From Michele: If you scroll through Pinterest for inspiring quotes, you will find quite the variety. Some are sad, some are truly inspiring, and some are just so breathtaking that you screenshot it and save it to your phone screen. Now, let me ask you… have you ever considered about the person behind the words that you love? Did you ever wonder what their story was?
If so, today, we have a very talented writer, the very own Dane Thomas. He’s sharing his story. Check it out below!
The year was 2016, it was November and I had just ended an emotionally draining relationship that I had let take its toll on me for far too long. I was trying to move forward from what I thought at the time was a low point in my life. And then I got the phone call. My cousin was on the other end of the phone and she called to me that my aunt had lost her battle with cancer. That week I packed a bag of clothes in my Jeep and drove 5 hours through a blizzard to attend the funeral.
I still remember sitting in the church pew that day thinking in the back of my mind, this is it, this is rock bottom and it has to get better from here.
After the funeral I drove back home and began life again. I tried to get back into my normal routine and cope with everything that had happened. And then it happened again, shortly after Christmas I got another phone call that made my heart stop. My best friend from high school had lost his battle with cancer at the age of 27. And that’s when it all hit me, it can indeed get worse. I was angry, I was lost, and there was nothing I could do but stand on the sidelines and watch as my entire life crumbled around me.
So once again I gathered the pieces of what was left of my life and told myself 2017 would be a better year.
2017 was the new beginning I so desperately needed, to move passed the trauma and tragedies I had just went through. The New Year began, and I started my year with a vacation to Florida with a group of 7 of my friends. That trip was an absolute God send for me at the time. It was a break from reality and a chance to free my mind from everything. When I got back from Florida life seemed to be pretty normal for a few weeks.
And then I got another phone call.
This time it was my grandma, and she called to let me know that we would be moving my grandpa into an Alzheimer’s unit. I was devastated and heartbroken all at the same time. My grandparents had always been a huge part of my life growing up. I visited them often and talked to them on an everyday basis. They had been the biggest supporters in my life; and now here I was facing this. Moving my grandpa into that unit hit me hard, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Everything was changing and I had to move with it or I was going to get left behind to dwell in the memories of what once was.
I went home that day and decided it was time for a change. I needed something that would keep my mind occupied and I also needed a way to vent. So on February 10, 2017 I started an Instagram account where I could write and spill my truth. In the beginning I started writing and posting on social media and I never told any of my friends or family. People from all over the world started connecting with me and commenting on my writing, and that’s when I realized that I wasn’t alone.
Everyone has pain in their life. Everyone has mountains they must climb and battles they must fight, and all of these things are a normal part of life.
So I started my journey moving forward, connecting with people and sharing our stories. Before I knew what happened I had thousands of followers on Instagram who related to my writing, and that’s when I decided to write my first book. In the midst of finishing my first book, my sister dropped the bomb that she was getting a divorce. My family is very involved and close knit so finding this out was a hit to all of us. It was an ugly divorce that took over a year to settle. But through the chaos I pulled through and published my first book titled Black and Blue in November 2017. It was something I was so proud of because it was my life written in words.
It was the years of struggle that I had survived.
Between the lines of this book were pieces of myself that I had left behind and the pieces of others that I had gained along the journey. I kept pushing forward with my writing and published a second book titled Light in the Darkness in August 2018. This book was another win for me in overcoming the obstacles in my life. After my sister’s divorce was finalized, I started working on a third book. I was motivated and I was going to make my third book the best book I had ever written.
But shortly after I started the book, it quickly became one of the most challenging things I have ever written.
A few months in my computer crashed and I lost the entire book when it was over halfway finished. When I started over from scratch I was no longer motivated, and once again I was going through a difficult time in my life. At this point my friend group that I had relied on so heavily through my struggles had separated and all went in different directions. One of the couples I hung out with on a regular basis had announced their divorce and things were starting to crash down around me.
This time I was alone.
My family seemed to have moved in different directions after my sister’s divorce and now my friends weren’t there either. I had also obtained a serious neck injury in the midst of all this from a backflip that went horribly wrong. I was no longer in pain emotionally now, but physically as well. And then it began, the weekly doctor and hospital visits. I was in and out of therapy. I was on more medications than I could count, and no one could figure out what was wrong with me. Most days I struggled to get through the day, and no doctor could tell me there would be a light at the end of the tunnel.
I tried everything, from chiropractics, to medication, to shots, and everything in between.
So, I decided one day that my life wasn’t changing and I would have to move forward with the pain. I couldn’t just sit around hoping things would get better when they weren’t. So I began to work on my third book again. It was tough to say the least, but I started to push through and finally got things rolling again. By this point it was mid-2019 and I had the book almost finished. I was excited to publish and get the book out on the shelves. And then it happened; my parents called to tell me my grandpa had passed away. My heart stopped that day and I lost a piece of myself. I struggled day in and day out for weeks after that, and I didn’t work on the book for months.
My life had been shaken up and turned upside down and I didn’t know how to handle it.
It’s now been 6 months since that day and I can finally say my third book is almost done. It’s finally in the publishing process and it will be on the shelves within the next month. My third book will be dedicated to my grandpa for having the heart and wisdom to guide so many people in life. He taught me the value of dreams and why it’s so important to follow them. So here I am in the present day, after it all, following the path life has taken me on, and pursuing everything that still lies ahead.
What I’ve come to realize is, we all have a choice in life to dwell in the past or move forward.
I’ve had some dark and difficult years in my life, but it never stopped me from pursuing everything in this world that I set out to accomplish. I’ve hit rock bottom a few times, but I’ve also realized that when you hit rock bottom the climb back to the top is what makes you strong. Life has broken me, but it has also pieced me back together, and I am stronger than ever because of the difficulties I have had to face. Life is challenging, but it truly is a beautiful ride.
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