacrificing the future, for today's pain." Well said my friend. Well said.

"Sometimes we need to tell ourselves what to think when our mind starts telling us things that we don't need to hear: that you can and will overcome and succeed, and not just in spite of, but precisely because of. That with the proper perspective and a positive attitude, we have POWER." 🔥🔥🔥🔥

"The worst of life couldn't take out the best of me" - you are one amazing human being, Charles Hunt!

They played this to us at a mental hospital, this stuck with me.

That guy OWNED the stage.

“Life doesn’t adhere to any delivery windows, change comes when it comes.”

ppl say not to compare traumas & all but i hear stuff like this; they’re right we don’t have to compare traumas, but we don’t have to determine ours be the worst of them all n just completely stop from growing. love resilience, love discussing it, love hearing examples of it. we’re stronger than we give ourselves credit for.

I was sitting here alone on the anniversary of a major trauma looking for a distraction while my children were at school and I was watching something completely different and this came up in my suggested. Thank god it did. You have a story. You have a voice. You are resilience. Congratulations. And thank you for giving back.

This was nothing but a college psychology assignment link that I almost thought about not watching until I decided to watch it and this is one of the best sources of motivation that I needed to receive especially currently me being 22 years old. Im not going to dive into any of my childhood trauma but the trauma is definitely there and this mans testimony has been the encouragement I needed to hopefully get through the rest of my last year in college as it has been a struggle for me mentally and emotionally. Thank you so much Mister for this video.

WOW... I've listened to a lot of TEDx Talks, and this one is one of the most real, most valuable monologues I've heard. This man doesn't just share, he teaches. He encourages is a realistic way. He tells it like it is, and doesn't make excuses. He empowers others to learn how to overcome by sharing how he overcame, and he forewarns that it will not be easy, that it may be excrutiatingly painful, and that it is ultimately up to us to use positive self-talk even when we don't believe it ourselves. He reminds us that it is ok to reach out and ask for help. This is not the happily-ever-after that so many TEDx Talks speakers churn out. This is neither narcissistic, nor "poor me". This is not the extreme bipolar thinking that life's answers are cut and dried, black and white, good and bad. This is about the reality of the shades of gray that lie between the polar extremes. This is real. This is inspiration while remaining grounded in reality. This is encouragement while preparing people to keep in mind that it will not come easy or instantaneously or when you need it to happen. We should all be so lucky to have a friend, family member, trusted colleague, mentor or advisor who teaches what it means to be resilient, and that you have to believe regardless of how difficult that might be. This is the opposite the instant-gratification advice that so many people seem to believe and be seeking out.

Agree - resilience is essential in life. it's not what happens to us, it's how we respond.

i just got diagnosed with ACEs recently and scored a 10, and because of my childhood I have depression, anxiety, and PTSD. This video reminds me during my saddest depressive episodes that i’m strong AF, i’ve accomplished a lot despite what i’ve experienced in life, and to keep going cause there’s so much more of life to see. thank you❤️❤️

I come from the same type of life as you. I scored a 10 on the ACES test and i work with high risk youth in a group home and i think ill show this to them tonight. Nice work brother no one knows how hard it really is to come back.

Powerful! ‘’Sometimes we need to tell ourselves what to think when our minds tell us things we don’t need to hear.’’

"The worst of life couldn't take out the best of me." <-----Profound 11 words there. Personally, I've never known a better teacher than pain but it takes time to realize you're a student. Knowing how to transcend trauma to bliss is a dark and lonely path but once you learn there is no growth without pain, you develop that resilience that can transform a society or simply heal a soul. And how beautiful are those that know trauma and become healers. You realize that pain is a gift.