The Tears, The Failures, The Garbage – My Life Story

Oh man, do I love a good story. But I was a high school dropout. I dropped out when I had five months left in high school. I dropped out and moved from Saskatoon to Calgary.

Hi, team, it’s Christopher Lawrence. I’m sitting in the office here by myself at the end of a bit of a long week, and I was thinking about how grateful I am. And I was also thinking about how far I have to go. And what I mean by that is that in our office, we’re all, we’re so growth-focused. We’re always working on new initiatives, new initiatives, new initiatives, some of them fly, some of them don’t, that’s the nature of business. But as I was thinking about it, I was feeling a little bit stressed out, and then, I remembered to be grateful. And I think that all of us can do this in our lives is that we can focus on what it means to be grateful as opposed to how far we need to go. How far we need to go can be really motivating but also discouraging. And also, I think about how far we’ve come. And I think sometimes we forget to celebrate that.

Everybody Has A Story

So as I was sitting here and I was kind of feeling down about how far we have to go and how that’s kinda motivating but also I’m a little bit tired. You can see it right here. See that, the bags in my eyes? I went shopping with these bags earlier today. I filled them up, okay. So I was thinking about how far I came. And a couple of you have asked and I thought, you know what, this might be kind of a neat time to share a little bit of my personal story with you. And so, I thought I’d share a little bit of that and maybe you can draw some inspiration from it. Everybody has a story. I’d like to hear your story, so please post that below. By the way, my name is Christopher Lawrence with ChangeMyLifeCoaching.ca. You can check me out on that website (here). I am a life and career coach, and I really like what I do for a living. So I wanna hear a little bit about your story, so please post below and let me know how far you’ve come. That’s what I wanna know. I wanna know how far you’ve come.

My Life Story

My Life Story
The Tears, The Failures, The Garbage – My Life Story

So for me growing up, I mean, I grew up in a fairly broken home like so many of us do now. Are there any non-broken homes anymore? I’m not really sure. So like maybe the term doesn’t mean anything, you know? But as some people say, I had a really fucked up childhood. And I did. And so, so growing up, you know, there were lots of challenges to overcome. I did end up dropping outta high school. So I got involved with the wrong crowd, although, really good people. It’s amazing how many of those people are high achievers now. It’s funny to look back on that now. So I look at how far they’ve come too and I celebrate in that. But I was a high school dropout. I dropped out when I had five months left in high school. I dropped out and moved from Saskatoon to Calgary. And when I was here, I didn’t go back and finish high school right away. I went back and finished it later. But again, I found myself getting involved with the wrong crowd, so I became a little bit of a drug addict. A little bit of a drug addict, is that a thing? I became a drug addict. I really enjoyed hard drugs that were uppers and made me feel really good and buried my crappy feelings. And it was amazing. It was actually a really fun time in my life. I’m not gonna lie to you and say that it was crappy. It wasn’t, it was fun, which is why I became an addict, you know, because I really, really enjoyed it, but had no self-control around it.

I Finished School

Finished School
I finished school

So I did that for a while, and then, my life crashed. I had family members who got sick, some physically, some mentally, extremely sick, and it scared me into sobriety. So I became sober. I went back and finished high school, barely passed the second time through, I barely passed. It just wasn’t a good fit for me, and then, I went to college and I took a two-year program. So imagine this. I walk into a room, it’s orientation day, and I walk into a room full of who is gonna be my peers. I was running a little bit behind, so I was on time, but just on time. And so the only seats left were in the front row. So I sneak in the back and have to walk all the way to the front row. I sit down and they start talking. And all of a sudden, my face is getting red, I’m feeling embarrassed about something and I couldn’t figure out what the hell it was. Well, I was the only guy in the entire class. There were 109 women, and I was the only man. There were 110 of us, and I was the only guy. And so I was feeling a little bit embarrassed, but if you knew a little bit about my history, most of my friends growing up were girls, and you know, when I would tell my guy friends, they would say, “Lucky you, ” and then they’d go, “Oh, wait, no this guy’s gay.” And so, I formed some incredible friendships that I still have today and I’m so grateful for these people. They’re an incredible support system that has encouraged me the entire way through everything in my life.

I Went To College

So I went to college and I realized that I wasn’t stupid, which was absurd to me. I was getting good grades by that, you know, the first-semester report cards. It wasn’t the first semester, it was halfway through, so the midterm report cards. I was actually doing really well, and I was blown away. Like I honestly thought I was a stupid person, but I was actually passing this class. And so, so I stuck it through, and I got my two-year diploma from that college. All of the instructors were incredible, and it was a real game-changer for me. And I started working, but I wasn’t a totally happy worker. Man, I had some interesting leaders who had lots to learn, and I had lots to learn too. And so I did very well in my career, my corporate career, but I didn’t, I did very well on the surface. So I showed up, I did my job, I always got big raises, I was always supported, and I was always a star, but I hated every second of it.

I Was Depressed, but…

So I became overweight and depressed, and I started to fill up by buying things. And one of the things that I bought that I wish I’d spent more time on was a condo. So I bought a condo, which had a lot of problems and it bankrupt me. So I actually declared bankruptcy in my life as well. And right in the middle of that, I decided to quit my corporate job and start a business. So that’s what we call smart. But I don’t regret it, and because I look at it and I was like, here I am, I’m in this beautiful office space. I love it, and where I get to support people who were in positions like I was in. And I love what I do, so even though it was hard and it was a lot of risks and holy cow, let me tell you what. This is the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life. So coaching clients, that’s fun, and I enjoy it and there are moments of ease and difficulty in that. But running a business is not easy. It’s very difficult. And I do enjoy it, I love it. And so, that’s kinda how I got to where I am today. Here, I’ve been coaching for 7 1/2, eight years, and that’s how I got where I am today. Oh, it might be 8 1/2 by the time this video posts. I’m just running through the timelines in my head.

That’s Where I Came From

And so, that’s where I came from, and that’s what I’m celebrating. So yeah, I’ve got so much further to go and maybe you do too with what you wanna achieve in your life, but remember how far you’ve come. And I wanna hear how far you’ve come. Please post it below, or if it’s personal, feel free to send me a message. Oh, excuse me. If it’s personal, feel free to send me a message at ChangeMyLifeCoaching.ca (here). My name is Christopher Lawrence. You can get ahold of me there. I am a life and career coach and I look forward to hearing your stories. Thanks, bros.

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